one last emergency

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At Tenwek news travels polepole (slowly).  It seems to take several weeks for everyone to figure out I have arrived.  It was very busy my last 24 hours.  We had one last emergency the night before we left.  I was called to the outpatient clinic to evaluate a man who had hoarseness for 4 months.  Yes he had some breathing issues too.  He "snorts" tobacco.  this was a new one for me.  they apply water to tobacco to make it moist and then place it in their nostrils and snort it!  Upon my arrival he was in obvious distress with difficulty speaking.  he was thin with evident weight loss.  Evaluation of his vocal cords revealed that there was virtually no airway.  He was rushed urgently to the operating theatre.  God had gone before us and the OR team had just completed a case. We were able to slip in and perform an emergency tracheostomy.  laryngoscopy at the same time revealed a large tumor.  I brought about 10 tracheostomy tubes with me and we used the last one this night!


Here we are transporting him from the operating theatre to the ICU.  there is a steep decent which makes for many laughs.  but we had reason to be light hearted for we knew God had given this man more time.  It will be almost 4 weeks before biopsy results are available.  He will need a laryngectomy (removal of the voice box) which is very debilitating in this environment.  many are illiterate and do manual labor which is not possible after this surgery.

Thank you for continued prayers!
chase miller

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