Carried in

Anytime you see someone carried in on a home-made stretcher (bamboo sticks and coffee bags tied together), you know it is a bad sign.  I was surprised when I saw it was a young boy about 8 yo who was carried in.  The story they told was that he had been sick for a week and hadn't been eating and losing weight and his legs were swollen.

I peeled back the sheets to find a little kid that wasn't more than skin and bones above his waist.  I knew right away this had been going on for more than a week.  I uncovered his legs and find they are about twice the size as they should be, swollen from the infection that was growing inside his legs.

We started an IV, gave him antibiotics and then I drained the pus from his legs.  The infection wasn't just of the skin or even of the muscle, but the xray showed it had already gotten into his bones.  A ton of pus came out of his little legs, no wonder the kid couldn't walk, I just hope he does walk again.

The infection will take months to go down, and in that time his tibias will be quite weak, and at risk of breaking.  He has already had more procedures to drain more pus from his legs and will continue until we get it all out.  Pray for this kid that he will recover.  That he will run and play again and that his family will continue to stay involved in his care.