#54 Shanksteps
January 9, 2007
Has the sorcerer ever eaten you? Apparently it does
here. We had a patient last week with pneumonia that
was doing OK, then one night developed difficulty
breathing. We were not called and the patient died in
the next few hours. Today we had a patient who came
into the hospital with a depressed skull fracture.
Apparently her neighbors did this. They were family
of the woman with pneumonia that died, and somehow
they ascertained that this woman had cast a spell,
become a sorcerer and “ate†the woman. I believe it’s
like eating their “spiritâ€. And when this happens the
person dies (physically). So the best I understand it
right now is that it is a type of a spell cast on
someone else to kill him or her. So they took
revenge. They had a large stick, about 4in. by 3ft.
and beat her over the head with it three times. When
I evaluated her she had no pupil reflexes, no gag
reflex, dolls eyes, and blood draining from the right
ear and a GCS of 3. She was breathing and the heart
was going but that’s it. When examining her head I
could feel about a 4X5in. wide depressed skull
fracture. I explained to the family the damage was
already done and that she would not survive. I do not
have any equipment to elevate skull fractures or make
burr holes, and don’t think it would help her anyway,
especially in our situation. So we are still learning
of cultural beliefs.
Have you eve had your eye burst? Has it happened to
any of your family? If you lived in Koza Cameroon it
could happen to you! Yesterday a patient came to my
office because his eye had burst in the morning. I
could not understand so I questioned further. Any
trauma to the eye, eye infection, pressure applied to
the eye, products put in the eye. The answer to all
was no. I asked what happened. I woke up this
morning with severe eye pain, when I got up it burst
and a white thing came protruding out. So I looked in
his weeping eye. It was blood shot and had what
appeared to be his eye lens, sticking through his
cornea out in front of his eye. What a sight to
behold! I was unsure what to do. What would you
ophthalmologists do in a place without any eye
equipment other than an ophthalmoscope. So I
amputated the part protruding out. He had not seen
for four years and I told him that I did not think
anything would bring back his sight now. I wanted to
refer him to Maroua before amputating the “thingâ€, but
he refused and said essentially to do whatever I could
and that would be it. I hope to see him back in two
days.
We are continually challenged physically,
spiritually, and medically. I must say that “never a
dull moment†seems to apply to our lives. If any of
you medical personnel or others want to ever visit us
you are always welcome. We just need at least a weeks
notice. Though as sometimes happens, the morning of
would suffice. Also we are looking for a physician to
cover our hospital while we are gone on furlough in
about 5 months. We plan to be back in the states mid
June to Mid August and the hospital needs a physician
to cover for us. If you are at all interested in
helping please write me or for a faster response call.
We check our email about every 2-4 weeks when we are
in town. Hope to hear from you. Keep us in your
prayers as we are continually challenged. In His
Service, Shanks
Shank
Hopital Adventiste de Koza
BP 53
Koza, Extrême Nord
CAMEROUN
To call from USA: 011-237-522-0278
Current Needs:
-replacement physician for our furlough mid June- mid
August
-cast cutting saw
-sterilizable drill
-equipment to make burr holes
-good needle drivers
-good scissors
-hospital repainted (half done)
-Accucheck Ascensia microfill glucose test strips
-large supply of prenatal multivitamins- our mulitvits
have 4 yes FOUR ingredients
-5 good stethoscopes
-4 dynamap blood pressure/ saturation/ pulse
rechargeable machines
-4 good blood pressure cuffs and one children’s cuff
-another portable saturation monitor machine
Larger Projects:
-medium sized generator for lab fridge, when power is
out
-hospital rewiring
-long term- a hospital pickup
-visiting friends