Over the past ten months here in Uganda, I have applied many band aids to skinned knees, cuts and scrapes...given medication for Flu, headache, back pain, stomach aches, diarrhea, constipation, and various muscle pain...i have healed toothaches and supported sprained ankles with tensors...eased joint pain, helped to heal in-grown toenails, dealt with acid indigestion, ulcers and cough and cold...I've even "fixed" up a Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) driver after an accident while I was in Kyayi. Because of all these things, i am now known as "Doctor Lola"!!
This past week, however, I faced my biggest challenge yet! One of my students - Kaziro Patrick - fell into some deep grass while playing football (soccer)..the grass happened to contain some old discarded barbed wire! He came up with blood pouring from his left hand...immediately he was brought to me - "Dr. Lola - first aid!" The fleshy part of his palm was ripped wide open...a three-inch gaping gash which was deep and deep (very deep) Blood was rushing down his arm..brave and stoic, Kaziro merely asked me to hurry so he could get back to the game!
In my heart I was praying hard...the wound was deep and maybe needed stitches - and that was a line I did not want to cross! On went my trusty latex gloves...and Dr. Lola got to work...
I irrigated the wound and doused it with antiseptic wash, cleaning as deep as possible...once the bleeding had stopped, I applied antibiotic ointment before using butterfly bandages to seal the gash as tightly as possible...then a non-adherent gauze pad and I wrapped the whole hand in gauze to secure everything in place giving strict instructions for Kaziro to keep the hand dry and dry (very dry). To Kaziro's dismay...I also told him he should not go back to the game....reluctantly..he agreed. :)
That night, I began to worry about that wound...i hardly slept, fearing infection. I was only praying hard that the hand would be fine. In the morning I gave serious orders for Kaziro to travel to see the local nurse...he agreed to go. That evening however..i saw that he still had the same bandages on and asked him about it. He said he had not gone to the nurse because he fears injections! Without delay, i took him to my place to inspect the wound!
I was nervous as I began to unwrap the hand...but my anxiety melted away into pure JOY and Thanksgiving as i uncovered the long thin line of a closed wound! It was healing nicely and with no signs of infection! It even looked like any scar would be almost imperceptible once completely healed. The human body is an amazing creation!
My smile was big and big (very big) and so was Kaziro's as we gazed together and laughed at our success and the blessing of this healing wound.
I cleaned the area again and put new gauze and sent him on his way. I cleansed and bandaged that wound for three more days before declaring it safe!
All I have to say is: GOD is GOOD! I have never seen such a deep wound heal so fast. A miracle? Maybe....God is the great Healer...and he is always good - because that is His nature. :)
"Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are." -Nkosi johnson"Where Love is, there is God also." - Leo Tolstoy"It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters." -Mother Theresa
