Attn!! If Wound Talk Makes You Feel Ill, DON'T Read!

And here's the rest of the story...

As you may know, about a week ago I was bitten by a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" bug on my left ankle. It started out looking no worse than a mosquito bite so I thought nothing of it. Then about two days later it started forming into a good centemeter sized blister. Once the blister opened, as a nurse in a not to distant past life would do, I started keeping it clean, medicated, and covered. This was not enough to fight the filth of Africa, I guess, 'cause a couple days later I woke with a swollen and red ankle (cellulitis).

I was heading north on Monday anyway to enjoy a week of friends, running water, and gardening/food security training so I took a detour to the office to see our Medical Officer. Right away I was put on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, then I was back on my way to training. The following morning my hands started looking spotted like a cheetah. Oh, oh, not good. Come to find out I may be allergic to something after all: Keflex (antibiotic I was on). Needless to say, I was picked up from the training site and brought back into Mbabane to observe my reactions to the meds and to keep an eye on my infection, which was now looking "funky" (my Med Officer's words. haha). Funky meant my skin was purplish in color with a blackening scab tissue over the wound.

Pictures were taken and sent to specialists in Pretoria, SA (regional PC med office) and if the infection would have continued I would have been too. Luckily, the following morning the new antibiotics were doing their job. I went to the Mbabane clinic to have a consultation about the wound now left by the bite blister. The area was shot up with anesthetic (lidocaine) and the dead tissue was scraped away. This revealed that the wound had gone quite deep (probably little less than a centemeter), so it was packed and bandaged.

Now I will be visiting the clinic every other day for sterile wound dressing changes (which they won't let me do myself back at my site even though I am capable), until this has healed. This means I will be away from my site and my hut for potentially up to 3 weeks!!!! :-( I am staying at a bed and breakfast in Mbabane where everyone on medical goes. Although that may sound like a vacation, I'm thinking it will be feeling like a prison stay within a couple days, especially since I don't feel ill or in much pain even. Next week I hope the amazing staff at Baylor Pediatric Clinic (who I did the children's camp with and with whom I have formed wonderful friendships) will allow me to come be an extra volunteer. This will help to keep the cabin fever at bay and maybe even make me useful. :-)

In conclusion, I still don't know how to keep plants alive, bugs are on my black list, I'll be missin' my hut/community/family/etc, but I will make the most of it and even enjoy the private bathroom, tv, and home cooked meals while I can. :-P Can't feel sorry for me now, huh? Ha ha ha.

Because multiple people asked to see pictures... blame them if you're grossed out, not me :-)



Yuck... this was before my visit to the clinic.



Quite swollen!



"Prettier" pictures of the braid removal process. Meredith was also in town so she helped me out.



Darryn with an Afro... nice :-P



Bouquet of used synthetic hair!