Lupi Had a Stroke

Stroke is often not well-understood by the lay public in PNG. Sometimes we, as doctors, don't do very well at explaining it.

This gentleman is named Lupi. His stroke occurred about 2 months ago. His family brought him to Kudjip expecting that he'd be admitted, so that we could correct the problem. I sadly explained that there was nothing that we could do in the wards that we couldn't do as an outpatient.

In examining him, I realized that the use of his arm and leg were limited, not so much by weakness, as by trouble controlling and coordinating them. I asked his son to help me, and with just a bit of steadying assistance, Lupi made it to his feet. Once up, he could stand with just a little help with balance. He even tried to take a step or two. I thought that maybe he could manage a walker. After some delays I managed to get one (we have plenty, don't go sending more for a while) from the storeroom. He took to it like the proverbial duck to H2O.

Alas, they didn't have the 25 Kina to buy it (that's about US$8). I don't know how they had expected to pay his admission fees (he's from out of our area, so has to pay more) and to provide food for him and a watchman (a relative who stays with the patient) if they didn't bring that much and quite a bit more, but there it was. I couldn't stand to let him go home without the walker. They live far away from here, and won't be back very often. So I managed to juggle the fees that they had already paid, and got 18 Kina refunded. That was enough to allow them to get the walker.

In addition to the impairment of his arm and leg, the right side of his face is paralyzed. His mouth and eyelid droop. That's a real problem for an eye, because he can't close it to keep out dust, or to protect the eye from drying at night.

In the course of our conversation, Lupi made it a point to tell me that he is a Christian, and has been since he was a young boy. He also told me that his children are very worried about him, but that he's not worried! He knows that he doesn't have a long time to deal with the infirmities of life on this earth. We had a blessed time of prayer together before they left. I sent them with a supply of eye drops, and of low-dose aspirin, to try to prevent further strokes.

In the photo are Lupi's daughter and her son, and his son. Also in the photo is our nursing student Mirriam, who is from their part of the country.