I was elated :D
So, I donned some rubber gloves (some that I accidentally carried home from Haiti, actually... oops...) and removed the bandage. I asked him how often they told him to clean it and they suggested every so often- but he hadn't cleaned it for a few days, so I decided to go the whole nine-yards- "sterile" environment, rubber gloves, disinfectant (hydrogen-peroxide) and of course, the new bandages.
It was really fun. He was a good sport, entertaining my craving for some real-life med-stuffs :) I even asked him if he wanted me to trim off the dead tissue- to which he gave a violent reaction in a negative sense, so I didn't...
Thus, even though it was very simple and routine, it brought back so many good memories of the clinic in Haiti that it really made my day :)
The flesh has filled in the chunk that was missing and is looking pretty good...
He's on strong antibiotics, so there's not much fear of infection...
but I cleaned it all the same- it's just a good idea, right? Those of you that are in the clinic down there??
:)
But the inevitable happened- the next day he comes to work, complaining that ever since I cleaned it, the finger had been hurting. Is it always the "doctor"'s fault?? :) Even today after church he came up to me and said it's still hurting. I told him it's probably a good sign; that the nerves were dying and I revived them and saved them from immanent death :P He didn't think so, but I told him it's good he has feeling in it.
Any thoughts on why it would hurt after it was cleaned like that? All I did was pour peroxide over it and daub it off afterward...
We had a very nice prayer meeting tonight at church. It's always so refreshing to gather around and pray as a brotherhood- so much good comes out of hearing each others' hearts...
God bless you all!
-nate
Hi Nathan. Have you ever heard of B & W ointment? It's often used for burns and wounds and is amazing stuff. Last fall two little girls from our church were burned by scalding water (2nd degree over 25% of their bodies) and I helped to dress their wounds with that ointment every 12 hr for several wk. It was a blessed experience (I am not medically in-the-know much at all!)and amazing to see the healing happening daily. That ointment is amazing and I heard that some burn units are starting to use it and the process instead of the old scrubbing and antibiotic way of doing burns. There is often little scarring and it's much 'kinder' to the patient.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I say all that to say that people also use it on wounds. I always have a jar of it in my first aid drawer. It's a blessing to have.
God bless.
Marcia