Shanksteps of Faith #50

11-20-06
Hello Friends and Family,
We are now receiving text only emails at home via ham
radio. Our email at home is ( removed for security resons. if needed email news@missiondocs.org It
cannot receive pics or large documents. It is an
extremely slow download. So if any of you want to
write feel free. Our other email is still active and
checked about every 2-4 weeks.
So I’m in my office and I see two interesting
patients today. One has a involuntary movement of her
neck. Her head involuntarily moves with her chin to
her left shoulder. She says it has happened for the
last two weeks. She is an adult. It appears to be
gone when she is trying to do things that I observe.
But she says that when she carries water on her head
(as everyone carries heavy things here) that it falls
off unless she is stabilizing it with her hands. So
it has significantly hindered her family duties. I
suspect spastic torticollis but have none of the real
meds she needs and she doesn’t have money to go all
the way to Maroua or elsewhere. I gave her Diazepam
and hope her symptoms improve, and will see her back
soon.
Another I saw today came to me because he has leg
swelling of his left leg. He says his right ankle
started hurting a year ago, then it went to his right
knee then right hip. Crossed to the other hip then
down to the left knee with swelling of the thigh two
months ago. He also had swelling and pain start next
in his left knee then pain down to the left ankle
without swelling. So when I look at his leg I see a
normal skinny leg on the right and a huge basketball
sized thigh on the left with swelling of the left
knee. I aspirate and get a yellow, thick, very cloudy
fluid. “Cytology” only shows “thick fluid with some
leucocytes.” So I chose to drain the stuff. I numbed
up the skin and incised it. The liquid shot about 3-4
feet out horizontal from the patient with the pressure
inside. We drained about 10 liters of fluid and
packed the huge cavity. Diagnosis uncertain. I will
do some reading and hopefully come up with some ideas.
It was not attached to the knee joint that I could
ascertain. Any ideas?
We struggle with the descriptions of things many
times. I have patients that tell me that “it” starts
low in the belly then moves up to the epigastrium then
to the chest and then back down. When I ask what “it”
is they repeat the same again and again. When I ask
what the sensation is he repeated. When ask if it was
pain he initially said yes then declined. Burning?
Heat?…. each time yes then no not really.
Frustrating. We hope to start learning Mafa soon so
that we can communicate with our patients more
directly. It’s difficult to want to spend time in
language learning after working. By learning the
predominant language in our area it would also help us
with ministry.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are
busy and dealing with difficult issues with some of
the hospital workers. Pray for our wisdom and
leadership, and most of all that we continue to follow
God’s leading. In His Service, Shanks