Give me a hand

My first patient from FOB "The little city that could" has been a nail biter. He came in with pain to his little finger, possible joint pain, after enduring it for 3-4 days. (#1. Why don't people seek treatment day  one?)  At first, it looked to be a strain. Maybe he bent his finger back and then slept on it, and then did it for 3 more days. (It could happen!) He had no breaks in his skin, so it couldn't be an infection- right? I looked through different magnifying glasses on different days looking for something that would give me a clue to what is happening to his hand. He kept coming back day after day...swelling increased, more pain...

Right in the middle of my storytelling electrical comes in and states they will be shutting off the power city wide....Stay tuned! With the power off, I type in the dark. See how dedicated I am to my task!

To continue, we are lucky here with Military resources. What great guys! We should not take advantage of their kindness, but occasionally they will have mercy on us and do an X- ray on our patients. So it was. We had my patient X-rayed. No breaks, nothing showing up and nothing like a dislocation. So I treat him according to what I see, muscle strain. I spoke with the patient and it seems as if he wants to go home. Sometimes that happens that the workers will come in for a fake complaint to go home. So go home! No one is keeping anyone against their will. It may be an issue of saving face- I don't know. Please just leave. We get paid here. We are not in chains. This patient has a little baby and a youngster at home and has been home once already and hasn't been here that long. But he is not faking an illness.  Still I view his hand and it's now swollen and turned black. (WTH?) We again truck over to the military for a second opinion and that Dr. is perplexed as well. The recommendation is to try him on antibiotics for an internal infection of unknown origin. The doc here approves that. This is keeping me up nights. I have done so much research and studying of different diseases. I worry for the poor patient, eventhough I can't be sure what his angle is and he tells me that I have 2 days to fix him. (Yeah, OK...). Today, we are finally making headway. His hand looks better. Yeah! Only in Afghanistan... My success is short lived...  Another patient walks in with discoloration to his hand. Maybe it's something else. What is this crap? Disease is rampant here in Afghanistan and you just never know what you will find...Unbelieveable!