God saw then these moments of treating Dawit's dad here in Ethiopia for his broken arm.
He had been in bed for over a week before I found out about it, according to my understanding. I'm so glad it wasn't worse. He fell from fixing a water tank, landed on his left side and back with his body landing on his left arm. He hurt his back and ended up with a radial fracture in his wrist. It was very swollen but he said the swelling had gone down and it looked so much better than it did when it first happened. I'm sure. Because I'm a beginner at Amharic, I looked from their house toward the school and saw the gate was open, so I went back to the school to see if Hiruy was still there or someone who knew both languages better to help me translate as Wendishet found me after school had let out for the day and told me about the accident. Thankfully he was still there and I asked if there were any extra cardboard laying around.
It was the only thing I could think of that might be around that would be hard enough for a temporary splint.
He lay it flat on the cardboard splint for a short time. I think general first aid is a new thing to them. He told us he saw a "traditional doctor," and after I asked my translator for an explanation, I found out this is an African doctor, a doctor like a physical therapist and this doctor massaged his injury, gave him some type of medicine in pill form called Clofen (a pain reliever I gather but it wasn't cutting it) and he was rubbing petroleum jelly on it. I knew there was more that needed to be done from the looks of his arm. Obviously he needed an xray, and a doctor who could set the bone and either splint it or cast it. An injury like this could affect him the rest of his life - work - everything. It was a miracle nothing else was wrong with him. Was he bleeding internally from the fall? What if he were? He had been laying there for days. Wendishet could have been a widow.
We finally got him to Dr. Solomon's clinic after fighting his thinking that he was a bother and trying to think of the best place to take him...one, a place with radiology and/or an orthopedic doctor and two, a place where he would get the best and quickest treatment, and then there was the issue of finding a ride to get us there. All of the above can sometimes be an issue. When we went into the room the doctor ordered an xray to be done the next morning as it was late. Yes, they have office hours. When we arrived the next day and he saw the xray, he diagnosed a radial fracture. (I knew the diagnosis before the doctor told him as I looked at the xray before he did - it was obvious enough for me to tell). The doctor asked me if I was a medical person. I said no, just a medical daughter and explained that my parents were of the medical field - my mom as a nurse and my dad as an EMT. I grew up with this. Turns out all those episodes of 9-1-1 late at night with Dad helped or something. Hmm...
We were given a referral to the only hospital in Debre Zeyit to splint/cast it. In Ethiopia, you have to have an appointment card to be seen at a government hospital and they were out of cards so we were sent away. This was not considered an emergency. (In an emergency situation, you do not need a card). We needed to make an appointment, fall from a water tank and then break our arm. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is a cuss word! The medical staff are easily overwhelmed as I've found out other villages come to this hospital, so it really is take a number and wait. Maybe you'll be seen. Oy. So sad and maddening.
Tomorrow he goes to get his cast - one, two weeks from the day of the accident.
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Its been an eventful week but glory be to God, this man is in a cast! (Does that sound weird lol?!)
So, I go to take him to DZ's only hospital and I watch as people fill the seats before the doctor is even on the property. I see a man laying down with his head on his son's lap, all wrapped in a white sheet. No, he was alive, just sick and alive at least for now. I didn't take pictures even though I thought of it only to show what medical care is like here but to respect their privacy and since you need a permit to do almost anything and it being an election year (more potential for unrest during elections), I didn't take any so I hope my words paint an accurate picture for you. The waiting area was the same structure as our dairy farm barn only with benches and I noticed birds perching and walking through their tin roof's gutter. It looked like there were different buildings for the hospital the more you climb the concrete hill up past reception. We sat near the emergency, where the man was laying. I tried not to stare but I kept looking at this maybe 13 year old boy. I wondered if he was about to be an orphan. I wondered if that man knew Jesus. I wondered lots of things. I got up. I walked back toward the front of the reception to find Mekonnen as Kelkias had now arrived. There were people everywhere. While I hurt for the people waiting, I knew Mekonnen needed good treatment, better treatment than what I saw was available. So, we decided to leave DZ and head toward Addis.
I knew I didn't have enough money on me to cover everything, but I stepped out in faith God would provide.
So when we got to Gebreal Brook (where we treated Mulugeta and Nati, a kid with a hole in his heart) in Addis, I called my Mom. Even though I woke her up very early her time, she agreed she would send some more money to help cover the cost. I have three times I'm keeping up with: back home in America, Habesha time, and ferengi time. I may or may not have called her at 4am instead of 5am. Oops.
I paid 150 birr for a consultation and we got a referral as Gebreal Brook only had a chiropractor type doctor, not what we needed. She tells us the traditional doctor hurt him more than helped him as now we have two injuries to treat rather than one: a fracture and a dislocation. She referred us to Yordanos Orthopedic, a short drive from Gebreal Brook. As we're driving, I'm thinking this is about to get real because we head up in a little van up a one way alley, and then we have to get out because the alley we needed to turn into had a car parked in the way, but you could see the hospital from where we were - just a short walk. Glad he didn't break his lower extremities. It would have made getting there even more crazy.
As we waited for the doctor, I tried talking to a little girl who was with her dad and giving her doodle paper but she was scared of ferengi I think and before I could say "guadenya" or friends, she was off back upstairs with her dad. This child and a Sunni Muslim stuck out on this trip.
The Muslim sat right next to me fully dressed in a black burqa, the closest I've ever been to one. All I could see were her eyes and the bottom of her jean skirt underneath. I was not absolutely horrified as I've seen them before and God did break my heart for them on last year's trip, but I did ask Jesus for additional peace. Is she strapped, is she packing - I listened for a tick tock. Her husband seemed to stare me down with my cross bracelet and my Jesus shirt. Then as peace washed over me, my thoughts changed more toward empathy and wanting her to come to Jesus. After hearing of ISIS beheadings oddly enough, I felt safe. I wanted to ask her why she wore the burqa. Was it her own choice or was she forced? But it's our turn to see the doctor and we need to get our cast so into the tiny white room we go.
I give Yordanos points because they let me pay them only 500 of the 700 birr I needed to give them for the casting as I had run out of birr. We walked a short way to the van and our driver offered to give me the rest so we didn't have to leave entirely to go find a bank with Moneygram. Hallelujah. So now after a three day process from the time I found out about his accident, Mekonnen has a cast and has an appointment to go back to Yordanos in two weeks. The cast needs to stay on for 4-5 weeks.
Please keep praying for him and his family as he heals up from his fall. It's such a miracle that he was not hurt worse or killed.
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