Putting Faces with Names

We wanted to introduce you to some of the patients we have been working with here at Tenwek Hospital.

First, we will update you on "Jane." As you may remember, Jane was admitted in mid-September after experiencing an obstructed labor at home. She lost her baby and was dealing with multiple complications including urinary and fecal incontinence, foot drop, wound/abdominal infections, and depression. Each day, she endured painful dressing changes. As Jane laid in her bed on the wards, she watched the other moms come and go with their healthy newborn babies. Despite all of her battles, she continues to fight. We would like to thank you for all your prayers for Jane. We are happy to report that she will be discharged this week after 45 days in the hospital. Her fecal incontinence and foot drop have resolved. Her urinary incontinence is dramatically improved. Her incision is still draining some pus, but it appears that she will retain her uterus. And most importantly, her spirit seems strong. We are inspired by her resolve to heal both physically and emotionally. We pray her next pregnancy will be uncomplicated.

We would like to introduce you to Ruth next. For most of her 2 month admission, she has occupied the bed next to Jane. Her story is similar, except thankfully her baby survived. She has been in the hospital for wound infection complications after a C-section. Her incision became infected and was opened. We attempted to close her incision 3 times, but infection returned each time. We are now allowing her incision to heal on its own. This will take weeks/months to happen and is difficult to keep clean once we send patients home because of their living conditions. Her postpartum course has also been complicated by a blood clot in her leg. Ruth is one of our favorite patients because she has a beautiful smile that greets us every morning on rounds. She seems so content to know she has a healthy baby and that all her complications will resolve when the time is right. It has been a good lesson for us on patience and faith - to witness Ruth's resolve that she will get better, even if it takes a while. Ruth has been discharged home, but is still in the hospital because her family cannot afford to pay her hospital bill. There is a "Needy Patient Fund" that helps with these matters and hopefully Ruth will make it home to her family soon.

Lastly, we will introduce you to Rose. Recently a team from Tenwek flew to southern Sudan to look at long term ways to assist a small hospital there. Sudan has had civil unrest for years and there is an upcoming referendum in January to vote whether southern Sudan will secede from northern Sudan. There is great concern of violence for the people of Sudan because of the upcoming vote. On this recent trip, Dr. Carol Spears (a general surgeon here) met Rose. She works at the hospital and translates for an Italian doctor there. She had a pelvic mass that was growing rapidly and becoming more uncomfortable. Since they did not have the resources to help her in Sudan, she flew back with the Tenwek team to our hospital. Dr. Spears and Bryan removed a 10 x 10 cm ovarian mass which appears hopefully to be benign. She had an uncomplicated post-operative course and is ready to travel back to Sudan and continue her work at the hospital. She is a gracious woman with 4 young children at home. She is returning to a country where her safety is unknown pending the upcoming referendum results. Sometimes we are immune or perhaps "desensitized" to war and violence that occur around our world. It makes us rethink things when we encounter patients like Rose. We pray she will remain safe in southern Sudan, and that all people living in places of war and conflict will know peace.