A letter from Sue Makin in Malawi
May 26, 2009
Bone instruments for gynecology
Friends,
They must have thought I was crazy. Here was Dr. Makin, obstetrician/gynecologist at Mulanje Mission Hospital, in the operating room asking for the bone instruments used in orthopedic surgery. But my patient and I were literally “between a rock and a hard place.” I was trying to remove a softball sized stone from my patient’s bladder under spinal anesthesia and not making much progress with my usual surgical instruments. Here is the sad story of Ellen Pingala.
Mrs. Pingala came to our hospital a few days ago, having already gone to three hospitals in Mozambique and another hospital in Malawi.
She had been leaking urine for eight years after her second cesarean section in Mozambique. Her husband had left her after she got out of the hospital. She had been having a lot of abdominal pain. Her friends and neighbors accused her of having syphilis or other sexually-transmitted infections because that was the only explanation they could imagine for her constant abdominal pains. The reality was that she had a hole in her bladder, and a stone had formed in her bladder over the eight years that grown to the size of a softball.
I had taken her to the operating room to remove this stone by way of the vagina. The stone was extremely difficult to get a good grasp on. I tried all of the clamps I had available among my regular instruments. Then I thought of the chisels and other tough instruments the orthopedic surgeons use. Once I had the chisels I could chop away at the stone and finally take it out in pieces. I had to be careful to do no damage to the wall of the bladder surrounding the stone or to any other vital organs in the area.
Sue Makin (far right) with Ellen Pingala (center) and a hospital attendant from Mulanje Mission Hospital.
This morning I had the chance to chat with Mrs. Pingala, explain what we have already done, and discuss our plans for the future. She was very happy to know that all of her operations and medicines are being paid for by Presbyterians who care about women with vesico-vaginal fistulas in Malawi. We plan to see her again in three months to make sure the tissues of the bladder have healed well, and to make sure another stone has not started forming. After that, we plan to do an operation to repair the hole in her bladder. It is a long road ahead, but with God’s help and good surgery and nursing, we hope that she will one day be dry and able to begin a happier life in Mozambique.
The work of the healing ministry of Jesus Christ is continuing in Malawi. I am thankful that I have been able to begin my eleventh year here in Mulanje. At the end of this present term I plan to return to live in the United States, and hope to obtain a medical license in North Carolina and work in the public health sector of that state. Thanks be to God for all His blessings.
World Mission Challenge
This fall, forty mission workers will be visiting hundreds of congregations across the United States to tell how God is at work around the world. The event is called World Mission Challenge, a reprise of a similar event in 2007. It’ll be held September 25–October 18, 2009. Learn more at the Mission Challenge Web site or call Ellen Dozier at 888-728-7228, x5916.
World Mission Challenge will conclude with World Mission Celebration, a large gathering for Presbyterians who care deeply about mission. That event will be held October 22–24 in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the adjoining Duke Energy Center. Learn more at the Mission Celebration Web site or call Lis Valle at 888-728-7228 x5279.
Yours in service,
Sue Makin
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44
