Ameloblastomas are benign but locally aggressive tumors that most often arise in the mandible (lower jaw). While they grow slowly, patients in Kenya frequently present with very large masses by the time they come for treatment — far larger than any I encountered during my surgical training in the United States. Once these tumors reachContinueContinue reading “Giving Hope Through Jaw Reconstruction: Treating Ameloblastoma in Kenya”
Category Archives: Medical
Baby Olivia’s Story
Read about a one of my patients on the hospital blog. When baby Olivia was born earlier this year, his mother’s heart swelled with a mix of emotions. She had imagined welcoming her daughter with joy, not fear, grief, and desperation. As she held her newborn, her gaze remained fixed on a large swelling onContinueContinue reading “Baby Olivia’s Story”
Restoring her voice
In between the routine patients, standard surgeries, and minor problems which color the background of my work at Kijabe come patients with heart-wrenching stories, difficult problems, and occasionally triumphs. https://youtu.be/EwCiPQEsp28 I took the camera with me for a day in theatre (the operating room). Don’t worry, you won’t see anything too graphic. The patient featuredContinueContinue reading “Restoring her voice”
October 2024 Update
Greetings friends, Thank you for caring about our neighbors and our family in Kijabe. This fall has continued to be an interesting time, with encouraging events like rebuilding from the floods and new families moving to Kijabe, and challenges like national strikes over education and healthcare. Continue below to hear a patient story, a libraryContinueContinue reading “October 2024 Update”
Trip to Tenwek
This past week I traveled to Tenwek at the behest of the new Kenyan neurosurgeon at the hospital. He had arranged for a visiting American neurosurgeon and myself to do two transphenoidal pituitary cases together to give him more experience. Tenwek is a mission hospital in Bomet, usually about 4 hours away. There were massiveContinueContinue reading “Trip to Tenwek”
Healing with Fire
Those diseases which medicines do not cure, iron cures; those which iron cannot cure, fire cures; and those which fire cannot cure, are to be reckoned wholly incurable.Hippocrates Medicine has come a long way from the days of Hippocrates, but his quote is a surprisingly accurate description of our modern treatment algorithm. Trade iron forContinueContinue reading “Healing with Fire”
1 year at Kijabe Mission Hospital
This year at Kijabe has been a beautiful season of growth for our family as we adapt to the daily routines of life in Kenya. Click on the video to hear about what we have been doing in this past year.
Call Day
Sundays at Kijabe Hospital are usually limited to inpatient rounds, but every now and then there is decidedly more excitement. This past Sunday began early, the peaceful morning pierced abruptly by a WhatsApp message from the on-call general surgeon. A “mass casualty” had unfolded overnight, with three victims having facial trauma. I found that textContinueContinue reading “Call Day”
Interesting Cases
Among the hundreds of cases that I have done in Kenya so far, these few stood out. This patient had a glomus jugulare tumor, which is a tumor that arises from the skull base where the jugular vein exits the brain. The former ENT here removed the tumor a few years ago in a majorContinueContinue reading “Interesting Cases”
Clinical Work
It has taken a while to figure out how I feel about the hospital; I’m sure my opinion will continue to evolve. But you might be curious and maybe the process of writing about it will bring my own views into clarity. Providing any type of patient care in this country is not an easyContinueContinue reading “Clinical Work”
Kenya Hear 