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Another Miracle!!! I saw her when I got back from a trip to Maroua to buy saline. I got back and the nurse asked me to see a patient that had come in during the day. She had been “sick” for four months. She had been to numerous health centers and other hospitals, and had been given antibiotics and nothing was getting better. I couldn’t talk to her because no one spoke her language. She was about 50 and was with two other old women and one young man. He tried to communicate to me in English
or French. “De troat worry her all de time!” “Do you mean it hurts her?” I ask. “No it worry her big.” I assume he does, in fact, mean pain, based on what I hear from other Nigerians. “She take soup and no go down.” I switch to French hoping it will be better. His answers are either not what I was asking or the proverbial “Yes!” When all answers are YES I know they have no idea of what I’m talking about. The nurse with me cannot talk to them either. They say a few words in English, and
he appears to understand their English better than mine. The information I get after much back and forth is that she drank soup and something stuck in her throat 4 months ago and now she cannot even swallow water, due to this, she has lost a lot of weight.
The next morning I find out the real story with another visitor who really does speak enough English; She ate some sauce with meat in it and a bone got stuck in her throat… or so she thinks. Four months with a bone is quite unlikely but it seems anything is possible here, so I do a laryngoscopy and attempt an upper endoscopy. I find an inflammatory mass or tissue just behind the larynx in the esophagus and I attempt to dilate this unsuccessfully. I probe it for any hint of a hard structure
(bone) in it without results. After working an hour and attempting to pass the Gastroscope I give up and decide either she has inflammation around a retained bone I cannot find or esophageal cancer. I also think of a slight possibility of TB but after reading some text books I find no indication of this in the esophagus.
I tell the family that I did not find a bone and that she likely has esophageal cancer and that if they have “money” maybe she could see an ENT specialist in Garoua or Yaoundé. They apparently do have money and agree to go, but not for another week, they are busy with other things in Kousseri. She is very dehydrated so I decide to put in a gastrostomy tube. I thought I had one somewhere but can’t find it. So I put a large Foley (urine) catheter surgically into the stomach through the abdominal
wall and I tie a plastic piece on top to keep the balloon up against the abdominal wall. She is severely dehydrated and the normal glistening intestines are not really damp and stick to each other because of lack of fluid. I decide to start her on local porridge and TB meds.
The next morning I remember I have NOT prayed for her at her bedside like I try to do, especially with the patients I feel I have nothing to offer them. So I pray with and for her, asking God to heal her in a way that He is glorified, and that it’s obvious what He has done.
The following morning they ask if she can have some water and I say sure, knowing that I have not rectified anything in her neck and that it will be the same as before. They inform me that she is swallowing water in small quantities and the next day, she is taking lots of water. The following day she is drinking porridge and taking meds orally, then, today she was taking normal food, sauce, boule, and meat! I have nothing to say but to praise our Creator for His healing of this woman right before
our eyes. We serve an awesome God, who loves us more than our families and friends. He is worthy of our praise! Thank you God! Greg
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