24 Jan 2021
The story included all of the typical elements, but I still had to test it for myself. Bitten by a dog a few weeks ago, but the dog was immediately killed. The wound had healed. For a couple of days now, the patient had been showing signs ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 11th, 2021
20 Dec 2020
"We have a trauma patient in the ER," the nurse came to inform us while I was seeing consults just outside the operating room and Andrew was operating. "Okay, bring him here." The patient was carried in, bleeding through a bandage on the b...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 8th, 2021
14 Dec 2020
Everyone should wear goggles and ear protection while harvesting rice.
A 20-something-year-old man sat on the bench in urgence (ER). The urgence nurse gestured toward him, "He got rice in his eye while he was working in the field. It's st...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 8th, 2021
31 Aug 2020
Often in medicine we have to work for the good of our patients rather than for appreciation from our patients. If we're treating invisible diseases like diabetes or hypertension, or even potentially life-threatening conditions like pre-ecl...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 7th, 2021
14 Aug 2020
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 6th, 2021
11 Aug 2020
8:30 pm. Another phone call?? That's the sixth call this evening. What happened to rainy season?!
Nurse: "The baby has a hemoglobin of 2. The mother came alone."
Grumpy doctor: Great. I wonder if there's any blood in the blood bank fridg...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 6th, 2021
1 Aug 2020
Stranded, separated indefinitely, waiting and hoping for a long-anticipated reunion.
Is the airport open today? The announcement weeks ago said that August 1 would be the day. We don't have internet now, and none of us have tried to leave ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 6th, 2021
31 July 2020
"You're going to love every minute!"
I heard these words two years ago, during those last few months, those months of preparation and anticipation and trepidation. Before France. Before Tchad.
I've wondered many times since then, was it ...
Staci Davenport
Posted on June 6th, 2021
30 July 2020
The airport closed, and one of our doctors couldn't come back at the end of her vacation.
"That's ok," we reasoned, "It has to open eventually, and she'll make it back. At least it has to open by the time our annual leaves are scheduled....
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
17 July 2020
"Doctor, on a reçu un enfant à la pediatrie. Elle a avalé l'argent." We have received a child at pediatrics. She swallowed a coin an hour ago.
The x-ray confirmed the story. A large, circular, radio-opaque object--consistent with the 25 f...
Staci Davenport
Posted on September 9th, 2020
