Change of Plans

The flight to CapeTown and first 24 hours of cruising went great. On-time flights...mojitos...

steak...beautiful room.

Then, about 27 hours after boarding, I fell. I was walking into the ladies' room, when the ship lurched just a small amount. My right leg is weak and failed to hold me up as I tried to recover my balance. Down I went, onto the hard ceramic floor. I hit on my left side and I knew immediately my ankle was done for. 

I remember they tried to immobilize my foot to get me to the ship's hospital. The doctor took one look, blanched, and mumbled to herself, "very bad." The x-rays confirmed very bad, though no one showed them to me.  Morphine began flowing into my arm. 

Next morning (Friday), the ship stopped at our first port of call, Walvis Bay, in the country of Namibia.  Our prereading led us to believe Namibia has amazing birdlife, but otherwise not much. Miles of desert right to the ocean. And that's where they put us off the ship and where we are now. The name of the hospital is Welwitschia. Nope, we cannot pronounce it. The staff speaks heavily accented English to us and Afrikaans (I think) to one another. The staff is wonderful. The hospital is spotlessly clean. The orthopedic doctor speaks "the King's English."

More x-rays here. Doctor reaction to those was very grim. He indicated it will be challenging to get back to normal, and I probably will require more surgery down the road. He said I had been close to requiring an amputation. My ankle was totally smashed. The joint was completely dislocated. The tibia and fibula were both broken as well. He said I should have had surgery within an hour of the fall, and he showed Tommy where blisters formed with infection under the skin due to waiting. 

They took me straight into surgery.  I don't member anything else about that day.

The next day, I learned he put in something like 12 pins. And he told me my foot won't be weight-bearing for 4 to 6 weeks. 

Tommy is staying at a local hotel and desperately trying to handle travel insurance and devising a

plan to get us home.

I have a giant boot on my foot , and PT has gotten me to wiggle my toes. That's about it so far. The pain drugs are pouring into my arm, and today they added blood thinner to avoid developing a DVT.

Doc says I should fly completely lying down, with legs straight. There may be a need for a travel nurse to go with me. Even with all that, I don't think I could manage traveling for another week.

Not quite the adventure we were hoping for! But we are so thankful for the kind people and the wonderful care. Tommy has made friends with an ER nurse so they are planning dinner together.  That's my boy!