X-ray

This may help you understand some of the challenges of accessing care in Bundibugyo.  A year ago Jack injured his heels by running cross country, too far and too hard, in poorly-padded used tennis shoes.  He was a big strong 9 year old running with mid-adolescent kids. Though we did once go on line to look for age-related distance limits . . .he is the kind of kid that pushes, and is able to do too much.  Plus we did not take his occasional complaints of pain in his feet seriously enough.  By the time we realized it was a problem, he had done damage to his growth plates.  Thanks to our good friend who is an orthopedic surgeon we learned his diagnosis, calcaneal apophysitis (Sever's disease).  And his treatment:  rest, no running, pads in his shoes, stretching exercises.  For months we've been slowing him down (we even tried crutches briefly to keep him still), no football, no sports, no hikes, always banning bare feet or hard shoes.  For an athletic kid like Jack, the result has been frustration, and it probably has significantly impacted his ability to enter into school life and have friends, and been part of his general discouragement.

The good news is that this disease will go away as he reaches adulthood and stops growing . . . but that is still a long way off.  It has been hard for him to be patient with the slow process of healing.  Recently though we've seen the benefits of his rest and his heel pads, and he has not had nearly as much pain.  So he has been allowed a limited amount of activity .  And our doctor friend in the US suggested follow-up xrays.  Since Jack is very worried about all this, and looking for good news, we really wanted to comply and get films.

Sounds simple.  No xray film in Bundibugyo.  So a month ago, our only weekend out of Bundibugyo this quarter, I went to two hospitals in Fort Portal with Jack.  In one the xray machine was broken.  In the other there was a line of patients a mile long, and we had a car full of people waiting for us, so we had to give up.  So then Scott bought a box of xray film and took it back to Bundi.  The xray tech has been unavailable, and the machine only works when the generator is running which is a few hours a week.  Finding an overlap between the xray and Jack's school schedule has not been easy.  We thought we had one today.  But no fuel for the generator.  So we had to drive to Bundibugyo in the rain, buy 10 litres of diesel fuel, find the xray technician, give him the box of film, get the generator started, and take the pictures.  Just revving up the machine and arranging it all took over an hour.  When the films were finally developed they were a bit light . . . the tech apologized that the chemicals for developing were old.  

A simple xray of the heel is never simple.  The staff say that the fuel issues stems from the fighting between politicians, which is freezing all the bank accounts for the district, so the hospital has no money. We have resources and resolve, but you can imagine that for most people the barriers of film, fuel, and passive-aggressive foot-dragging, would be too high to surmount.

We are praying that Jack's heels are healing . . . that he will be increasingly able to move normally, good for body and soul.  But the dreary process of accessing care also reminds us to pray for justice, for relief, for the many who wait for help and healing that never comes.