Anne has an Accident (with a capital 'A')

After our first couple weeks back in Santa Cruz, we were starting to feel settled in and getting comfortable.  Then, suddenly, it all unwound on us in a hurry.

We had a rat in the kitchen.  Mice in the ceiling of the office.  I started working with the bookkeeper, so she can go on furlough this year.  It got hot.

A young family from the US was visiting Bolivia and we were their main contact.  Last Wednesday, I took a couple hours off of the bookkeeping to pick them up, get them some groceries, and bring them to campus.  Anne, Addi, and Lydia immediately set off with their kids to give them the Grand Tour while we helped them get their stuff into their room.

Then Anne started screaming.

Now, our girls have been trained that screaming is absolutely off limits except for two reasons:  you're hurt so bad you can't get help or a bad person is getting you.  

I ran out to the girls' favorite climbing tree, Kaylee right behind me, and found her laying on her back in the sand with a funky-looking shoulder, saying, "Daddy, I can't breathe."  Addi told me that Anne had fallen out of the tree, indicating a branch next to my head.  Kaylee called our coworker Judy, who is trained as a nurse.  We thought maybe her shoulder was dislocated from the way it looked, but Judy said we should go into town to our ER of choice.

So Judy bound up Anne's arm in a couple strips of Kaylee's cloth, we got her up into the Patrol, and she and I bumped and jolted our way, 5 miles into the city, to the best clinic in town.

Sweaty and sandy, lots of pain, taking vitals in the ER

Anne was in a lot of pain, but she was amazing.  Between the ride into town, all the preliminary checks, and the x-ray, she was well over an hour without any kind of pain medication before they got the IV into her.  Maybe it was the shock, but she never complained, other than "It hurts!"

The x-ray tech said, "Fractured."

The ER doc said, "Can you afford an MRI at $XXXX?"

I said, "Let's pray the insurance will cover it!"

MRI:  That "ball" is supposed to be on the end of the bone!

It turns out that "fractured" in Spanish can mean anything from a hairline to a major break -- one of the many new things I learned through this experience.  Another is that you get to choose your level of comfort from 3 different classes of room -- "normal," "special," and "VIP" -- each more expensive than the last, of course.

Surgery was scheduled for the following morning at 11:00.  Our coworker Karla (the bookkeeper) drove into town to bring us some necessities and ended up feeding Anne her supper while I took the car to a secure garage and fed myself.

So Anne and I spent the night in the hospital together for the first time since she was born. :)  

Surgery went as planned and praise God the doctors were happy with how her arm turned out.  They did end up putting a temporary pin in it, which I had to pay for separately (by private courier).  

I was concerned that Anne was going to come out of the anesthesia all alone, as I wasn't given access.  However, just as Anne was coming out of surgery, while the anesthesiologist was giving me his report, Kaylee and the girls showed up for a visit.  As soon as I introduced them, the anesthesiologist rushed Kaylee into the recovery room and Anne opened her eyes for the first time just as she walked in!  Another reason to praise God!

With one arm broken and an IV in the other, she needed LOTS of help!

We stayed one more night in the hospital and were released the following day.  Of course, we had to pay before she was allowed to leave, which caused a bit of a fuss when my debit card wouldn't work.  A coworker ended up bringing cash for us, so we could go home!  Anna, yet another coworker, stayed with Anne while I got it all worked out and went to get the car!

Now for a week, Anne has been learning to make do with "one hand."

We went back into town this afternoon for her second followup appointment and they took another x-ray of her shoulder.  The doc said it looks great!

Before (broken)                                       After (fixed)

We thank God for all of our teammates that helped us both in physical ways and through prayer.  We are thankful for those of you who prayed as well.  We are thankful for a good clinic to go too, and a good car to get us there in.  We are thankful that Anne is recovering well!

The branch she was sitting on when she fell

Now we need to fix the office ceiling, which has been pulled down to reveal a terrible lot of mousy nastiness and termites. . .

Stitches out!

Lydia's doctor had an emergency surgery to perform Thursday night, so our appointment was changed to last night. Lydia and I went by ourselves; Kaylee stayed home with Anne and Addi.

I prepped her throughout the day, so she knew what to expect.  She was talking all about it earlier, but got shy once I turned on the camera. :)

(And no, it wasn't a good time for Addi to play in the dirt!)

