My boo boo

Things were quiet in the OR today so Brady, Mary and I all decided to go out for lunch. There is a Cantin in the hospital which serves a buffet lunch and I did eat there once however we were warned that patients with TB also eat there. We decided to visit Karibu, a buffet restaurant nearby which Dr. Bona had taken us to the day before.

As I mentioned, walking on the sidewalk in Kigali is a dangerous prospect. As I remember we were walking 3 abreast when I noticed a square street sign about head height. I decided to step out into the street to go around the sign and I thought I was clear when suddenly I had flash of pain in my head accompanied by a loud noise. "Idiot", I thought, "Once again you have hit your head on something". And bemoaning the fact that the world is not made for people my size. Except when I put my hand up to my head, I could feel a gash at least 1 cm and there was blood on my hand. And I knew I was due for an encounter with the medical system.

Brady remember he had a suture kit at home and we were of course near a hospital. I was trying to figure out how I would fare in the ER. On the one hand as a paying customer and on the other...? After buying some Kleenex and applying pressure we decided to phone Dr. Bona to see if he could help us out. Dr. Bona replied right away, came to the door of the OR, and right away called his colleague in the outpatient clinic. Soon we outside the door waiting for the minor procedure before us to end.

Dr. Bona's colleague, whose name I never got took great care of me and explored and cleaned the wound, cutting away an alarming amount of hair before freezing everything. He then explored the wound, put in six stitches which I am told are things of beauty. He also put on a very large dressing and told me to keep it on for 4 days. I personally never put dressing on the many scalp lacerations I have done however he had been so good to me that I was not going to argue. Now of course there is a large white bandage on the left side of my head.

After that it was off to the Karibu to have the buffet and of course drink a large beer (which most of my former patients did before, not after I sutured them). I spent the afternoon moping and licking my wounds (figuratively) at the Serena Hotel pool. Of course I couldn't go for swim.