the case of my 2nd degree burn.

It seems like I have a tendency to have the most underwhelming stories when it comes to injuries. The case of my 2^nd degree burn is no different. About two weeks ago, on a regular boring Tuesday morning, I was making my way to LeMusica (my 2^nd organization), which is on the other side of Chimoio. I hitched a ride into the city center and as I was getting out of the car, I stepped too closely to a parked motorcycle and burned my left calf on the fucking exhaust pipe! The wound didn’t look too terrible, so after a detour to the Peace Corps office to wrap up my wound, I headed to work at LeMusica. This was on the 26^th. 

Right after getting burned

Next day

Fast forward to the weekend: I traveled (hitch hiked) down to Inhambane for a birthday party for two fellow Moz18ers. Shane, Haleigh and I set off at 5:45am and made our way to Inchope and eventually to Muxungue. Right outside of Muxungue, we sat on the road for a few minutes and snacked on some bread and bananas that we picked up in town. We were sitting there for less than 10 minutes when we see a beige land rover heading down the highway. Haleigh and I quickly sprang up and flagged it down. When the car pulled over we were ecstatic to see a small American flag air freshener dangling from the rear-view mirror. The guys driving down were two Americans and they happened to also be going to Inhambane! We hoped in the car in disbelief, thanking our lucky stars. Turns out that these guys were both Doctors and I had actually met one of them in Maputo back in November. They were super cool and even checked out my burn- diagnosing it was a 2^nd degree burn (and not 1^st degree as I previously thought). We made it all the way down to Inhambane that night.

After a full day of traveling, my leg was hurting. When we came back to Adela’s after dinner, the pain got so bad that I couldn’t even walk. I went to change the gauze pad and discovered that the wound was looking much worse than the day before. It looked terrible and I felt like a total idiot for traveling on my leg like that (even though it had not looked that bad the previous day). The next day, the pain had eased and I made my way to the party with the gang. The birthday festivities ran according to plan and I was happy to see other volunteers from my group. Unfortunately, my burn looked progressively worse as time passed. While down in Quissico, I showed my burn to the other volunteers, who assured me I had an infection and that the appearance wasn’t normal. Throughout the trip, the Peace Corps doctor (PC Medical Officer) had been checking up on me, texting and asking for updates. I informed her of the situation and asked to be seen by a doctor. She agreed and asked me to come down to Maputo.

After traveling down to Inhambane City.

Height of the infection before seeing the surgeon in Maputo.

So, on Sunday the 2^nd, instead of returning to site- Haleigh and I set off for Maputo to see the PCMO. We caught another sweet bolea (ride) out of Quissico that took as all the way down to Maputo. We arrived in Maputo in the early afternoon and went directly to the PC office and met with the PCMO. She informed us of the logistics of our stay and handed us some paperwork to bring back to her after our medical visits. Our appointments at the doctor weren’t until later so we had a few hours to drop off our backpacks and grab some lunch.

Later in the evening, I went to my appointment and was attended by a Cuban surgeon. When he removed my gauze he looked at me and asked, “porque no viniste antes?!” (Why didn’t you come any sooner?!) His Spanish got faster as the consultation proceeded and all I could really make out was ‘esto va dejar una marca, .. nos va costar’ (this is going to leave a scar, it’s going to be a lot of work). He proceeded to clean- and when I say clean, I really mean SCRUB the infectious tissue off until my wound bled. I’m not sure what was worst- the removal of the top layer of tissue or the few drops of whoknowswhatkind of alcohol based antiseptic that stung so bad that it made me cry out in pain.

It.

Hurt.

Like.

Hell.

After this initial appointment, I went back two more times to see the surgeon who continued to clean and change the dressing on my wound. I was prescribed some antibiotics and instructed to keep the area dry. I was in Maputo for a total of 5 days. In between my hospital visits and Peace Corps follow-ups, I had time to passear a little around Maputo and enjoy some tasty meals- my favorite being the beef burrito and chocolate milkshake from Café Sol.

Looking much better.

I have now been back at site for a few days and my wound is looking much better. It is finally closed and no longer bleeding. Unfortunately, I caught a stupid cold over the weekend, so I haven’t been able to get back into the swing of things. I am resting up and hoping to get back to “work” soon.