Well I hope some of you where able to read the post before this one. I was just updating you all on the condition of my big toe. It's infected. So I left off by telling everyone how I was taking antibiotics and that everything was going to be OK. Well as it turns my infection continued to get worse, my toe started to swell up along with the joint, adjoining toes and foot. My medicine was supposed to take a few days to kick in so this wasn't worrying me to much. There are a few nurses who are Peace Corps volunteers who were telling me it looked like a staff infection and that it was good I had an appointment with the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO).
Finally the day came when I got to go into see the PCMO. A happy day for me because my foot had been paining me so much I new somehow she would make it all better. Barbara is her name and she didn't heal me instantly but she did drain out the puss from the wound and bumped up my medication to amoxicillin. I think its doing the trick.
Moving on to a different subject, I was in a male auction. The health sector of Peace Corps put together this fundraiser to make money and one of the things they did was auction off many of the male volunteers. They went around and had restaurants donate a dinner for two to the fundraiser and then that was given to the auctionee and the person who bought them.
It was a big hit, they made a party out of the whole thing with food, drinking, a raffle and of course the auction itself. The bidders, mostly women but some men, were getting really into it. There was roughly 35 men who got auctioned off and my turn for the runway came somewhere in the middle. I got to admit I was a little nervous to go out there and strut my stuff. It was all in good fun though and once they started announcing me and talking about my profile there wasn't time to get worried so I just had a good time.
One of my good friends Mai ended up buying me for 525 Dalasi which I thought was a little spendy especially since we only receive 4,000 Dalasi a month for our living allowance. Most of the guys went for somewhere between 400 and 650 Dalasi. The next night we went out to dinner, everything was good and we lived happily ever after.
There is more to come... (people are waiting for the computer)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
There Is a First For Everything
Some of you might know the game ultimate frisbee, it's played a lot on college campuses as well as here in The Gambia amongst the volunteers and other NGO employees. It's a really fun game so I like to get out there and play also. There's usually a lot of running involved and normally I wear shoes but last time I forgot my shoes back in village (we play in Kombo) so like many of the other players I just went in bare feet.
To no ones surprise me feet weren't really that tough and about half way through the game were covered in blisters. The blisters didn't hurt to bad so of course I kept playing, making them worse I'm sure. I figured a thorough washing with soap and water would be enough to stave off infection. This worked up until the time when my feet became infected.
It was nothing to serious at first, just a little tenderness, I figured my body could fight it off. Next thing I know my left big toe is starting to throb! Yeah, it didn't feel to good but still I was optimistic I could handle this annoying little infection. Up until this point I had never needed to go into our medical office here and I wanted to keep it that way. Since I had gone so long without help I was starting to pride myself on how healthy and strong my body was.
Nonetheless this infection on the bottom of my big toe started is hurt pretty badly. Its kind of weird though because the skin was relatively clear in the sensitive area under my toe which got me thinking that maybe my blister was deeper under the skin that I'd thought. This happened to be the case, unlucky for me because it was just festering the whole time. So I proceeded to do surgery on my foot with scissors from my Letterman and needles from my sowing kit. After much time and pain from probing and cutting I was able to get in there and puncture the blister/infected area. Quite a bit of puss came out which I thought was a great sign. I'd released the pressure, removed the puss, cleaned and bandaged the wound. To my dismay the healing process didn't begin like I though it would.
This entire ordeal was taking place in my village. Luckily I had work to do in Kombo so I traveled into town the next day after draining the wound. I'm glad I did because the infection actually got worse, go figure. Everything became sore and sensitive again and my toe started to swell up. This was the straw that broke my dreams of curing this thing on my own. That same day I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer, PCMO, and told her the situation. Now I'm taking antibiotics, eurithromyacin. The infection isn't beaten but I think the odds are with me now. I'm going into see my PCMO tomorrow also, maybe she will give me per diem or something.
So that was kind of a long story. I'd like to say that the story is finished, but I'm not going to speak to soon.
To no ones surprise me feet weren't really that tough and about half way through the game were covered in blisters. The blisters didn't hurt to bad so of course I kept playing, making them worse I'm sure. I figured a thorough washing with soap and water would be enough to stave off infection. This worked up until the time when my feet became infected.
It was nothing to serious at first, just a little tenderness, I figured my body could fight it off. Next thing I know my left big toe is starting to throb! Yeah, it didn't feel to good but still I was optimistic I could handle this annoying little infection. Up until this point I had never needed to go into our medical office here and I wanted to keep it that way. Since I had gone so long without help I was starting to pride myself on how healthy and strong my body was.
Nonetheless this infection on the bottom of my big toe started is hurt pretty badly. Its kind of weird though because the skin was relatively clear in the sensitive area under my toe which got me thinking that maybe my blister was deeper under the skin that I'd thought. This happened to be the case, unlucky for me because it was just festering the whole time. So I proceeded to do surgery on my foot with scissors from my Letterman and needles from my sowing kit. After much time and pain from probing and cutting I was able to get in there and puncture the blister/infected area. Quite a bit of puss came out which I thought was a great sign. I'd released the pressure, removed the puss, cleaned and bandaged the wound. To my dismay the healing process didn't begin like I though it would.
This entire ordeal was taking place in my village. Luckily I had work to do in Kombo so I traveled into town the next day after draining the wound. I'm glad I did because the infection actually got worse, go figure. Everything became sore and sensitive again and my toe started to swell up. This was the straw that broke my dreams of curing this thing on my own. That same day I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer, PCMO, and told her the situation. Now I'm taking antibiotics, eurithromyacin. The infection isn't beaten but I think the odds are with me now. I'm going into see my PCMO tomorrow also, maybe she will give me per diem or something.
So that was kind of a long story. I'd like to say that the story is finished, but I'm not going to speak to soon.
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