Warning! This is a bit bloody, so if you have a weak constitution skip this post...
One day one of our Mountain friends came to me and said that a man who was staying with them had cut his hand, would I look at it? I asked if he had been seen at a hospital, and he said yes, but he needed surgery and the hospital wouldn’t do it because he didn’t have enough money. I agreed to see him because it sounded a bit serious. I was so unprepared for what I saw.
Apparently he had been in a fight in Iran, and had been cut in the fight. That was about 6 days before I saw him. He came to our office and I rather nonchalantly removed the bandage from his wrist/hand (I am used to Afghans exaggerating their wounds for either money or attention)... then I nearly fainted.
These mountain people are EXTREMELY thick. They aren’t fat at all. They can't be, there isn’t enough food for them to be fat, and walking up and down mountains makes you fit. But they have huge hands and feet and their wrists and legs are thick. I would estimate his writs was about three times bigger than mine. The cut into his wrist was at least half way through. If it had been my wrist, it would have completely severed my hand from my arm. Thankfully, as I mentioned he was thick.
I cleansed the wound, covered in triple antibiotic cream, re-bandaged it, and gave him $60 from the blessing fund to go to Cure hospital and have surgery to reattach it. He got sewn back together, and thankfully no infection set in, and as far as I know he is living his life back up in the mountains...
A few weeks later, my language teacher brought her daughter to our lesson to have me look at her hand. She is an active three year old, and had climbed up onto the roof and fallen off. (This is such a common occurrence here, so many children die of falling off roofs.) Thankfully she didn’t hit her head. What she did do though, is grab a skewer to slow her fall, and ripped her hand to pieces.
I saw her three days later, and again, my first question was did you go to the doctor? I want them to learn how to navigate the medical system, because I don’t know how long I will be here and if they are dependent on me, what will they do when I am gone? I would love to stay in Afghanistan forever, but I was evacuated before for medical reasons, and security is not so good right now, who knows what will happen from day to day?
They said that they had taken her, but that the doctor didn’t do anything except bandage it. I agreed to look at it, and was appalled! her hand was completely shredded! She had needed a really good cleaning, debridement, and stitches. Sadly, none of that had been done. He had just bandaged it.
What I did next was what you would expect. I took her into the house, took some soap and a scrub brush to clean the back of her hand and all around that was not injured, then cleansed the wound with soap and water. I took her back outside and poured betadine all over the wound, put triple antibiotic all over it and bandaged it with a clean dressing.
Normal stuff...
What wasn’t normal was her reaction... Did I mention she was three? When I took her inside, she whimpered a bit, but not from what I was about to do, but because she was going into the house. I scrubbed her, cleaned her poured alcohol and betadine on her, and bandaged her up, all without a single tear... These children are tough beyond their years.
Oh, I found out later that they had NOT taken her to a doctor. They had taken her to a pharmacist. By the time I saw her, I couldn't put in stitches, because she was at such a high risk for infection.
I saw her several weeks later though, and her hand was healing well, and I think it may not even scar! Oh the healing power for children. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!
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