Second week March 2024

By -
 This has been a different kind of trip so far.  I have taken many biopsies of obvious tumors and I am still waiting for results.  The national health insurance NHIF has also been more difficult to work with on this trip.  In the past we would have approvals for surgeries within 48 hrs but now we are waiting weeks.  They are refusing coverage many times requiring us to resubmit and wait again.  Despite these hurdles I know God is in everything and we have been working at a steady pace. 

I operated 3 days this week performing a number of small cases including repair of an ear drum, tonsillectomies, ear tubes, tracheostomies, removal of a nasal mass and endoscopic nasal polyp removal.  Everyone has done well which is a blessing from the Lord in this environment.


  
My general surgery resident in ENT clinic


        Preparing for tonsillectomy


                                   50 year old male with large ulcerated neck cancer that has spread
                                   to the spine.  We will be doing palliative surgery as soon as insurance 
                                   approval goes through.

Large neck mass since 2020. We will do a biopsy and Ct scan for further evaluation.


Please continue to pray that the Lord would heal his people.  There is so much disease that goes untreated because of lack of funds, insurance or just lack of medical knowledge.


              Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with 
               wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not grow faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Blessings,
Chase











                                                                                      



Popular posts from this blog

First Week

By -
Image
 I arrived safely after an arduous journey.  I did get questioned at customs again and needed to pay a Tarif but it was a reasonable rate this time.  I have been without internet until yesterday so I apologize for a late update. My first week was quite busy in clinic as I screened patients for upcoming surgeries.  We has some late nights but it is great to be back serving the Kenyans.  I have performed multiple biopsies on various tumors.  Unfortunately there is no pathologist here so the biopsies can take up to 3 weeks for results.  We will make daily calls to try to move up the cases urgently. This patient was ecstatic!  He was diagnosed with severe hearing loss in both ears.  I fit him with a digital hearing aid and he was able to hear clear for the first time in years!  They live 5 hours away and were so blessed! This is a typical thyroid goiter for this region.  She underwent evaluation of her vocal cords in preparation for upcoming surgery.  This will be a tough one to be done al
Read more

First Week October 2024

By -
Image
Continued political battles in Kenya are monopolizing politician's time rather than more pressing issues of the economy and healthy care.  The impeachment process of the depute passed in the parliament and will  be voted on in the Senate this week.  In the meantime, the economy continues to struggle with high cost of living leaving the poor to struggle to afford basic necessities.  The hospitals have been left struggling due to slow release of funds from the Government.  Tenwek is in a state of major strain from loss of back payments and now reduced daily income as patients are uninsured and lack funds to pay for services.  Its a mess! Somehow God has continued to provide for the needy and this last week I saw many ENT patients and operated for 2.5 days.  The patients have heart breaking stories of delayed care.  So many suffering of treatable diseases.  This week I performed several tonsillectomies, endoscopic sinus surgery, and several biopsies of the voice box for cancer. This i
Read more