Not unlike at the hospital I work at in the US, we had a late night trauma case. It was a motorcycle/moped versus pedestrian collision and I believe alcohol was involved. In Gabon they are seeing more and more trauma as the roads begin to get paved. The drivers of cars and motorcycles now feel they can go faster because of the paving. Of course, alcohol involvement doesn't help.
The pedestrian's leg was pretty banged up. He had a compound fracture (bone sticking out) of his tibia and multiple lacerations of his face and head. We took him to the operating room emergently to clean up and stabilize his leg--very similar to the US. All went well. God is good.
The motorcycle operator has multiple facial fractures and will likely need to go to the operating room for repair. As you know, I am here with an oral surgeon, Jack Ewig, who sees and repairs facial trauma routinely. He asked Keir, the lead missionary surgeon, if they see a lot of facial trauma like this and quite honestly he stated, "none over the past year or so." While I wouldn't wish this trauma on anyone, isn't it like God to have an expert in place when it does happen. It will afford the patient great care and it will be an excellent opportunity for teaching of the missionary surgeons and residents. God is good.
