This last week, I attended the Nebraska state PA conference. I am required to attend continuing education in order to maintain my lisence to practice medicine. The 18th was Caleb's eleventh birthday, so we got an extra hotel room and went as a family. There was a pool with HUGE waterslides and a fun museum (yes, our homeschooled kids do think museums are fun).
We seek to live in a state of expectation that all things happen on purpose. We had felt a lot of peace that we were suppose to attend this conference. Why this one and not another? During the first morning of lectures I received an answer. The lecture was on Pediatric Neurology. Among the many aliments, the speaker talked about Hydrocephalus (in Latin - "water head"). It is really a plumbing problem. The water (CSF) that circulates around the brain is not allowed to flow out freely, causing backpressure. Untreated, these kids do not survive. In the U.S., this is a straight forward surgical fix. In Guatemala, not such an easy fix. Above is a picture of our friend, Dr. Heidi Bell, examining a child with Hydrocephalus. When I was in Guatemala helping with the medical clinics, we would see about one child a week that had this issue.
After the lecture, I asked the speaker about possible non-surgical options (there aren't too many pediatric neurosurgeons running around the highlands of Guatemala). We had a good discussion lasting for several minutes. He told me that, in the past, they would wrap the heads of the babies to apply pressure which would cause the water to be absorbed. Although there can be complications and it won't always help, he had heard of missionaries trying this with some success. My next step is to do some research in old medical journals (at least 30 years old) to see how this had been done in the past.
It was exciting to me to discuss a treatment for these sick kids that could really change their outcome. Also, I am excited because I am sensing a shift in how I am thinking about medicine and feel like God is preparing me to go and serve. - Don
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