Warning: Viewer discretion advised. Images below are graphic and potentially disturbing.
Tuesday morning, I came into clinic, I happened to be the first one there. I noticed a girl sitting on a cot – a whole group of people had carried her into clinic. They showed me her foot – it was wrapped up in a piece of gauze. I could see her one toe was completely black and dead. Her foot was further infected, but I wasn’t sure how bad. The other nurses arrived shortly, and we brought her into the examination room, wondering what we would find under the gauze. We peeled it off, and the second picture down is what we found.
When we first brought the girl into the examination room (above)
Her foot as soon as we peeled off the bandage (above)
We found out that this wound started about a month ago – she fell and injured her toe. Two weeks ago, it had progressed so far that she couldn’t walk. The family was actively taking her to some “bush doctor”. Evidently, they finally decided it was time to come to the clinic because that doctor couldn’t do anything more for it.
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As you can see from this picture, it is so rotten that this instrument can just be stuck straight in (above)
Michael removed excess dead tissue last night. She will be taken to a larger hospital down the mountain for further care and amputation as the doctors there see fit. Currently, the road down the mountain is closed due to road construction. In the meantime, we are trying to prevent the spread of the infection until we can move her on.