I wrote on FB this afternoon "I have a patient with a fist sized hole in her leg who chews her dressing off twice a day. She is proving to actually be my easiest patient to manage today."  Unfortunately it was true. 6:45am this morning Betty was at the gate with a little brother who had cried all night. Long story short he had been kicked in the head. The day only got better from there. One patient had been molested for the second time, she is four years old. One patient I put on methadone for palliative care. (Dying.) Ken came this afternoon. I had put a cast on him about a week ago for boxer's fractures of the last two metacarpals. He insists he didn't punch anything but he is an angry 15 year old boy. I'm sure he had punched something. Anyway, yesterday he decided the forearm half of the cast was stupid as it was his hand bones that were broken and it was bothering him.

New ulnar cast

So he took a hacksaw blade to it and removed some of the cast. And today he had the nerve to come to me and tell me to give him a new one because he discovered that yes, now he could move his wrist again and actually that makes his hand hurt. Turns out I do actually know the appropriate treatment, Ken. Probably he should have picked a better day to annoy me.

So, I stand firm on the claim that this was my easiest to manage patient today. She belongs to a friend who isn't around to take care of her. She was pretty lethargic and refusing to eat a few days ago but is up and around and eating everything now. Well, a little less now that she has the lower half of a water bottle on her head. It was kind of nice to have a patient who just needed a few table scraps in order to be happier today. I had a hard time making any of the rest of my patients happy.

She has a nasty wound on her leg and needed some antibiotics and some fluids. But she is going to be fine. I'm really broadening my skill set. If I ever have to leave Uganda and go back to work in the States, clearly I'm now over qualified.