Scorpion Bite!

Some of you have heard by now that Miriam got stung by a scorpion a week ago! This was during the last three weeks that we spent away from Colombo - teaching in the East, visiting the boy's home, 3 night break at Nilavelli Beach ;), back to the boy's home and then back to the village again...

First thing that happened during the last week is that we missed our train from Trincomalee on the Monday and had to stay for an extra day there which meant getting the night train to Batticaloa, to arrive at 3.30 a.m only to leave again at 8 a.m to go teach in the village! So, the first day of teaching we were a little tired but enjoying being with our friends in the village as usual :) On the way to afternoon class we were taking the shortcut through a friend's backyard and Miriam spiked her foot on a stick (or so she thought!)...The wound on the top of her foot started bleeding and Miriam was in pain and wondering how a stick could have crept up her foot to pierce the skin like this on top! We sat down at the friend's house and she poured baby cologne on it...in the village the only medicines we've seen so far are baby cologne and vick's vapour rub...other medicines include herbal remedies from what nature provides...so, the baby cologne sealed the wound and it stopped bleeding, we carried on our way to class, played with the kids and everything and thought nothing else of it...

In the night the foot started hurting and by morning she couldn't walk on it. Tavergenie and I left Miriam at the church with her foot up while we went to teach our morning nursery class and by the time we got back Miri said her foot was in so much pain that to walk on it was agony...we called our tuk-tuk to pick us up early. He arrived that afternoon and still not knowing how bad it was, we went back to Batticoloa to take the night train back to Colombo. We made the 11-hour journey without having bought painkillers and seeing as the pain was so bad, I managed to scrounge some from the lady in front at about 3 in the morning! but to no avail! at every stop we just wished that the train would be there already - a long night of waiting! With every bump of the train Miri's face was agony...she can usually cope with pain so to see her like this showed that something was wrong, but we still didn't know what had made the wound!

At the station the guard was kind enough to help us off the train and to send for a wheelchair - two men then accompanied us to the gate - Miriam in the wheelchair and me carrying all of our bags (we have discovered that Sri Lankan men aren't that into chivalry!), our driver picked us up and we went straight to our friend's house. We are still there now!

We got to the hospital and the doctor said it looked like a scorpion bite but because we had taken so long to get to a hospital she was out of the 'risk period' and she just needed one week bedrest and the meds he prescribed...Another doctor did some tests to find that Miriam's blood count showed a very high level of infection, which she diagnosed as cellulitis (after that scorpion sting had worn of she had contracted this)...to cut a long story short Miri's been having antibiotics injections twice daily, getting a lot of bedrest and being pushed around in a wheelchair by me! Blood tests show that the infection has now gone so she just has to wait for the pain and swelling to go down...

With just over two weeks before we come back it's not quite how we pictured spending the last few days in Sri Lanka, but we have been well looked after by friends here which is a big blessing...I don't know what we'd have done if we'd have had to go back to Miriam's flat, which is up a flight of stairs. The family we are staying with is being very kind to us and are happy for us to stay as long as we want :) so we know we are still in God's hands :)

We should have been in Batti again this week, but it seems that plans have changed somewhat and as usual, we really don't have much of a clue what we're doing from one day to the next!..even so, we are hoping to make one last trip to the village to say goodbye before we leave...and soon this great adventure will be over!! :(

We are both looking forward to a hot bath and Mum's pastitsio and Chicken Dijon when we get home though, and jacket potatoes and cheddar cheese and baked beans - yum! ;)