Jarrah and Bambi

Jarrah and Bambi have been good friends. 

Baby Bambi and Baby Jarrah

Bambi however has been growing up.  And growing horns.  Last year when we came home from Australia, Amelie ran in the gate and Bambi quickly butted her.. she got a few scratches on her calf.  We locked him up in a pen for a while but he seemed fine after a while and we let him out again.  We were home for a long time and he got used to us again. 

Well, since the beginning of April, we have been going here and there.  We went to Phnom Penh for dentist appointments and for picking up stuff for Jombok Hoas.  We were home for 2 nights  and then went to Siem Reap to meet a group of volunteers from the Bowral Church Youth Group.  Had a fun few days exploring the temples and shopping in Siem Reap.  We then headed home.  We were busy going every day to Jombok Hoas.  Sonna, our guard’s daughter who used to watch the girls was home (she had been away in another province working for another family), and so I asked her to watch them for a day so they could rest up a bit at home.  I was out with the group on the way to a village program for kids that the group was running.  It was going to be a far away village.  We were about 40km from home and I get a frantic phone call from Amelie.  “Jarrah was hurt by Bambi, come quick.” I hung the phone up.  Stopped the van.  Rang Amelie again since I didn’t get the full story.  Jarrah was gored by Bambi in the side (I heard).  I hung up again.  Called Ben.  All a bit scatterbrained with what to do.  I did manage to stop the van.  Call the first van to come back.  Have everyone in the first van get out and squeeze into one van so I could take the other van back (the van I was in had a big generator in it).  We rushed back to Jombok Haos where Ben met me at the gate and we rushed home.  Sonna was cradling Jarrah when I got home, and had carried her to the steps.  I couldn’t see the wound but she said it was in her thigh.  I was much, much relieved.  We took her to the Health Centre.  Also we had the van bring one of the volunteers from Jombok Hoas, Willem Knopper, who is an ICU nurse, come to check on her.  It was a nasty wound, about 8cm (3 inches) in diameter and very deep.. but it wasn’t in her side or stomach or anywhere too sensitive and she wasn’t bleeding much.  Relief.  They squirted some Betedine into the wound, covered it up, gave her a penicillin shot and a pain killer and she stopped fussing.

So we decided to take her to Phnom Penh.   Throughout the 5.5 hour trip she was happy as if there was nothing wrong.  She was telling us stories.  She had a nap.  The main issue was that she wasn’t allowed to eat anything.  All quite normal.  We went to the surgery where Ben got his bunion operated on and the same doctor was working.  We were a bit worried that there wouldn’t be anywhere open as it was the tail end of the big Khmer New Year holiday.  But he had been working all holiday.  We had to wait a while as he was in surgery cleaning out someone’s infected appendix.  Finally at 8pm she went into surgery.  She needed to be under a general – it would have been pretty hard to stitch her all up otherwise.  He managed to cut away all the torn up skin and bring it all together in neat under-the-skin stitches.  There were two sites. One pretty small and the other the big one.  The horns had reached down to the muscle but didn’t tear the muscle.  So that was good.  She got all bandaged up we slept one night in the hospital and was let out the next day.  We had pizza for breakfast and left just before midday for the long trip home. 

Waiting for the Doctor

So thankfully, everything turned out okay.  It could have been so much worse.  Bambi has been locked up with the monkey.  Jarrah is walking around .. hobbling actually but quickly getting better.  Her wound site looks pretty neat.. I cleaned it on Sunday and it looked like it was healing well.  I have pictures of that.  Not of the original injury – I was wanting to take one!  But I didn’t see it again after we first put the dressings on it at the Health Centre.  Oh well.  It wasn’t pretty anyway. 

After Surgery

The Wound (with Betadine on it!)