The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1964

By Dr. Donn W . Ketcham Mi sionary tf:o Chittagong, E a t Paki– tan - ABWE A Christian man from our jungle station at Hebron came into book– room here in Chittagong recently with a note from Lynn Silvernale, our He– bron nurse. A Murung tribesman of about 19 or 20 years of age had been carrying a heavy load of bamboo and had fallen down an em 1 bankment. The bamboo landed on top of him and badly broke his right leg. It wa evident that it was more th an Lynn could handle so a tri,p for the doctor was in order. The day wa far ·pent as far as travel to Hebron w.as con– cerned, but we decided to try it any– how, as there was a full moon and we could tr avel the river at night if we had to. Messeng e r sent I sent Sudir (Shoe-dear ) the mes– senger out to get hi s Khan a (dinner ) and I set out for a local welding hop. There, I took some pieces of teel cement reinforcing bars and bent them to the hape of a Thoma Splint and a Pear son Attachment. The shop keeper welded the piece together for me, and in 45 minutes time we had a very nicely made splint. ( ost, $4. At home it would be more like $20). Then, after gobbl– ing a bit of lunch we were off by l :30. We arrived in the vi llage of Kagera abou t 3 :45 and left the car in the care of the senior citizen of the vilJagc, a very kindly, bearded man of rather remarkable educa tion . He ac– cepts no fee\ for watching our car for us. It ,~ professional courtesy from 01le 111issionary to another, he tells u , as he is a rnissionary for Mo– l1 a111n1ed, and it's just his way of helJJing a brother ,nis ionary. How alJout tl1at? We engaged a coolie to carry 0111e f the equipr11cnt on hi s carr} 1 ing J)Ole a11d started off. o a e tirl1e, \\'e hikecl tl1e fir st j our 111iles. We v. 1 adetl the river in tvvo JJlaces a11d l1ikcd t)\'er tl1c ric · paddic for t l1e rest of tl1e Vt'ay. 11 a1ri, 1 ing at tl1c villag of 1anipl1r, J 1 aitecJ ior 111}' gt1i I v. ho v.'a 2() 111i11L11e t,el1i11d, 11c t l>eing al,le to THE OHIO INDEPENDE , BAPTIST • • • • • 01n walk as fa t as I , and then another JO minutes for the coolie. There we engaged a canoe and tarted u,priver. We had h·iked right to the foot of a mountain range, and thu we rapidly tarted a tortuous course through the deep ravines of the mountain range. The Maji (·boatman ) propelled the bambo pole without letu,p for 2 112 hours. The boat wa a long narrow canoe with .a remarka,ble way of kimming along with Jittl e effort. Du k began to !fall a most beauti– ful time of day. The screeching par– rots and squawking crows began to ettle down and the brightly colored jungle birds went to roo t for the night. From time to time there would be multitudes of small fish which would ski,p .along the surface of the water like little silver doll·ars. Along one bank of the river there was a good-sized family of monkey . The old men and women sat go iping while the babies romped and wre tled with each other. An occa ional jungle chicken was heard , and then the day time ound of the jun,gle were re– placed by the ound of the frog . Occa ionally there was the strange sound of a large lizard that inhabit the area. It' two -1pitched oall ha an eerie hollow qu ality. Any other night we would have topped and pent the n ight on the shore ince the boat– men are ver y afr aid of wild elephant , but thi night ther e rwa a fL1 ll moon whi ch afely lit the w·ay. Arrive d at las t At la t we arrived abot1t a 111ile below Lama Bazaar. Here the river bccan1e too hallow to go on, o we paid the Maj1, waded the river again, then hiked to l..an1 a Bazaar a11d then on to the n11\c;1on station of Hebro11, another n1ile away We arrivetl h, 111oon l1gh t abot1t 8 p.111 ., \er) \\car\, hut happ} to be there. After stt.J)f)cr, t .. }' 1111 t1vcrnalc , thl! r1urse and I \.\tent to ec the pat1cr1t . l r1 tl1e light of tl1c ll1ck.tr1ng <)11 lttnlJ) \A.' C fou11d a }'Oltng 111an l)f ,ll)Otlt _0 )'ears l) 1 i11g qLtietl}' 011 act . He haLl l1ee11 carried 16 r11iles O\Cr tt1~ tortL1 - ou 111ot1r1tai11s (. r1 a n1ake hift strct 11 - c:r l)y hi r lati\'t:s t() fi11d l1clr1. t-li s • ourne ri 1 ght thigh was hideously swoll en and bent ·at a grate que angle. It wa the ort of ituation that would be diffi– cult to treat even in a fir st-cl a s ho - pital. If the m,a sive infection spread from the ga h ,to It.he very nearby fractures, the result would be a hor– ribl e osteomyelitis. No doctor in hi rjght ,mind would do anything with thi patient but give antibioti~ and apply traction t 1 ing skin tape . One look at his skin , however confirmed my uspecion th,at thi approach would not work. Hi kin was o filthy that it wa in very ;poor con– dition . The application of kin tape would only cause the skin to break down and further complicate the problem. Thi would be likely to occur e peciall y with the inten e heat and humidity of the country. The one thing you do NOT want to do in the face of infection i to u e bone traction, and yet thi i what 1 was being forced to do . Driven to the place of u ing ·a pin through the bone for traction, you try to put it a far from the fracture a po ible, th at i through the heel bone. I looked at hi foot and decided again t that. The foot wa like old leather with deep crack and crevice and callot1"– e . I couldn't bear the thot1ght f pt1tting a ,pin throt1gh kin that wa in1po ible to terilize. Once again. I had to compron1i e. I had to m ve the pin toward the fracture ite anu decided on the 1 wer hin hon . jtt t above the ankle. ar full}' Lynn and I crubbed the leg and foot anti wrapped it in a t wel anti akcti the to\\ el with an ti~eptic a r1u left 1 t for the night. he \.voru got arottntl qu,ckl\ that thc ti o tor ha ti arr 1 \ t: ti tl 11 d t ht' 11 t: L n1orning, ,1t S. 0, th patient"' h,g,1n to line Lt~) 011 tht; fror1t ,er \ndc1t1 . \\i ~ J)ICtt) tl1LIC}1 ignOft:ll tl1tlll lllltil \\t' 11,1<.I tl1\,; leg J)l'()pcrl\ t~1kl'11 catc Lt . t (). 3() \\ c \Cl ttl)he<.I tl1c leg .Jga111. anti again ~od~~tl 11 i11 a11t1"er1Lic a11 i g <.) t t he e Ll LII f) 111 t: 11 t t ) g L' t l1 ~ r } 7 r 11ull }s to1 rra.. t1<)11 , \\t lt)l k tl1 ,, t)l)tf e11 J)ll lle) s frl'1111 l ) 1111'~ ba111l'l,,)l (Con't. on inside back cover) SEPTEMBER , 1964 PAGE 5