Welcoming unexpected visitors

Our family doctor, Dr A, who has become a family friend, paid us the honour of arriving on Friday, with his wife, to spend the weekend with us - our first farm guests.  Dr A does not like driving long distances, and 300-odd kilometers from town to us is a long distance as far as he's concerned.  How wonderful it has been to spend some time with them both after 4 long months away.

Yesterday, we decided to show them a little of the area, and took them to Wildebraam - the local berry farm.  Just as I thought, the wife couldn't resist the goodies on offer, and with a severely lightened purse we all returned home "all shopped out" LOL

Relaxing on our front patio, there was a sudden commotion at our neighbours plot.  Our dogs reacted by leaping up and barking, and, after a casual glance around the corner of our house, I dismissed the noise as a chicken having difficulty producing an egg - our neighbour, CGuy has these odd chickens which really screech when it comes time to produce their daily offering.

About 10 minutes later we were startled to hear RMan being urgently called.  Opening the back door we found Robert, a worker from CGuy's plot, standing outside with a bloody cloth wrapped round his arm.  He had apparently been carrying two 4ltr glass bottles of water when one slipped, slid down, and smashed into the lower bottle, and breaking it.  The broken glass had then severed the skin of his right wrist - deeply and extremely seriously.

Thank goodness our GP was here!  According to Dr A it appeared as though Robert had cut his radial and ulna artery in his right wrist.  And he fears that he may have severed one of his tendons which controls the up / down movement of his hand.  But, keeping calm, I assisted Dr A in applying a tourniquet whilst Dr A applied pressure to the wound to staunch the bleeding.  D A then applied a packed bandage to the wound and RMan and Dr A rushed Robert to the local hospital.  Dr A reckons that a vascular surgeon will have to repair the damage.

But - what  if Dr A had not been here?  I fear that ill-equipped as I was, Robert may have bled to death.

And, it highlighted the inadequacy of my medical supplies.  Being as remotely situated as we are, I have to be better equipped - and mentally prepared!  And, with Dr A guidance, the medical supply list is currently being compiled :)

But, we have also had other guests.

This large lizard decided to play building inspector when Phase 2 was being built.  We passed inspection apparently :)

A large lizard managed to
camouflage itself against the
brickwork

Our dam also had the rare honour of being visited by an African Spoonbill.  I have never seen one before!

An African Spoonbill

RMan and I were tickled pink :)

You can make out the spoonbill easier
in this photo

And finally, we spied either a Blue Crane, our National bird, or a Blackheaded Heron.  The fading light left the question, but either are welcome to make the dam their watering hole. 

Blue Crane or Blackheaded Heron?

This has certainly been an important weekend - and left me without a doubt that, although I was prepared for a medical emergency in a town situation, I was not adequately equipped for what happened here yesterday.  I will be tomorrow though - once I have visited our local pharmacy...

And Dr A has assured me that he will always be at the end of the telephone connection to give me whatever medical advice / assistance I require, should another incident of this ilk occur in the future.  I am fortunate that I remain calm during an emergency, and only allow myself to react (fall apart LOL) once the situation is under control.  RMan, on the other hand, goes white and shaky at the first sign of blood.  But - he can perform the other important functions such as phoning to alert those concerned of the incoming emergency.

I believe that Dr A's unexpected visit was guided by the Highest power, and that God sent him here to help preserve a life.  For Robert may not have been as lucky had he only had RMan and I to help him given yesterday's situation...  The grateful lesson I (in fact both RMan and I) learnt yesterday will remain with me for the rest of my life.  Anticipate the worst, be prepared for it, and you will have a better chance of having a win-win outcome.