The morning train...

We missed the early train this morning and took the 6:00 into Dum Dum. It is always and adventure getting on the train and this morning was no different. We searched for biscuits, bananas and peanuts for the kids and began making our rounds. The first guy we found needed his ankle wound cleaned. We treated him yesterday and today there were signs of improvement. His neighbor in the newspaper shack to the right protectively held his leg while his family encouraged him to show us. Eventually he did and we found a deep tissue necrotic wound that he decided to treat by pouring oil on top and covering with paper. I did my best to clean and bandage him and promised to return tomorrow and do it again. The rest of the morning was filled with a variety of ailments....warts, cuts, fevers and broken bones. The most striking was a man with leprosy whose left foot looked like hamburger and was dripping with blood. His bones, muscles and skin were dangling off his dilapidated foot, which was infested with maggots. After a deep clean and LOTS of bandages we left wondering if we had done any good. It would likely be removed within an hour of us leaving but we promised to return and care for him again tomorrow. Oops, gotta go - off to Calcutta, write more later...Katie