A Little Setback

After one week in our new home settling in and meeting people, I now find myself in Managua with my foot in a bandage!  Yesterday morning John and I participated in a 5 K walk/run to raise funds for a local NGO, which does a lot of work supporting children (through education) and health (supports the maternity home I have been visiting) and community building.  It is all very compatible with the Peace Corps goals and we anticipate doing work with them.  The walk took place early in the morning (assembling at 6) when the weather was still temperate and we were home by 8:30 to shower, have breakfast and head over to the neighboring town of El Viejo to meet one of our counterparts and his family for lunch.  We were walking down the street on our way to the bus stop when I caught my foot on something and took a tumble.  Luckily I did not hit my head, damage any internal organs, or break a hip.  I did get scraped in several places, bruised my left knee and hurt my right baby toe – it appeared to be enjoying a new angle and it was bleeding.  I felt very shook up and very dizzy.  We sat on the sidewalk for a while and I drank some water.  When I felt okay, I tried to stand up but pretty quickly collapsed to the ground (John was with me and guided me down so I was not hurt). 

Eventually we took a cab back home and called the Peace Corps Medical Officer on duty.  She instructed us to come to Managua to get the foot x-rayed. As soon as I felt stable enough, we took a cab to the bus station and the two hour bus ride to Managua where we met the Peace Corps doctor in the big private hospital of Managua.  The final upshot of the fall is a broken baby toe on my right foot with a superficial laceration under the toe.  The ER doctor stuck the laceration together with Dermabond (great skin glue) and bandaged me up to immobilize my foot.  The plan is for me to see an orthopedist today and get his review of the x-rays and plan of care before heading back to Chinandega. 

In the meantime, the Peace Corps is putting us up in a lovely hotel near the Peace Corps office and there are several other volunteers here in town for various reasons (meetings, medical issues, a group took the Foreign Service Exam over the weekend, etc.) so there is no lack of company.  I am moving very slowly.  My right foot hurts because of the toe and my left leg is tender because of the bruised knee.  However, it is not all bad: I am presently sitting out by the pool with the palm tree blowing in the wind with a pigeon and crow keeping me company.  John has gone over to the Peace Corps office to find out what the plan is.  Last night we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut and wolfed it down with a couple of Heinekens.  That doesn’t sound very Peace Corps does it?

Here are some of my thoughts about this experience:

•  I am getting old and falls need to be taken seriously.  I am really lucky that a broken toe is the extent of my damage.  It could have been a lot worse.
• One of the reasons for the fall was that we were walking fast and not paying attention to the sidewalk.  We were walking like gringos and it is time for me to change my pace and start walking slowly like Nicaraguans.
• John is a great support and a surprisingly good nurse.  He washed my wounds, iced my aches, held me, propped me, and catered to my every need (anticipating several) with a worried and loving look on his face. Thank you John. xxoo
•  Peace Corps has been very responsive and helpful.  I have felt well attended to and supported from the moment I called in.
•  I am going to have to readjust my schedule of getting settled in and established in Chinandega.  This makes me feel a little sad but maybe it means I will sit around getting to know my neighbors better and put the health project on hold for a while.
•  This fall could have been the end of my Peace Corps service.  John and I often joke that anything could happen that would require us to leave the Peace Corps.  We are well aware of this reality and I do feel grateful that this is just a setback and not an end to our goal of being here for two years.