Back to the Emergency Room

Well friends, in case the meaning behind this title eluded you, I visited the Emergency Room again today. The joys of being a leader! Actually it was not too bad. Francis, our Swiss team member, cut his foot and it got infected. It was looking pretty gruesome and was bloated like the foot of a 600=lb man, which he is not. For some reason, Maui is a breeding ground for staph infections. There are very few people on staff who have not had one or the boils that often accompany staph. Luckily my mom has told me that I am not boil people. I hope that holds true because these things get pretty gnarly.

Anyway, enough about boil people and back to Francis- so, he was supposed to cook dinner for our team tonight and we were going to have a bonding family-style dinner. His alarmingly swollen foot put a stop to that and Matt, our student-Eric, and I took him to the emergency room. It was not a dire emergency but since he is Swiss, his insurance only works at the emergency room.

The emergency room is painful and fascinating. I always wonder exactly why people are in there but you can't just ask everyone who comes in. We met a nice Christian college kid and his mom. The guy had some severely swollen tonsils. We also met a strange man who seemed high and homeless. He had clearly had a rough night and a rough life. He showed us scars from knife wounds and told us stories of being shot. He looked like he had been in a fight but said he cut his head after having a seizure.

Francis got treated, got a perscription and will need to go back in a few days. Apparently he has cellulitis, probably caused by staph. The whole process took four hours but it wasn't too bad with Eric and Matt to talk to. It was especially good for me to get more time to talk with Eric. I spend most of my time with the girls on my team so I haven't been able to get to know my guys as well.

Now I am about to go to sleep. When I came home, all the junk on my bed had been cleared away and there was an encouraging note on my pillow from my team. Not too shabby! It was a much better ending than when we brought poor Emily home with a broken ankle and she puked all over the place as Matt carried her into the living room.