Yesterday afternoon I was back at the house when Jasmine the surgeon got a call to see a guy with a gunshot wound. I went over with her as I like to be involved in trauma cases. The 30 year old man had been chasing some people who had been stealing something from his home. They stopped and fired once at him. The bullet entered his neck on the left side and exited posteriorly. On its way it has damaged his spinal cord and he has lost motor function totally. This is tragic. There is little we can do, Jasmine debrided the wound and gave Tetanus and antibiotic cover . We log rolled him to clean , debride and dress the posterior neck wound then took him to the inpatient ward. His future is bleak. He will likely not progress at all, will develop a chest infection and die. We will have to work hard for this man to avoid pressure sores on a horrendous scale. The reality of the situation is that we will probably try to get him home as soon as possible. A hospital in this setting cannot do anything to help him. We cannot even assess him as we would normally at home there are no X-rays, CT / MRI Scans etc.

Once again, a very thought provoking day.

Today is our day off. I went running with Annette (Doctor), It is very humid at the moment after some heavy rainfall these last few days. After the run I relaxed with large amounts of water  before  taking a coffee back to my Tukul. Arriving there I found a snake trapped between the window netting layers. I took his photo and watched as he found a way out – into the tukul! Once inside , I guided him to the door . He shot out and found a plant which was exactly the same colour as his body as you can see in the picture. It was lovely to see though I hope not to meet him again for a while.

Ah, lifes rich tapestry.