dressing burn victims

on monday we worked in the actual clinic, having had our share of injecting needles into children. on first arrival, we were trained to take heights and weights of the incoming patients. but then, they decided that that wasnt really that important, so we were moved into the one-stop-shop nursing room to take care of all things quick and medical. included in these tasks were taking out sutures of women who had c sections, more vaccinations but this time for people of all ages (did you know that the birth control shot is the number 1 preferred family planning method here?) and, of course, quick fixes for burn victims. an elderly man, who works as a cement mixer down by the city dump, had an accident with the mixture, and suffered severe chemical burns on both of his calves. in strong tradition of my mother, the only thing that really grosses me out in terms of ailments of the human body is a gnary, puss filled, infected, skin hanging off, basal cell layer exposed body part, with exposed nerve endings creating exruciating pain for whomever. so, of course, thats what i got to see at 8 in the morning. pancakes be damned! so, i took a deep breath, put on gloves (incredible!) and went to work with a wooden stick and some antibiotic cream. i struck up a conversation with the burned man, but he couldnt quite talk through the pain. i wasnt nervous, its not hard to swab cream on a leg, but it was an experience - no pain medication, no gauze to cover the wound, just an old man's burned leg, and me sweating and feeling amazed that i was doing it without barfing.