COFFEE
It was quite some time since we had a patient with severe skull injury. Yesterday one man came with brain substance leaking from an open skull fracture after receiving a blow with a hammer on his head. Not a big deal for our staff that are used to handle severe skull and brain injuries.
He was taken to the operating theatre and got the pieces of bone which were driven into the brain elevated. After that the brain was revised before the bones were put back in place and the soft tissues closed.
He is doing fine today. The injury was fortunately in the frontal part of the brain where mostly the emotions are dealed with. Not that important for a man - just kidding!
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On the operating table |
Head being shaved |
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Brain tissue leaking from the wound |
Severely depressed skull fracture |
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Removing one large piece of bone |
Removing the major bone fragment |
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Brain is freed and pouting from edema |
Bone fragments replaced |
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Soft tissue closure completed |
Doing fine 24 hours later |
What on earth has this to do with coffee? Well, the hammer that felt on his head was caused by a quarrel about the ownership of some coffee bushes. They are growing wild under the trees all over, but every bush has an owner, and people do literally kill for their right to the coffee.
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Coffee is the most important export product and the major source of income for the country. Due to unfavorable rains this year the harvest is only ¾ of the average. In the south, where the most prestigious brand, the Sidamo coffee, which makes up 60% of the export, the harvest reached only ½ of average this year. To make things worse the coffee price has gone down as well, and people are having a hard time.
Another interesting fact about coffee is that in Ethiopia more than 50% of the production is consumed by the population. In other coffee producing African countries the local consumption reach only some 10%.
Here are some girls on their way back home with coffee they have picked for the household
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Tags: brain injury, coffee, depressed skull fracture, open skull fracture, skull fracture