Wednesday, September 3, 2014

My first American patient

Angie and I are having a great time in Swaziland. This past weekend, we went to Kruger Park in South Africa and went on safari. During the course of the safari ride, Angie felt something fly into her right eye. Her eye immediately started tearing and she became more photophobic throughout the course of the day.

It continued to hurt the next day, and of course, without a slit lamp I couldn't tell exactly what was wrong with her eye. As luck would have it, she was traveling with an ophthalmologist (me) and staying as the guest of yet another ophthalmologist (Dr. Pons). If a health issue had to arise on our trip, what luck that it would be an eye problem!

We drove home to Siteki Sunday night, and I drove straight to Dr. Pons and Helen's house. I apologized for dropping in unannounced, but asked Jono if I could borrow the keys to the eye clinic (just down the road) to examine Angie. He replied, "Well, why don't you just use the slit lamp here at the house?!"

Angie and I laughed...somehow it did not surprise me that Dr. Pons has a slit lamp at his house. Albeit old, it still functions well. Our clinic here is NOT one to waste resources, and something that may be considered "old", "out of date", or "useless" in the States is cherished and well-used here in Swaziland.

It was very handy. I examined her, determined she didn't have a foreign body, but rather a significant corneal abrasion (scratch on her cornea) and it was healed by the next afternoon.

All is well again.

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