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Medical Emergencies in Nigeria

          Dr. Chuck is the only doctor in Zing now and he has been doing some work at the hospital. One night a young man came with an arrow in his abdomen. Apparently someone shot him. Chuck had to do surgery. Unfortunately the man had been drinking and after he got the anesthesia he vomited. That was not so good, but he has done well. Chuck was glad that only the bowel was affected.
          At one clinic, there was a Fulani lady with 2-month-old twins. She had no breast milk. If she doesn’t give them cow’s milk or find a wet nurse, those twins will die. At another clinic, there was a 2-month old boy who was seriously ill with pneumonia. Chuck also noticed that he looked very anemic and needed blood. We arranged to take the baby and his mom and older brother back to Zing with us. The baby got blood from his brother and is doing much better. We are praising God for what seems like a miracle to us. One night at 10 o’clock someone woke us up. A lady in labor really needed a C-Section. The baby was in trouble. Chuck did his first C-Section since back. Mom and baby both are doing well. A few days later, he did two C-Sections in one day. The first one was a healthy baby and mom and dad were very happy. The second one had a malformed baby that did not live and could not live. (microcephalis). They had thought she was going to have twins but she had a lot of fluid, which goes along with that deformity. She has 4 living children, but a sad time for that family.
          There is an airstrip across the road with guinea corn planted right along side the strip. When the pilot landed, he clipped off some of the guinea corn. The plane doesn’t come in there often but the farmer has been asked not to plant there. It can be really dangerous if it gets in the engine or other vital area of the plane. We received some mail that came through the NY office. We sometimes use the plane to visit clinics in isolated areas. Recently the plane carried a patient to a hospital in Jos.
          A pastor who teaches at the Banyam Theological Seminary called for Chuck. His wife, Bilhah, had a C-Section on August 14th. They had a healthy baby boy but Bilhah had complications and has 2 fistulas between the small bowel and the outside of her abdomen. Everytime she would eat, there would be drainage, so she has only had IV fluids for over 2 months and now is very weak. Chuck had them start giving her sips of water and a drink they make called Kunu with an egg in it. She tolerated it well and the drainage did not increase much. The National Government doctors are on strike. The closest place that could do the type of surgery needed was in Jos. Chuck contacted the Bishop and made arrangements to send her there by plane. Her family is very supportive. Her sister, Salome, who has a small baby, has been breastfeeding Bilhah’s baby too. The family went with her to the hospital as they have to cook for the patient and themselves. They have to take what they need with them.
          Many medical emergencies occur. The nurses sent word that they needed Chuck immediately. A baby had been born that wasn’t breathing. He followed the procedure he has often taught in the Advance Life Support for Obstetrics courses and got a good result. The mask used to help breathe is woefully antiquated and there was no oxygen available-even at the government hospital. But you know God was so gracious. The baby went home. Hopefully, there will be no negative residual from its minutes without breathing. Over the weekend there was an 8-month premature baby born weighing about 3 lbs. Chuck was sure it would not make it, but it has. There was a stillbirth this a.m.
          Chuck did another C-Section. A lady came in Saturday. Her water had ruptured 2 days before and she was in mild labor and not making progress. They put her on an antibiotic immediately and waited. She made no progress and a C-Section was the only way to have a healthy baby and mom. We pray for these families.
          One afternoon we went to visit Nayin (pronounced "nine"). Nayin use to have many people with active leprosy. Now they are old and their disease has burned itself out. They have been left with deformities of hands, feet, and face. Some are blind. They were so happy to see Chuck. Leprosy is not an active disease there anymore. We were told other villages around there do have people with active leprosy.
          While there we greeted Dennis, one of our health workers here at Zing. He is from there and his mother died on Friday from a diabetic coma. She got sick and they had no insulin for her and they brought her here to Zing and when she got there she was dead. Sad. Sad.
          We went to the clinic at KukaKundi through Zailani. They grow a lot of onions in Zailani. We had several different places to drive through, including the Zailani River. Kukakundi is the home of many snake bites. The people here don’t like to use latrines because the snakes live in them. Keeping the hole covered would help that. We dreamed of getting some solar power for the clinic so they could have a small frig to keep snake antivenin, run an electric microscope and some lights.
          All of these places like this one are isolated - especially in the rainy season.
          A few days ago a couple came to be treated. The husband is ill. The wife asked Chuck if her remembered her. Of course he did not. Back in the 70’s she came to him for infertility. He did a D&C on her. She returned later still not pregnant. In this culture it is usually considered a disgrace not to be able to have children. Chuck said to her, “Let us pray so we can give you the correct medicine.” He gave her medicine (I suppose hormones) for 3 months. She took the medicines and then got pregnant. That little boy is now at Bukuru in the Theological College of Northern Nigeria being trained as a pastor. Bukuru is near Jos. This reminds me somewhat of Hannah in the Bible. We need to marvel at God’s mysterious ways.
          We are seeing more and more people coming with full-blown AIDS. Sometimes we don’t know for sure that they have AIDS, but the presenting diseases are often indicative of it. Here this disease is generally heterosexual. Men and women who are single are most susceptible, but married men who are separated from their wives due to school, military, business travel, even pregnancy or fights also bring it back to their wives. It is a sad story. Those who work in medicine are also susceptible. We are finally seeing it come to a head here and deaths are appearing on a more frequent basis. Continue to pray for us please.

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