Well, I forgot to post this story earlier on this week, but better late than never, right?
For those of you that of a more squeamish constitution, I regret to tell you that we will, once again, delve into the realms of yuckiness :) Some of these cases are (admittedly) not for the faint of heart! But don't feel bad if you can't stomach it- I couldn't even watch an IV get put in when I first came here...
This man came in saying his foot was hurt. Asking him about it, he said a rock fall on it 10 days prior, and he "knew" it was getting bad because it began "leaking water" :-/
By the time he made it to the clinic it was severely infected and the flesh was beginning to rot... not pretty!
Here's the foot before any operation.
You can the the large bubble of fluid on top- that's where everything was rotting...
Anita began by cleaning it off and relieving the infected area of pressure.
At first she tried using a syringe to remove the fluid.
After that failed to remove all of it she took a scalpel out...
Yes, it was disgusting and it smelled really bad...
She removed all the rotten flesh and proceeded to clean it out...
The operation was taking a long enough time they decided to move him onto the operation table.
It's easier on the back that way...
Here it is, all cleaned up! A nice sized crater left, eh?
The nurses packed it and wrapped it and told him to come back the next day for a checkup.
So, he went on home, all bandaged up and on the road to recovery.
It would have been nice if he would have come earlier- then the damage wouldn't have been so substantial... but oh well. Many Haitians know very little about infections and hygiene, so it's no wonder things this severe are so common.
