A Doctor's "Secret" Health Notes

August 13th Dr Larry assisted me in the Theatre in a Lumpectomy operation - the surgical excision of a "lump"- the lump being located at the middle of the back of this man, a company patient. It was a Lipoma, the size of my fist. I usually enjoy the part where I scoop-out the fatty lump whole, using my fingers. It then leaves a pot-hole-like space subcutaneously, which I must then close with absorbable sutures. I failed to mention three weeks or so earlier, a near-fatal incident in the operating Theatre. A male patient almost died even before we began the surgical removal of yet another Lipoma, this time located at his neck, posteriorly. I usually use local anaesthetic just as I did in today's case. This involves injecting the anaesthetic fluid locally, so as to completely deaden that area to pain. I proceeded in similar manner that fateful day, whence upon the patient began slowly to act stuporous. Then he began to have violent spasms while screaming at the top of his

August 8th It's interesting the way things happen almost in unison. They say "trouble comes in threes". I've recently been giving a young man on-line medical advice concerning a possible "prostate situation" - as he called it - that he may be suffering from. Then, along came two more prostatic disease situations encountered today. The first was this forty-something year old man. He suffered a low-grade, nagging pain in his perinium - the area that is between the anus and the scrotum. There was associated pains occassioned in both testes, with straining, before he is able to pass urine and even at that, the urinary stream is poor and it breaks and dribbles. All these had been on now for several months. I concluded that he may have Chronic Prostatitis. Another likely diagnosis of course is a Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH) which simply put, is a progressive enlargening of the prostate gland which happens not to be cancerous, hence, we say it is benign. I p

August 3rd I'm on my week-end off, however I had to be called to assist Dr Nsisi in performing an Elective Caesarean Section. I greeted the patient in the Theatre to help cancel some of her anxieties. The indication for the Section was, a previous Section in the past as well as a Breech presentation currently (buttocks-down position). What this indicates is that a past Caesarean Section would have weakened the potential strength with which the womb can muscularly contract during labour. This fact, now coupled with a Breech presentation which on its own constitutes its own difficulties for the baby's smooth passage, is what informed the decision as regards the mode of delivery. Hence, the option for an Elective (Planned) Caesarean Section. The surgery went very well. I cannot believe I failed to update you - The Hysteric patient with the convulsion. She turned out to be H.I.V. positive. Meaning that her convulsive seizures (or fits) must have been H.I.V. Encephalopathy, thou