A Doctor's "Secret" Health Notes

I had a run of kiddies that had Inguinal Hernia repairs done recently - one of them, the two year old girl, didn't turn up on the 7th day post-op as appointed after her discharge on the 3rd day. Guess her parents had the wound-dressing finally removed elsewhere. She never did require the stitches removed - they were sub-cuticular and absorbable. Now, I'm begining to have a run of Bronchopnuemonia cases in children - two admitted by me; a third admitted by our Paediatrician who runs a once weekly clinic with us. The poor kids just sit there breathless and unhappy-looking. Their parents usually look even worse with worry. They fair very well on i.v. antibiotics though, and are usually home by the fourth or fifth day.

I've been working, yeah. Haven't posted for a while though. I really hope Europe and the US can eventually get their economic acts together, with the recent stories going round of a looming second recession by some experts. Depressing news indeed. And talking about getting the economies of regions going, when oh when will gumpshun reign supreme amongst African governments in general, Nigerian in particular. I removed the stitches of the 10-year old boy with Hernia, yesterday - the wound was far gone towards great healing. Wish I could say the same for our Nation

I repaired a Hernia in this bubbly 2-year old female patient. Quite uncommonly seen in girls, it was a right-sided Inguinal Hernia and I was glad when, at the expected moment, the Hernial sac ballooned upwards and showed itself in full view of I, Dr Larry (who was assistant surgeon) and the Anaesthetist, who watched anxiously in the hope of a quick surgery so she could get back to her primary place of duty without further delay - the Operation had started a little later than scheduled for her liking, and finding the Hernial sac in some cases could take a lengthy bit of dissection. The Hypoglycaemic Coma patient is still vegetating; too bad. If only he was brought in earlier.

Unfortunately, 14 hours had elapsed before one Mr Nwokocha was brought to us deeply unconscious. A known Type 1 Diabetic , he had usually injected himself daily with Insulin - the hormone that his body lacked in the right configuration, making him unable to properly utilize blood glucose. He had given himself the usual Insulin shot the morning of the previous day. Apparently he then must have gone into low blood sugar mode; his brain suffering the lack of glucose thereof, he then slipping off into an unconscious state. Unfortunately he was home alone. Eventually a neighbour managed, somehow, to find the poor man deeply unconscious the next morning. He still appears in a vegetative state, even now. His blood sugar count was very down indeed, a fast check showed, and of course he was infused with hypertonic glucose infusions, amongst other measures done to carefully bring him round. I'm afraid he already may have suffered irreversible brain tissue damage. I told this to his ...

A patient just died. This man, admitted a week ago, was old, had a weak heart and so on.. I'm generally not feeling up to speed myself, today. I'm in one of my moods, I guess. I'm out so I'll catch-up later.

Dr. Larry was to do a circumcision today. He abandoned the procedure from start when he discovered that the neonate had Hypospadias. And it was the worst degree - the urethral opening, rather than being in the normal position at the tip of the penis, was instead located at the ventral (underneath) surface of the penis at the base. I had to explain things to the confused mum when I resumed duty later that day. The child would need to do a corrective surgery at age 2 years or so. The problem with Hypospadias isn't so much a threat to life - in fact the child is in no danger at all and wee-wees easily through the abnormal opening. The real issue is the child's ability to impregnate a woman in future. On ejaculation, the semen must be deposited way up the vagina for a good chance of conception. You can therefore imagine now the problem. In Hypospadias, the semen tends to be deposited mid-level and below, greatly limiting the possibility of impregnation.

Taking a break from work can be so welcome often times. All that stress put behind. Medical duty can be fun at times but can also be so, so stressful. One old man I admitted few days ago, I learnt from Dr Larry that his blood pressure shot up for no apparent reason at all and so Dr Nsisi had to stay up most of the night to keep him safe. A Caesarean section yielded a surprise at theatre - we found a pedunculated Fibroid previously undetected by the scan. Dr Nsisi promptly removed it from its point of attachment at the right side of the womb. When I gripped it in my hand, I couldn't help imagining how well it would bounce off the floor if I had let it go - its size and consistency was similar to that of a tennis ball. I'm very good at tennis, by the way.

A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being is the W.H.O's definition of health. Health, therefore, is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Some would like to add spiriual well-being to the above definition. Without exception, every normal person has at many instances grappled with the matter of belief in a deity or the other; a Supreme Being or Force. God. I think I shall open a new tab, titled "God", very soon, whereupon I shall begin to reveal my very own personal thoughts and opinions about God, my Almighty Father, and His Son Jesus, the Lord of my whole being and Ruler of my existence.

The mother whose 9 months old foetus had died in her womb, was discharged the following day after she had expelled the dead foetus same day of admission - it was never determined what might have lead to the intra-uterine foetal death. No apparent cord accidents (sometimes the umbilical cord will get knotted if the baby moves about in such a manner to loop the cord into a knot!), nothing. The baby looked perfectly normal. God only knows. A woman was Caesarean sectioned yesterday - her fourth section in a row. She had quite a bit of adhesions so much so that the Obstetrician inadvertently lacerated the urinary bladder that was then promptly repaired. No wonder then that today she painfully called the nurses attention to the fact that her lower abdomen is so painfully swollen - the urethral catheter had become blocked with blood clots from within the bladder, impeding the outward flow of urine and causing her great discomfort. Quickly I changed the Foley's catheter and was glad to ...

Keeping a web diary can be a bit demanding atimes.. I've been uploading stuff here and there on this blog. A patient suffered an intra-uterine foetal death 2 days ago; the poor woman. None is the wiser as to the exact cause of the 9-month old foetus's demise. It was looking like early first-stage labour when I was attending to her on admission, however I couldn't hear the foetal heart beat! -  a quick scan confirmed the unfortunate diagnosis.