Yesterday, I went to the hospital to visit a man named Tony. My team met Tony last Friday when he was dropped off at Victory Outreach Church. He had been beaten by a woman’s husband about two weeks earlier and his wounds were very infected. So infected, in fact, that he was unable to walk and his hands and feet were swollen to almost double their size. Some teammates of mine took him to the hospital and have been visiting him everyday since. Tuesdays are when our team does our weekly hospital visits. We go and pray with patients in different wards. It is always a somewhat saddening experience because there are so many patients with life threatening ailments that would not be life threatening if they were receiving treatment in America.
But anyway, back to Tony. So yesterday, when we arrived at the hospital, Tony’s wounds had still not improved, in fact they were worse. However, because Tony has no one to take care of him in Lira, he kept leaving the hospital in order to get food. Unfortunately, the hospital is not able to provide food to patients. Since Tony was leaving everyday, the nurses assumed he was well enough to leave permanently and continue with out-patient treatment. Luckily for Tony, a nice intern doctor noticed the condition of his hand and decided to clean it out before allowing him to leave. I followed Mary, a teammate of mine into the operating room. Mary is training to be a nurse, so the doctor was allowing her to assist in the procedure. The doctor than looked at me and asked if I was training to be a nurse as well. Because I wanted to watch, I lied a little bit and immediately answered, “Yes!”
Then he proceeded to inject Tony’s hand with numbing medication, which unfortunately for Tony did not seem as strong as it is in America. Then after numbing the hand, the doctor removed the stitches. The stitches had to be removed because at that point Tony’s hand was so swollen that the stitches were not able to hold the finger together. As he removed the stitches, the puss from the hand began to seep out in large amounts. It was disgusting, but apparently, I have a nurse gene in me somewhere because I found it fascinating.
After a lot of blood and puss had been drained from the finger, you could see the exposed bone of Tony’s finger. That’s about when the Doctor said, “You can see straight through to the bone…that’s not good!” Umm…no doc, that’s usually not the best indication of a healthy finger! Then after dousing Tony’s open wound with antiseptic, the finger, exposed bone and all, was lightly wrapped with gauze and Tony was sent on his way. Sadly, since Tony is now an out-patient, it is up to him to walk to the hospital each day to get his bandages changed. And since Tony can still barely walk, it’s going to take the power of the Lord to get this man healed.
It was a pretty disgusting experience, but it was something that would only happen in Africa, so I am glad I got to be a part of it. Thanks for reading and praying! I love and miss you all!
Peace and Blessings!
Sarah
