Innocent part 2

(originally sent 4/4/07)
After keeping Innocent in his bed with his foot elevated and bandaged tightly all night, we received word that the bleeding had nearly stopped.  We also had his wife giving him re-hydration fluid in the absence of supplies to gain IV access and give him IV fluids.  Since his condition had improved slightly and it was the weekend, we decided to wait until Monday to take him to the clinic again.  When Monday rolled around, Nathan, Laurel, Innocent, Innocent's wife, Innocent's father, and I piled into the pickup to head back to the government clinic in Dimako.  The doctor met us at the car and immediately took Nathan into an office to explain that he could not treat Innocent because he was HIV positive.  When we questioned him, he changed his strategy and said that the growth would bleed a lot if he tried to remove it and he did not have enough supplies.  We offered to go to the pharmacy to buy the necessary supplies, as is often the custom in Cameroonian clinics and hospitals, but he said we would not be able to find them.  I am not sure if any of the doctor's excuses for not treating Innocent were legitimate, but it became obvious that he was not willing to remove the growth.   After discussing the matter for what seemed like hours, we finally left the clinic to get the advice of the Catholic nuns who also have a clinic in Dimako.  They said it might be best to take Innocent to a doctor in Abong-Mbong who is very honest and skilled.  We decided that since we were already on our way into Bertoua to get supplies and Bertoua is much closer than Abong-Mbong, we would try to take him to the government hospital there.  We were reluctant to show up at the hospital in Bertoua ourselves, since the price of treatment seems to keep climbing higher and higher every time the white missionaries show up with a patient, but we needed to get treatment for Innocent.  So, early in the afternoon we dropped him off with a little money and went about shopping for supplies. 
After spending all afternoon in town shopping at various stores and in the open-air market, we gathered all the supplies on our list.    We made our way back to the hospital to check on Innocent.  We were told that Innocent had cancer of the foot, something that may or may not be true, and that he would have to stay for 3 weeks and might need to have his foot amputated.  Pray with us that Innocent would have a good outcome, that his foot and his life would be spared, and that God would use this hardship as a way to bring Innocent and his family closer to Himself.