10/09/2011

SURGERY DAY 13-MALARIA

Today, Dr. Samuel Oje, resident in OBGYN, called me for an emergency. A young woman, HIV positive, came with a fetal demise. Despite induction elsewhere, the fetus would not pass. Samuel did a c-section and found a intraabdominal pregnancy with a long dead fetus. All the bowels were adhesed together secondary to the placenta which was in the Pouch of Douglas. The posterior wall of the uterus was perforated by the placenta. We slugged our way through the superglue and got things sorted out. She is doing well.

Delux Suite
I came back from surgery tired and crashed in the "Delux Suite". As you can see, I sleep under mosquito netting. Malaria is a major problem in the world, especially in Sub-sahara Africa. There are 250 million cases of malaria per year and about 1 million deaths, mostly in young children. I have had malaria and it is no fun! Fortunately, I have some resistance now so, if I do get malaria, it is mild.

We have done 85 cases. Tomorrow is Monday so more patients will be pouring into the hospital.