Chuck at Mbingo in May 2018

Chuck was at Mbingo in May and here are some updates from his trip.

Guess the diagnosis?...TB is always a good guess.  In this case it is the largest TB pericarditis effusion any of us had ever seen.  He showed up as an outpatient with increased shortness of breath and had early tamponade on his echo.  He had 3L of fluid removed from around his heart by pericardiocentesis that night and a drain was left in.  He had another 1.5L removed the next morning.  He was put on TB drugs and steroids and will be followed and hopefully he will not develop constrictive pericarditis in the future.  We see a lot of this at Mbingo, but this was the most extreme effusion we had ever seen.

As Angela mentioned before when she was there in March, the CT scanner is up and running.  This shows a picture from the control room.  The technicians are doing a great job and we are getting digital images quickly.  The images are then sent over the internet and read by residents and faculty at Rush University usually within 24 hours.  The cost is very fair for our area in Cameroon and really as low as we can make it.  It costs about 50,000 CFA for a non-contrasted scan and a little more with contrast.  That is about 90 US dollars.

This is a CT scan that shows a ring-enhancing lesion from toxoplasmosis.  This is an infection in the brain associated with HIV.  It is treatable with antibiotics, but difficult to diagnosis without a CT scan.   This is one example of how the CT scanner has greatly benefited our patients.

The infrastructure at the hospital continues to improve.  This is the new pathology lab with plenty of space for preparation of slides and specimens.  You can see the new chemistry lab through the back windows as well.  There is finally room for all the staff and pathology techs that are helping Dr. Bardin (missionary pathologist/internist at Mbingo).  This is such a huge improvement over the small dark room that he had been working out of for years.

Chuck had 2 internal medicine residents join him on this trip.  This picture is from the back waterfall hike just after it started raining.  Daniel Herlihy (left) and Anthony Roohollahi (center) had a great time at Mbingo.  They both rounded on the wards and helped with teaching conferences.

This shows Anthony teaching the residents and NP students about the lung exam in our new conference room.  Anthony is doing a pulmonary/critical care fellowship next year and also spent time working in our ICU at Mbingo.

Daniel is doing a GI fellowship starting next year and was able to help with some endoscopy while at Mbingo.  This shows him in our new endoscopy suite with Emmanuel on the left (tech) and Dr. Albert Nyanga behind on the right (Internist and Assistant Program Director of the CIMS residency). Dr. Nyanga and Chuck helped Daniel with endoscopy and he did great job.

This is a picture from the new chapel church service for patients on Sunday mornings.  This service has been going for about a year and it provides a way for patients and families to go to church and worship God without having to walk to one of the local churches.  The chapel is right at the hospital and the service is run by the chaplains.  This is a great ministry and we enjoyed being a part of it. 

This is Dr. Chukwuemeka, his wife, and newborn son, Joshua.  He is a new PAACS resident (surgery) at Mbingo and he is from Nigeria.  When he found out he was coming to Mbingo in Cameroon, he did not know anything about our hospital.  He Googled it and found our blog.  He read the whole thing and felt better about moving his family to a new country for his training.  Chuck told him that he had to be on the blog now!

This tiny little frog was parked just beside the lock to our house.  He was there most of the day just enjoying his little spot.  We see frogs often, but never one this tiny or green.

Chuck had a good trip in May, but the political unrest in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon has continued to escalate.  Chuck thought he might have to cancel this trip, but was ultimately able to go.  Since he left, the violence has increased further and we are not going to be able to go this summer for our normal longer trip with our family.  At this time, no kids and no non-essential volunteers are able to go to Mbingo.  We are praying that this changes soon and that peace can return to Cameroon.  We are heartbroken about not being able to go, but even more so for our friends and family in Cameroon.  Please pray for them.  We know God continues to have a plan for Mbingo.