Second week

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 I am a bit late in an update as my time here has been so busy.  My ENT colleague has arrived and we have been focusing on ear surgeries for 2 weeks.  While we are doing the regular schedule of ear surgeries the general ENT problems keep coming.  


This is the line in the morning to check in for appointments in the clinic where I work.  There seems to be an endless stream of patients.  They wait all day to be seen.  Once we identify patients that need surgery we need to go through endless paper work to apply for insurance coverage. Many can not afford even the 3-5 dollars a month fee for the national insurance. In these cases they need to raise money to pay for hospital fees.

These are just some of the masses that I see on a daily basis at Tenwek.  These are now complicated situations as patients seek care so late.

This 12 year old boy arrived last week with another case of acute mastoiditis.  This infection had spread to the areas around the ear but also to the blood vessels in the brain.  He underwent urgent drainage of the abscess and mastoidectomy (drilling out the ear bone to relieve the infection).  He is improving but healing very poorly and will likely be in the hospital until I leave for antibiotics and dressing changes.


This cutie had his tonsils and adenoids out this week.  Generally the kids do well here with this surgery but we have to be very careful to educate them on the risks of bleeding.  Transportation to the hospital in an emergency is by foot or motor bike so a post op bleeding event can be life threatening.


Thank you for your continued prayers as I navigate through these touch issues.  I pray for wisdom daily to know who God wants me to operate on.  Please pray for successful surgeries and God's healing for these precious people.

Chase





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