He's Okay

After saying, "hello" to Charlotte, Joel's mom, last night on the phone; my next bit of conversation went like this: "Joel had an accident on his boda, but he's okay."

The story goes...Joel left early yesterday evening and called a couple of minutes later saying that I needed to come and get him because he had an accident. He called back within 30 seconds to say, "Bring a towel and David." He wasn't far away and easy to find because there was a small gathering (only about 10 people) on the path he had taken. A nice family let him come into their compound and gave him a rag. I tried to offer it back,knowing how valuable each piece of cloth is. The lady just looked at me and said, "It is his." I should have known, on a continent ravaged by AIDS, would you want to keep a stranger's bloody rag?

My first reaction to seeing him was, "Thank You, God, that he is walking. This could have been so much worse." He was walking but barely. The story as best I can tell is that he was going down a hill and hit a patch of loose dirt. His back wheel gave way underneath him, his ankle was caught under the bike, and his face hit the ground. He has a very impressive gash on his forehead and two smaller ones by his nose and lip. His nose is one huge abrasion and he's all swollen up.

2 hours and 20 minutes after he called me, we were leaving the hospital with only 6 stitches. Personally I thought he needed a few more (and thus added some steri-strips when we got home), but the doctor didn't want to have too many scars.

This first picture was after they cleaned him up and were getting ready to do the stitches. I was so very thankful we had a resident surgeon who did the work. He gave Joel an IV complete with Demerol and numbed him well before proceeding. I was impressed with how well they cleaned his wounds and maintained a very sterile field.

Health care was free but we did have to purchase our own scalpel blade - they were out. The x-ray machine at the hospital is not working so we had to wait and get those this morning. It cost less than $20 for an x-ray of his ankle and skull. What do the patients at the hospital do if they don't have the money for blades and x-rays? That is a good question - they do without.

Here is Joel this morning before we went for x-rays. The one of his skull is fine but he does have a small fracture of his ankle. Thankfully, it does not require a cast (because Joel really didn't want one).

I'm not sure what will become of the family picture I wanted us to take. We'll see...We are so very grateful he has no pain in his neck or back, his lips and the right side of his nose are still numb (it won't be pretty when the feeling returns), for Zillah (our British friend who works at the hospital) who picked us up and drove us around - I would not have wanted to maneuver around the hospital without her, and for a merciful God who protected him through this.