A new experience

Today we had quite the experience. An ichooseyou child had a skin tag on the back of her neck and it was hurting her so we took her to the doctor to get it checked out. 

They examined it and determined it was fine except that it was hurting, and told her they could remove it. They gave her options for how to remove it and she chose to get it numbed and then cut off. She was so strong and sure until they came to shave the hair surrounding the skin tag. I'm not sure if the realization of what was about to happen hit her, or if she just couldn't hold it in anymore but she cried. Big crocodile tears. Thankfully she let me hold her and talk her through what was happening. 

Once the area was cleared and she was calm the doctor showed her the needle and explained what he was going to do. Then came the part that I almost didn't make it through. He had to numb the area which meant multiple little injections to make it numb all around. Apparently the skin on the back of the neck is tough. The doctor looked like he was having the hardest time getting the needle into her skin! Emily said his hand was shaking and, (when I could stomach looking) I could tell he was struggling. The sweet girl took it like a champ and didn't make a sound. 

After he was done and it was numb he was about to cut it off when a nurse stopped him and said something to the effect of "Isn't that going to shoot out blood all over the mzungu?!" So everything stopped. The nurses went on a hunt for something to shield me from the shooting blood, and we waited. The doctor seemed particularly annoyed about this. Finally he said something similar to "If we don't do this now it won't be numb anymore. I'm doing it." So with only one other nurse there he cut it off. It was so fast! And no, blood did not go shooting anywhere. After all the hype I was expecting something a bit more exciting. Boring!

This sweet ichooseyou girl was so brave and calm and handled everything so well! Hopefully it doesn't grow back and it heals nicely. I'm sure she would appreciate prayers for that! Also pray that she feels no pain during the healing process and that she is able to keep it clean and dry. Infection is very common around here. Let's pray against it! 

This was definitely a first for me. What a day. This whole process from start to finish took 4 hours. Rest assured the majority of that time was spent waiting. The removal probably took 10 minutes total. TIA! 

Have a story like this you want to share or encouragement for this young girl? Feel free to leave a comment!