Medical Emergencies
Most of our days are pretty routine with the occasional difficult case to keep us on our toes. This past week we have had a couple of life threating situations that required urgent care.
The first one involved a little 10 year old girl. She came in for a routine extraction one morning and everything was straight forward. Her Mother brought her back to the clinic a few hours later bleeding pretty heavy. I numbed her again and cleaned out the socket and packet it with surgicel and sutured it tightly. Normally that is case closed but not for her. We moved the ship and two days later her father brought her 40 kilometers on a motorcycle and she was still bleeding, for three days! I again numbed her and did everything I could for 2 hours to stop the bleeding and could not. Dr Rus Burcham and I have neither one ever seen one like this in our combined 70 years of practice! We decided to start her on an IV and rush her to a hospital. We drove her 6 hrs to Phnom Penh and they did transfusions and testing immediately. I think she is a true hemophyliac. Her Dad told the MD her brother was this way too and they knew she was like him before they ask me to take out the tooth! Wished they would have told me! I thought she might bleed out at one point! She was white as a sheet and unresponsive at times before we got her to the hospital. I prayed hard that God would spare her life and to my knowledge, He did. Prasie be to God.
Two days later a 15 year old boy came in comatose. Our MD immediately suspected menengitis and we rushed him to the hospital as well. I hope things settle down this next week! I am ready for some more normal routine.
The first one involved a little 10 year old girl. She came in for a routine extraction one morning and everything was straight forward. Her Mother brought her back to the clinic a few hours later bleeding pretty heavy. I numbed her again and cleaned out the socket and packet it with surgicel and sutured it tightly. Normally that is case closed but not for her. We moved the ship and two days later her father brought her 40 kilometers on a motorcycle and she was still bleeding, for three days! I again numbed her and did everything I could for 2 hours to stop the bleeding and could not. Dr Rus Burcham and I have neither one ever seen one like this in our combined 70 years of practice! We decided to start her on an IV and rush her to a hospital. We drove her 6 hrs to Phnom Penh and they did transfusions and testing immediately. I think she is a true hemophyliac. Her Dad told the MD her brother was this way too and they knew she was like him before they ask me to take out the tooth! Wished they would have told me! I thought she might bleed out at one point! She was white as a sheet and unresponsive at times before we got her to the hospital. I prayed hard that God would spare her life and to my knowledge, He did. Prasie be to God.
Two days later a 15 year old boy came in comatose. Our MD immediately suspected menengitis and we rushed him to the hospital as well. I hope things settle down this next week! I am ready for some more normal routine.
posted by Rick Northen at 5:23 AM
1 Comments:
Wow, what amazing stories! You guys are answered prayers to so many who would never receive care if it weren't for you. When I hear stories like that- I think to myself, what if that was my child. Jesus is so merciful,thanks for showing His mercy to the people of Cambodia!
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