Nathaniel came to see me last week crying and had a very swollen face. His mom said the swelling has just occurred in the last few weeks. He had been to another hospital a few times, but they weren't sure what was going on. After he quit crying, he allowed me to exam him a bit. His eye was swollen secondary to the tumor and it was invading inside his mouth. The only I knew that worked that quickly was Burkitt's Lymphoma. I had only recently learned that Burkitt
's lymphoma was common in PNG. I had seen it in Ghana when I was there, and once in the states. It is a fast growing tumor that is related to the Epstein Barr Virus. In Africa and PNG, it often presents as a facial tumor, in the US typically it is an abdominal tumor. I talked to his mom about starting chemotherapy, and they came back the next day with the money to start. So that day, I gave him the first round of treatment, cyclophosphamide, and then he went home. Today was his followup, and he looked normal, the swelling was gone. Praise God for His healing power through medicine. Seeing the dramatic change helps me to appreciate all the more why the books talk about explaining how long these kids will need treatment because they look better and often won't keep following up. He is now admitted for further chemo to start tomorrow. Pray for him and his mom, that they will stay the course with the treatment and that he will have complete remission.
