MEDICAL CONDITIONS
Life expectancy in Nigeria is considerably lower than in the United States, for many reasons, scarcity and inferiority of medical treatment, higher crime rate, birth problems, poor nutrition, poverty, malaria, lack of inoculations, unsanitary conditions, lack of education and the lack of available emergency help, are only a few factors. For example, if one were to need emergency help, there probably would be no phone, close at hand. The hospitals are poorly equipped and scarce. The roads have no emergency lanes, and the traffic jams are frequent. The roads and house addresses are often not clearly marked, so Nigeria is not a good place for a medical emergency, except for the fact that these conditions have forced the people to have faith in God to heal them.
About the end of the second week, I awakened about 2 A.M. to discover that my jaw was swollen. While I lay awake, the swelling noticeably increased, and my jaw was growing numb. In the American frontier, strong men died from having an abscessed tooth. The infection can spread throughout the whole body. I did not want to come home as a result of a bad tooth, so I immediately began trying to loosen the tooth. We prayed, Joshua and I, and, by noon the next day, the swelling, pain and numbness had disappeared, and did not return to this day, (although, I since had the tooth pulled). Praise God.