The tropics!

It’s definitely true that everything seems to grow faster in a tropical climate… infections being at the top of the list. This past week we had a boy who had gotten a cut in his foot and it had sealed back up, but the infection couldn’t escape…. Dr Sam reopened the wound and drained it, and the boy was supposed to get antibiotics… somehow though he managed to get out the door without his instructions on when to come back, signs of danger and most importantly his meds…. He came back to the clinic after the team was gone and his foot was now hot and tender up to his ankle… We recleaned his wound and started him on antibiotics… with strict instructions on coming back if it got worse. His companions brought him by the next day and his infection was now up to his knee! We discussed going to the hospital but decided to try a stronger med first and since Dr Sam was returning the next day for a few hours we could reevaluate then…. Dr Sam came by… but no sign of the boy. We decided to go find him and if he wasn’t improving then we would take him to the hospital… in the meantime we fixed up a guy who had been chopping a tree when the tree fell on his shin… ow… then the boy with the foot hobbled up all out of breath (someone had sent for him)… His infection was definitely improving so we gave him the rest of the meds and told him to REST (not an easy task here).
That afternoon I noticed that I had the beginning symptoms of a UTI… so I started chugging water and garlic… but like I said, things grow super fast here! By that evening I was doubled over unable to hardly move from the pain… I seriously wanted to just rip my insides out… Joe got up and found me meds and some pain reliever… he set me up with old TV series (Hogan’s Heroes) to distract me from the pain. Finally I was able to return to bed around 5 am. It’s the next day and although there is still pain, it’s improving… but yikes… I have never had a UTI come on so fast and strong. Makes me wonder what the heck people do w/o medical care… and a great reminder of why we are here!
This morning when I finished fixing up a boy who had cut his leg with his machete, his mother complimented me on my Visaya and repeated what many have started to tell me… That once people know they can communicate with us, they will come… but I’m glad for the few patients we see a day currently as it gives us a chance to work into our roles more slowly.
P.S. For those wondering how we are faring with the recent typhoon weather... although the typhoons are north of us... we have definitely seen the effects of it all down here! Last night our roof of our outside kitchen just up and ripped right off and blew over to the neighbors!