Up Date on "Medical Happenings"

This is Tominiko and his wife in the Tarawa Hospital private ward. Thankfully he was doing better! He was able to bear his weight on the right leg sufficient to walk! He was also able to move his shoulder and arm some. He had slight movement to his finger as well. There can be little doubt that the knife tip went right between two vertebra into the spinal canal. I was certain of this when he commented on all the "water" draining out of the wound! This is not water but cerebral spinal fluid! He also noted that he had numbness to the entire LEFT side of his body from the neck down. Closer exam and questioning revealed that what was missing on the left side was the ability to perceive pain and temperature. He could still feel light touch on the left. This makes perfect sense from a neuro-anatomical point of view and fits with the problems he is having with the muscles on the right side of his body. He was receiving antibiotics through a vein in his arm and I was surely thankful to see that as he runs such a risk of infection that would quickly involve his brian. He is so fortunate to be alive and walking! We had a nice visit and I was thankful for the opportunity to pray for him and his recovery. I will see if he is yet in the hospital when we return to Kiribati.

The woman with the possible appendicitis was discharged from the hospital and is back home now feeling back to normal. Thankfully, she never needed an operation!