AFARA 360

DIABETIC FOOT ULCER AND AMPUTATION

The right leg of Iya Rashidah was amputated last week. It was a devastating experience. Two months earlier, Iya Rashidah was making amala, turning it inside a pot while using her feet against two napkins to hold the pot steady on the floor. The usual way.

Unknown to her, a right toe was touching the pot directly & got heated up. That's where the problem started. The wound did not heal, the toe became black & dead, & the death spread gradually upwards.
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On average, 1 in every 14 people in the world are diabetic. Diabetes is a deadly disease with a variety of life threatening complications if not well treated, including stroke, heart attack, blindness, kidney failure, and foot wounds that often result in amputations.

The truth is that this handicapping complication is preventable.
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The most important risk factor for developing diabetic foot wound is poor blood sugar control. Poor blood sugar control leads to a variety of abnormalities like nerve (neuropathy) and blood vessel (peripheral vascular disease) impairments. These together with weak immunity present in diabetics predispose them to foot wounds. The wounds may not heal easily & then progress to a stage when some body tissues become dead (gangrenous) and amputation becomes inevitable.

It is important to note that at this stage (when there is dead, black tissue, i.e. gangrene formation), failure to amputate puts the patient’s life at serious risk. The dead & harmful tissues will spread in the blood, cause severe sepsis & eventually the person's death.
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Prevention is better than cure.
Here are 6 things to help prevent amputation. Tell someone & share!:
1. Good blood sugar control. She must be strictly compliant with her medications (drugs or insulin injections) & dietary modifications.

2. She must ensure regular specialist clinic attendance. The specialist will help to monitor her progress & review her medications & check for complications.

3. Good foot care practices
o Daily foot inspection, including the sole of the foot (using a mirror). She must check her foot every day or ask someone else to help her if her sight is impaired.
o She must wash her foot every day and towel dry it.
o She must always wear a footwear, even when she is indoors.
o But she should avoid the following footwear: Dunlop slippers and other slippers with soft soles (sharp objects may pe*****te), high heel shoes, footwear with open front (may easily have a wound if hit her foot against something), and tight wears including socks.
o Avoid applying the foot on hot materials, eg avoid Iya Rashidah's method of making amala

4. Good nail care practices
o When she wants to trim your nails, pls do so after a bath or following brief immersion in warm water, to make them soft. Nail cutter should be used, NOT razor blade!
o Nail manipulations (fixing, etc) of any form (especially for females) should be avoided
o Use of lubricants for dry foot is encouraged

5. Early medical intervention should be sought for any foot complaints or injury.
o Seek medical care immediately!
o Don't treat at home
o Don't wait till the leg or hand turns black
o Don't put 'gbere' (traditional cuts). It introduces infections into the wound.

6. Yearly comprehensive foot examination at the hospital is highly recommended

In conclusion, diabetic foot wounds (we call them ulcers) and resultant limb amputation is a severe debilitating complication that is preventable by strict blood sugar control and good practices.
Tell someone today.

Thanks Dr Oloso Aqib Afolabi for original submission.

It was not just an Honor, but also a Privilege to Partner With .404b2 on the Diabetes Awareness and Screening (Access to Diabetes Care .

A Special Thank You to and his team and the Entire Afara Medical Team.

Medicine and SPIRITUAL HEALING
By Dr Oluranti Johnson Richard

4-year old Aduni was brought to the hospital by her parents with complaints of fever and neck stiffness which started before the child became unconscious. After the necessary examination and lab tests, the doctor explained to the parent that the child had meningitis. Treatment was started and the child was starting to get better. Glory to God!

While the medical team were still basking in the euphoria of the success of the treatment, the father came up with a stern request to discharge his daughter. He had gone to consult a spiritualist who told him all the child needed was spiritual intervention. All efforts to counsel the parent proved abortive.

Poor Aduni was taken away against medical advice.

5 days later, she was rushed back to the emergency room. But it was too late. Aduni was dead already.

My dear patients,
I'm not against African healing method or prayers. Prayer is necessary, prayer is very effective. I believe in the supernaturals, I believe in God.

But, please, don't keep a sick person anywhere apart from the hospital. Let the sick person be receiving care in the hospital while the spiritual healers engage in spiritual warfare/appeasing of the gods, on behalf of the sick, from the spiritual homes. The effect will reach the sick person in the hospital.

This is called joint effort. aka Team work.

Remember, the force of the supernatural can travel any distance within seconds....to reach the sick person and heal her.


-Dr. Oluranti J. Richard, an alumnus of the University of Ibadan College of Medicine is an author and public health commentator, focusing on promotion of women's health and allied matters. He's a passionate advocate for a healthy & friendly doctor-patient relationship.
Cc Oluwatunase Oluranti Racheal Oluwatopraise

The newly chartered Lagos Knights of the Blind Cyber Lions Club @ campaigned on solagoskobcyberlccial media to raise awareness on childhood cancer and provide emotional support to children and families affected by childhood cancer through impactful messages of hope.

In partnership with an NGO advocating for high quality, safe and patient-centered care, the club will also distribute fliers with childhood cancer facts and preventive measures.

The Charter President, Lion Olawale Olapegba MJF, NLCF commented on the first project of the Club “Beyond giving food and gifts to cancer patients, the world needs messages of hope to these brave kids. We saw the need to go for gold - to identify and connect with them, their families, and the medical teams. This is more about meeting emotional needs and ”

#9 Auxiliary nurse: Jack of all trades, master of harm.

Mrs Tope is not feeling fine. She calls Anty nurse, the auxiliary nurse on the next street. Anty nurse gives Mrs Tope drips for 2days, several injections & 6 satchets of drugs. She even collects blood in a syringe and tells Mrs Tope she will test it.
Anty nurse- the nurse, the doctor, the pharmacist & the lab scientist. Jack of all trades.

Mrs Tope feels better and goes back to work.

Some weeks after, Mrs Tope lands in hospital after she collapsed at home. She had diabetes, she was in coma and her kidneys were failing.
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Dear Patients,

Know that 'auxiliary nurse' is just a fancy name for a quack.
Someone who can kill you.
Because she doesn't quite know what she's doing
Because she doesn't understand the human body
And she doesnt know the science behind the treatment she's giving you.
She was trained by quacks, merely by observing trial & errors, in private hospitals that employ her as cheap labour.

If the treatment doesn't kill you, it could kill you slowly. And like in Mrs Tope's case, you'd think you have been treated. When in actual fact, the illness is still there, spreading & getting worse.

It's your life. Why entrust it to an auxiliary nurse?

NB: 1) In some countries, like the UK, auxiliary nurses play a genuine role as health assistants. Their training is sound & their practice regulated.
Until Nigeria gets to that stage, protect your life, protect your organs.

2) Kudos to all registered nurses who are well trained & enforce ethics of the profession. We love you.

-drsaidah

In this new month, Your Joy will be complete, Victory Songs will not cease from your Mouth and Each New Day will bring you closer to the Fullness of your Destiny.

Happy New Month!!!