Yikes!
So we went back to the "orthopedists" (only in quotations because I'm not sure exactly what their training is. They weren't doctors, I'm pretty sure) and they tried again (poor poor Feena):
It didn't look ALL that much better to me, but I thought it might be close enough because of the location of the break and the fact that children can heal like crazy. But we were all unsure enough (and untrusting enough of the people working on her, who didn't even request that she be re-imaged in the first place, and refused to give her lidocaine when they re-set it) that I took a bunch of photos of the before and after xrays and sent them to Pras in SF so he could have a peds ortho person take a look at them. Luckily, they said that it's a common joke that the bones of the proximal humerus can be "in the same room" in children and heal just fine, so that makes me feel better. Especially because Feena hasn't really slowed down since the incident, wears her arm sling only half the time, and fell on her arm on Monday after we did all the imaging. So really who knows where the bones are now.
She was a tough little kid. Because no one told us when she got injured, and we got home so late, she had to wait overnight (with a broken arm!) before we could get an xray. Then, she didn't cry at all - only whimpered - when they gave her a lidocaine shot with a HUGE needle and then set the bone. I was so impressed. She was so wiped out by everything that she fell asleep sitting up while they were casting her. I have the cutest pictures of her, but of course I can't get them off my camera right now. She did cry when they didn't give her lidocaine, though. Ugh.
I found the entire experience really frustrating. I'm used to having total and complete faith in doctors and in people in the medical profession generally, and the men who worked on Feena just kept failing over and over again to meet my expectations. They didn't ask for a f/u xray, didn't give her lidocaine when they re-set the bone, and ALSO ripped me off (charged me when care is supposed to be free). Honestly, they seemed to just be lazy. I don't know any other way to describe it. At least they were right about the fact that their second reduction was good enough. Obviously I didn't trust their word on that one and went ahead and emailed Pras. And when would Feena have been taken to the doctor if we weren't there to rush things along? The mind boggles.
Also, maybe if the kids were being watched to begin with, this wouldn't have happened. Another older girl - 8 years old to Feena's 3 - pushed her off a concreted walled ditch into the concrete floor of the ditch. No wonder she got such a bad break.
Anyway, other things that have happened recently:
- Ellie has been vaccinated against rabies! Yay. And she is growing growing growing. However, she continues to bite like a crazed puppy demon. I'm going to start calling her Ells Bells.
- Katie's friends visited from Jinja, so we had a mini-party on a Tuesday night! That's pretty crazy for us here in Tororo
- Work....has been busy, and slightly more productive. My experiment is working a little better now, but still not quite as well as I'd like. Continuing to puzzle that one out...
- We have watched 9 episodes of Mad Men in the entire time I've been here. I think I'm busier than I expected. We're finally past the episodes I had watched on my own!
- I'm going to Zanzibar for Christmas!!!! SO EXCITED. Not as excited as if I were going home, but this will be a quicker & easier trip than that would be. I'm going to have to trick myself into the Christmas spirit since it's always 80 degrees here
- Peeps from various stores in town are bringing us dog food, chocolate, and a hair dryer from Kampala. Ellie just won't eat peas or beans, which is like 80% of our diet. She likes chicken/meat/fish just fine though. The hair dryer is for me, not for Ellie. I've worn my hair up every single day since I've been here and it's sufferinggg.
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