DR. EASH - DAY 26

DAY 26 – 26TH MARCH 2019

Back to the river this week. Sporting the same team as week one but with one new (to me) addition - Dr Sombun – he was the first doctor to actually work with TLC when the organisation was set up. Currently he works at a hospital and comes to the lake clinics whenever he can to help. Reserved but open-hearted and friendly, I could see that the other members of the team respected him.

I had missed the river. I missed the light breeze that reminded us that constant heat wasn’t the only option. I also missed the tranquillity of the waters here. Demographics of the patients here were different to the ones being treated on the lake. Most patients here were from the land and compared to the lake patients, suffered more chronic illnesses and less water-based conditions.

We saw an 8 year old boy, who had come after injuring his left index finger during the weekend. He had completely lacerated the tip of his finger whilst playing. His family had taken him to the medical centre where a nurse sutured the end of his finger back on. He arrived with his mother and a thick piece of dressing covering that finger. We unwrapped the dressing to find a wonky gangrenous tip sutured on healthy flesh. The finger tip was far from viable and had to go. As we discussed his case in English we could see that the boy sensed the bad news and a look of terror consumed his face. We asked the mother to visit the medical centre to remove the dead flesh and to come see us again for a follow-up.