Governor Nyong’o recuperating in US after hipbone surgery

Kisumu Governor Peter Anyang' Nyong'o poses for a photo with his wife Dorothy in the US where he is recuperating after successful hipbone surgery. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Governor Nyong’o left the country last Month to seek specialised treatment.

  • This followed advice from an orthopaedic surgeon at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi in February 2017.

  • He said he is glad that Nasa leader Raila Odinga had asked him not to hurry back home until he is well.

Kisumu Governor Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o is recuperating in the USA after undergoing a hipbone surgery at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco.

Governor Nyong’o left the country last Month to seek specialised treatment following advice from an orthopaedic surgeon at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi in February 2017.

In an opinion piece in one of the local dailies on Saturday, Prof Nyong’o wrote that for almost a year, due to the constraints of the campaigns and election calendar, he had been surviving on painkillers regularly prescribed by his pain management doctor.

“Many may have observed me limping from time to time as we struggled for the betterment of our county and country. Without going into much detail, I have all along been waiting for an opportune moment for the hip replacement surgery as the last solution to my problem,” he stated.

ACCIDENT

In November 2016 while being driven to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for an early morning flight to Kisumu, the governor revealed that he had an accident on Kiambu Road.

“On the face of it, nobody was injured, although the car was badly damaged. I, therefore, continued with my journey to Kisumu without worrying much about any injury whatsoever.

“One morning while in Kisumu in February 2017 as the [governorship] campaigns were heating up, I woke up to find that I could not lift my left leg out of bed. I panicked. I called my doctor at the Aga Khan Hospital who asked me to rush to his clinic immediately. His first suspicion was that I had a blood clot somewhere in my leg,” said Prof Nyong’o.

HIPBONE CRACK

“He ordered an ultra-sound examination which found no blood clot. He then ordered an MRI examination that revealed a thin hair like crack at the top of the hipbone which, according to him, needed closer checking by an orthopaedic surgeon to determine what it was. In the meantime, he gave me some drugs to ease the movement of the leg and the pain as I headed to Nairobi for consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon,” the governor added.

He said that at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, an X-ray examination was carried out on his hip but the real solution would, however, be a hipbone replacement as soon as he would be in a position to do so.

“By the grace of God, I am already recovering from a 90-minute surgery a week ago, which involved an eight-centimetre cut on my thigh as the hipbone was replaced with an artificial one.

“Currently, I am on outpatient care involving nursing care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and weekly visits to the doctor to examine progress made,” he said.

COMING HOME SOON

Prof Nyong’o stated that “as soon as the doctor certifies me fit for travel, I will be heading home to join the gallant people of Kisumu in building the county, and the Nasa compatriots in the struggle for electoral justice.”

He said he is still taking painkillers, which are carefully given, and their effects monitored on a 24-hour basis.

“The dosage is reduced or increased in accordance with the daily monitoring. I started walking within 24 hours and systematically feeling the pain going down. I'm making really encouraging progress,” he wrote.

At the same time, the governor took issue with some individuals “back at home” whom he accused of writing his obituary.

MISSING HOME

“I feel quite good about myself though I miss home very much. But the kind of things people say behind your back when you are going through such an ordeal can prove very heartless,” said Prof Nyong’o.

“At times, this can be extremely annoying and upsetting, especially when political busybodies reduce the important matter of one's health to platform discourse, carried out for pure self-aggrandizement, in words that are insincere, dishonest, callous and absolutely uncivilised.”

He said he is glad that Nasa leader Raila Odinga had asked him not to hurry back home until he is well.

The governor’s comments are in an apparent reference to persistent leadership wrangles that have emerged in Kisumu.

There have been altercation among leaders including Senator Fred Outa, county Speaker Onyango Oloo and Deputy Governor Mathews Owili.

Last Week, former Kisumu deputy governor Ruth Odinga accused Mr Outa and Mr Oloo of undermining Governor Nyong’o’s leadership and linked them to Jubilee.