Dave & Meredith's Travel Blog

Well, I’m happy to report that I managed to get through our trip to Mongolia without injuring myself.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for Dave.

While we were in the Gobi, Dave started complaining that his finger hurt and seemed swollen.  At first, it looked a little like it does if you have pulled a hang nail when you shouldn’t have.  But by the next day, his whole finger was swollen, and the back of his hand was red.  By the time we got back to UB, the lower half of Dave’s forearm was swollen and red, and he seemed a little feverish to me.

Our guides from the Western Mongolia trek were still in UB and both have extensive emergency medical training.  We saw them when we returned and before we asked what they thought Dave should do, they said, “You have to go see a doctor.”

So, we called the SOS Medica Mongolia International Clinic, where they have an English speaking doctor, even on weekends, when we needed to go.  There was no ambulance this time, just a cab ride with a driver who overcharged us to go to the clinic.

When we arrived at the clinic, I sat in the waiting room while Dave saw the doctor (based on Dave’s description of what happened inside, I’m glad I waited outside).  Apparently, there was lots of iodine, a big lance making a sweeping movement between Dave’s fingernail bed and skin up to his knuckle, some oozing, etc.  When Dave came out to the waiting room, he looked like this:

Remember all those pictures Dave took of me and my ankle?  Well, turnabout is fair play.

The doctor gave Dave the sling to keep his hand elevated.  His finger is wrapped in gauze and he has to keep the bandage moist “to promote oozing”.  He’s also now on antibiotics for the next week.

The big question is, “What happened?”  Clearly this could not have been a hang nail gone awry.  We wondered if he got a bug bite of some sort, but couldn’t find bite marks anywhere.  I guess it will remain a mystery.  Dave simply calls it his “Gobi Finger”.  The good news is that he got on antibiotics before the infection moved further up his arm.

The patient leaves the SOS Medica Mongolia clinic, clearly in intense pain, but putting on a brave smile for the readers of this blog

– Meredith