When it was our turn, the doctor looked at the stitches, then sent us down the street to the pharmacy to pick up a disposable scalpel blade.  It cost us 1 Boliviano (about 14 cents).  We then returned to his office.

I should mention that his office is downtown and is just that: an office.  It does have a small examination bed in it, but other than that it is all desk and bookshelves.

He had me lay Lydia down on the bed, then called in the receptionist.  She held his smartphone for light (!) and I held her hands while he removed 6 of the 7 stitches.  He left the one closest to her eye and said it will come out on its own within a few days.

Lydia did fantastic through it all!  She didn't wiggle at all and kept her eyes open, looking straight ahead the whole time.  The only thing she said was, "I don't like the knife." :)

This is how it looks today:

Pretty good!

Update on Lydia

It's been a week since Lydia's accident and she's doing great!

I took this photo the morning after; having a bad eye definitely didn't steal her joy!

The swelling was so bad she couldn't see anything out of it the first day, but it has progressively gone down and is almost completely gone now.  We took her to the doctor on Monday for a follow-up and he said it looks great.  We then took her out for a treat:

I'm taking her back to the doctor tonight, hopefully to get the stitches out.

Lydia and the Emergency Room

Today started out like a normal day. I had class in the morning, an appointment after class and then returned home. Nathan and the girls spent the morning working in the yard, cleaning things up and prepping for a mission get together we're having here tomorrow night. 

Caution: It gets bloody.

Then around 11:45 I heard a huge crash. I immediately ran, knowing that a large glass corner shelf (that belongs with the house) had fallen, praying that no one was hurt. All I could see was Lydia's hand extending out and hear her crying. I picked up the shelf and immediately started screaming for Nathan. Her face was covered in blood and I couldn't even see one eye. Not knowing the extent of the injury or the amount of broken glass I chose to stay with her until Nathan came with a towel. We immediately called friends to see if they were available to take us to the ER. They were unavailable so Nathan called a taxi. I'm not sure how long we waited but it felt like forever.

We are both so thankful for our taxi driver. He was young but serious and obviously understood our stress. He drove quickly (no speed limits around here) but safely in and out of traffic and got us to our destination (on the opposite side of town) in good time. She was admitted to the ER (which is also currently under construction with workers passing through continually) and they started cleaning her up. At that point only Nathan was with her since only one of us could be. After a bit of time I switched places with him and he sat with the other two girls. We are also so thankful for our coworker, Dwight, who met us at the hospital and who was able to help watch the other two girls while Nathan did paperwork.

Lydia and I were then escorted to another part of the hospital. We ended up in one of the female workers' changing rooms where they had me put Lydia in scrubs. I asked one of the nurses what was going to happen and she said the doctor would come talk to me. They also said they would bring me scrubs and I would be able to stay with Lydia. But then was told the doctor only wanted Lydia and she was taken from me. At this point I didn't know whether she was having surgery or stitches. I really had no clue what was happening and I can promise it wasn't from a lack of understanding! They just weren't communicating nor answering questions!

After sitting patiently for a while in this "changing room" I finally asked a passing nurse if she knew anything. She told me Lydia was "in process" and I could see her in recovery when she was done. Thankfully that did happen. I was given scrubs, waited a bit more and then finally saw the doctor. He told me that she was doing fine. She was okay and that she would be out in a few moments. I asked a few questions and then a bit later saw Lydia. Thankfully we weren't separated again. We hung out in the recovery "room" for quite some time (another Bolivian style room that felt a bit more like a corner storage area).  Then they moved us to a second women's changing room where we waited and waited and waited some more.

Nathan, Dwight and the other two girls were waiting this whole time with less information than I had. Sadly I forgot my cell phone so I couldn't text to let him know what I knew or to know what they were doing. I was then told to wait a bit longer as we couldn't leave until things were paid for. The second time the nurse came around to let me know we were still waiting on money I asked if we could join Nathan and thankfully she let me.

The doctor's recommendations included a pain/anti-inflammatory prescription, nothing but Coca Cola or Fanta until 5:00pm (!), and an easy schedule for the next couple of days. We'll be seeing him again on Monday.

We are so thankful that Lydia is walking away with 7 stitches and a swollen black eye. She really could have been hurt so badly, lost an eye, puncture to the skull, etc. We thank God for His protection of her! And we are also so thankful for the many prayers that were being said while this was happening. (We really do appreciate Facebook!)