PICTURE

I came across this picture, painted by a medical missionary, Kuhn Hong. It depicts a scene at the Mbingo Hospital in Cameroon. When I saw it it reminded me of the Nigerian Christian Hospital and Dr. Farrar, its founder.

DESPAIR

Not all cases end happily. These two children came in very late-one with an encephalocoele and one with hydrocephalus. We referred them to a neurosurgeon.

LITHOPEDION-SMALL BOWEL OBSTRUCTION

This specimen came from a woman with a SBO. We operated and found a hard calcified mass in the omentum with a loop of attached small bowel. If you look carefully you can see an eye (one eye is covered by omental fat), mouth and the femurs. This woman had an intraabdominal pregnancy that died and calcified!

CHECKUP

This lady came for a checkup. Last trip she had a hemimandibulectomy for fibrous dysplasia. She is eating and speaking normally.

FUNGATING BREAST CANCER

This lady is sweet and tough. She always had a smile. She underwent 3 courses of chemo for her breast cancer and then we did a mastectomy. She never complained and was raising her hands up to praise the Lord on day one. We all hope she does well.

THYROGLOSSAL DUCT CYST

This your girl came with a neck cyst that was slowly growing for years. It was a thyroglossal duct cyst. This is not uncommon in Nigeria. I was proud of this case since we were able to remove it without rupturing the cyst. We performed a Sistrunk procedure.

BRENDAN MADU, MD

Brendan Madu is an upper level resident at the Federal Medical Center in Umuahia, Nigeria. I have known Brendan for several years and he is a humble, extremely pleasant chap who is eager to learn surgery. These qualities make him a very easy to teach. In just a few weeks during this past trip, Brendan became quite adept at thyroid surgery. He will be a great surgeon one day and I am glad to have the opportunity to teach him.

Brendan Madu, MD