Music on a Tin Roof

Hello All,

Another week gone by in Papua New Guinea, I really don’t have too much to report, but here goes. The weather here continues much the same. We have now had three days out of 34 when it hasn’t rained. As I write this blog, it is raining heavily with some small hail. It really is a musical extravaganza under this tin roof.

Gynecologic surgeries continue, mostly PID (pelvic infections), ectopic pregnancy, and caesarian sections. I have also done a number of cervical cancer surgeries, but no malignant ovarian cancer cases yet. I have seen several patients with advanced ovarian cancer, but too advanced for surgery here (facility limitations make this type of surgery impractical).

The obstetrics ward has also been busy. I have had 28-30 patients to round on, on several occasions. We recently had a nursery graduate that weighed 1000 grams at birth, and now has gone home.

One week ago, we had a placenta previa patient that came in with a massive hemorrhage. She had lost 1000cc by the time she made it into surgery. The baby was depressed, but responded to some TLC and was recovered by the next morning. The mother would not stop bleeding after delivery of the baby and placenta and I wound up doing a caesarian hysterectomy. We used up all compatible blood in the blood bank, I believe, 5 units of whole blood and 2 units of packed cells by the close of the case. When all the smoke cleared, I estimated blood loss to be 3500cc. Luckily; you can’t kill young, healthy people easily. The next morning the patient was up and about and looked like a dusky rose. Praise the Lord!

Enough PNG news for now

 

PS: I just went out after the storm. There are trees down all over the station. At least 3 or 4 houses took some damage and one was nearly destroyed! No reported injuries, thank the Lord!

Tyronza and I heard two loud crashes during the storm. When we ventured out to investigate, there were two large pine trees down in the back yard. The avocado tree in my yard was also blown over, and little children have come from everywhere to pick it clean. We will likely not have power for the next few days. Please pray for us. A week without a shower may be more than I can bear. We miss you.

Dr. P & Tyronza