Day 68 - Life and Death

Today was one of the most intense and scary days of my entire life, because my life as I knew it had the potential to change for the worse. Nothing but the protection of the Lord saved me from the situation and I count my blessings.

Today we did something that I have been waiting to do my entire stay here in Uganda. Naturally, being a medical assistant and wanting experience, this was something I had been waiting to do for a long time. We had tried to get things started up at the two local hospitals but it never happened, they just weren’t prepared to receive volunteers in their facilities. The chance finally came with Dave & Jamie Mackenzie. They have owned the school for about a year now I think, and they finally got it organized and funded to get all of the kids as well as the parents tested for HIV, be given deworming pills, and give vitamins. Somehow the CDs found out about it and we got scheduled to go and help out. When we arrived I found out that I would be able to draw blood to be tested for HIV, I was very excited. I was finally going to be able to practice what I’ve been trained to do.

The parents were not cool with what was going on at first, and even after many of the parents finally consented, there were only about 100 out of 150 parents and kids that ended up being tested. They were concerned that by putting a needle in theirs or their child’s body that they would be infected with an evil spirit. This, of course, was a myth of the village, and a very sad one. After talking with the parents, things were finally in order and the people lined up to give their information, fill out some papers, receive a blood vial, and wait in line for their turn for their blood to be drawn.

The time finally came for me to draw blood, I was nervous. Not only was I drawing blood outside sitting a bench with one leg on either side, I was going to be drawing blood from young kids, something I don’t have experience doing. But, I knew that I had the training and knowledge so I followed through and did what I knew how. I was given no direction, no instruction, nothing. I sat for about 3 minutes and watched the process of taking the papers and tube, cross-checking the names, drawing blood, putting the blood into the tube, taking the white paper and the tube and putting them in a pile... I knew nothing! I had no idea what was going on.

I finally sat down on a bench and the people began to line up. I started with a young child about 7 years of age. I couldn't believe what I was doing, that I was actually in Africa in some village drawing some child’s blood to be tested for HIV!! I was shaking a little bit because I was nervous about the whole situation. The nerves subsided after a couple of draws and it became more routine. I looked around and realized that I was going to be drawing blood for a couple of hours and I was OK with it. It was turning out to be the experience that I always wanted in Africa; the opportunity to use my medical certification and help the people. A lady sat down, here name was Teo. I had just complete drawing blood from her 3 kids and it was now her turn. She sat down and I knew right away that she was going to be an easy draw because her veins were clearly visible. I prepared a syringe, cotton swab, and the blood vial. I quickly drew the blood and inserted into the vial. I had just pulled the needle out of the vial when Teo stood up to leave the bench and she bumped me... pushing the needle into my left pointer finger, enough to make it bleed. I immediately froze and couldn’t believe what had just happened. My biggest fear coming to Africa, the one that I had gone over in my mind 1000 times had just happened and now it was critically important that I do the appropriate follow-up. I immediately put some antiseptic liquid on the prick, the same antiseptic we were using on the cotton balls to clean the area before we drew blood. I remained calm oddly enough, stood up, and went to Jackie to tell her the situation. While I was talking to Jackie I felt as though I was going to faint but stood my ground. It had really hit me what just happened and I thought I was going to die. Immediately I ordered the blood to be tested and luckily, with the help of the Lord, the blood was NEGATIVE for HIV. My heart rate slowed a bit after the good news. I was also calmed when I remembered that with the needle pricks, depending on the severity of the prick, only had a 0.3% infection rate with HIV. So, those two bits of good information made me feel pretty good. We talked to Dave quickly about the situation, he made arrangements to take us to the HIV Center in Kampala where I could get further help. Before we left, I had Jeff and DJ give me a blessing, Jeff anointed and DJ sealed the anointing and gave me a blessing. The spirit was strong and I was confident the Lord was with DJ as well as myself. I felt very good about the blessing and emotions were stirred. This was the most comforting part about the whole situation. I knew after the blessing that all would be well. I’ve been promised I would have a family in my blessing, which I’m counting on will be my own little carbon-copies. When we arrived at the HIV center an hour later, I asked that they test Teo’s blood again for HIV as well for Hepatitis A/B/C, all came back NEGATIVE, thankfully. They also tested my own blood for HIV to make sure that I was negative before they gave me the prophylaxis that I asked for. I of course tested negative and they prescribed me the medication.

Jackie and I found the cafeteria at the hospital where we had peas, chicken, rice, and fries. The meal was 3500 USH and was actually pretty good, we were very happy with it. While we were there we met two girls from the UK and one girl from upper state New York. They were super nice and fun to talk to. They even invited us to a 4th of July private party at somebody’s home in Kampala. We headed back to Kampala by taxi, then we had to walk a mile or so to find another Taxi that would take us to Lugazi. We stood around for about 30 minutes waiting for a Taxi back to Lugazi until finally this open-bed truck pulls up and Jackie says, “Let’s go!” I was totally freaking about, knowing that we couldn’t do anything more reckless than taxi back to Mukono in the back of a truck. Well, it actually ended up being a sweet ride with the wind in our face and not having to be shoulder to shoulder with other people. We hopped out at Mukono and then hopped on another Taxi to Lugazi. On this taxi I had to sit on half a seat, very uncomfortable. It ended up taking us about 2 1/2 hours to get back home, a very long and crazy day.

I'm grateful for my health and strength and I know the Lord's hand was with me!