Shanksteps #77

Shanksteps #77 Have you ever had to think of surgery on your child?  I’m sure some of you have, but I had not until recently.  Well not actually my child, but someone who I was responsible for and felt as if my close family member or child.  We had been in Béré Hospital for about 2 weeks.  The hospital is fortunate to have 4 student missionaries and a couple other temporary volunteers.   Some of the student missionaries went off on motorcycles to a town near by to purchase some things and pick up the mail.  Whiletraveling, one motorcycle had a problem and the SM (student missionary) had to wait for it to be fixed, waiting in the hot sun a few hours.  During this time she started having an upset stomach.  On her ride back to Béré she was feeling worse.  We saw her that evening after we got back from the hospital and she was having a lot of cramps. “Are you feeling OK?”  My wife asked her.  “Not to well!”  She stood to go into the bathroom.  Audrey was prompted to follow her.  Just as she entered the door she collapsed.  Audrey caught her before she hit the floor.  She came to and sat up in a few seconds.  As she sat up she passed out again.  This time for a long period.  We figured she was dehydrated or hypoglycemic so we ran to the hospital and got an IV and started it.  She didn’t move.  We gave her some medications.  Slowly she becameconscious.  She complained of a headache and abdominal cramps.  All of us were huddling around trying to take care of her.  We put her in a bed.  After examining her, her pain was all across the lower abdomen. As you may know by now, there are not many diagnostic tests available here in the bush.  We did an ultrasound and found a couple ovarian cysts.  We decided to treat her for typhoid and other intestinal bacteria so prevalent in our surroundings. Later that night she was in more pain.  Her exam was the same.  It’s 3AM and I’m thinking what would I do if it were my daughter?  I guess if this continues I would want her out of Chad and to Europe or the US.  By morning she was feeling a little better and was hungry.  Since she was still was having bowl functions I let her eat.  I decided to call James Appel telling him that it would be nice if he and the plane with Gary could come our way in case we needed to evacuate her out to the capitalof Chad and Europe.  They immediately left and would be with us in about 6 hours.  During the day she felt better till about 2PM. She had gone without pain medicine for a while and then she started having more intense pain again.  This time it gradually got worse and worse.  James and Gary finally arrived.  We discussed the different options.  The capital of Chad, N’djamena was not in a good choice.  So it was either treatment in Béré or in Europe.  At this point we felt she needed surgery based on her abdominal exam.  The student missionary was able to talk to her parents in the US and it was decided to stay at Béré. We went to the operating room with a fully volunteer, Caucasian staff.  The surgery went well and we found appendicitis.  We were very relieved to finally know the real source of her problem.  And I was very relieved that the operation went well and that she came through it all with only a headache. We praised God that James and Gary were able to come and that she did well!  Lack of diagnostic tools really inhibits our ability to diagnose patients here in Cameroon as well as in Chad.  Fortunately God impresses us often in what we should be doing in spite of our diagnostic and other inadequacies.  We praise God for His leading and help in every situation.  In His Service, Shanks