Getting Medically Evacuated During Your Service

As a volunteer, you want to experience everything that Peace Corps has to offer.  Except for medical evacuation.  Nobody wants that.  My back started hurting 3 weeks ago and then progressed to a sharp pain down my left buttock and leg about 2 weeks ago.  Then one morning I sat down to breakfast and wham! Excruciating pain was upon me and there was almost no position I could put my body in to relieve it.  It was unbearably painful to walk and my left foot and calf immediately started to lose feeling.

Three days later, I was with my boss Santiago, his girlfriend Ximena and their dog headed to the hospital in Guadalajara in agony.  After a three-hour drive we made it just in time for the last appointment of the day with a spine specialist who even spoke English.  I’ve never had that kind of pain in my life, so I was extremely thankful when a) the doctor said that I needed to go to the hospital right away for pain meds via IV and an MRI, and b) Santiago said “of course we’re going to drive you there and take care of you.”

 First ever overnight hospital stay. 

I'm telling you, the hospital food was really good, with lots of fresh fruit. 

Santiago and Ximena helped wheel me through the hospital admission process and got me set up in my own private, hotel-like room with an en-suite bathroom.  And thus began my day of firsts: my first ever hospital IV (which took 4 tries to insert because my veins are just so dainty), my first ever overnight stay in a hospital, my first ever meal of hospital food (which was actually really good), and my first ever MRI.   A strong rain storm hit just as I was about to start my MRI, so the tech decided we should wait until it passed due to fear that the power could go out and we’d have to repeat it.

If you’ve never had an MRI before, here’s the scoop: you have to remove all metal from your body before you are wrapped up like a burrito and inserted into a tube where you cannot move – at all – for 45 minutes.  The machine moves you down the tube in regular intervals while lights flash and you listen to noises reminiscent of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  The tech gave me soothing words of advice to help me make it through a very unpleasant and claustrophobic process (take deep breaths, make patterns out of the noises, think about movies, think about songs, think about literally anything else than being in this tube).  I was starting to sweat a lot in my blanket burrito, and on the cusp of squeezing the emergency exit ball in my hand, when the process mercifully came to an end.  The first thing the tech said to me was “So, have you had surgery before?” which I figured that was not a good sign.

 My super modern hospital room, which had a long couch for guests to sleep on. 

 My first ever IV. 

Sure enough, the spine specialist came to visit me at 10 pm with some MRI pictures and said that I had a herniated disc with a pinched nerve and that I needed surgery as soon as possible.  I ended up spending 2.5 days in the hospital before my doctor from our Peace Corps Mexico office showed up to fly with me to the US.  It's going to take a little time to recover from the back surgery, so Peace Corps thankfully let me fly home to Arkansas where my family could help take me to appointments and help me with rehab.

A few days later I was in a wheelchair having a VIP experience maneuvering through airports, security and immigration with the help of Dra. Ines.  I cannot say thank you enough to the incredibly kind people who helped wheel me everywhere I needed to go.  Even the TSA agent who had to pat me down while I whimpered in pain during the standing part of my security exam was kind and sympathetic. 

I’m currently scheduled for surgery next week and will then have about a month to get medically cleared to return to my service in Mexico.  By some miracle, my Aunt Sandy happened to have a wheelchair at her house and my brother and his wife had a shower seat, so I’ve been able to move around and bathe!  That's been good news for me and everyone around me. 

 Silver lining: I finally got to meet my new niece! 

 Silver lining: I got to see my sister who is currently 7 months pregnant! 

 Silver lining: I got to see my brother, niece and cousin's daughter enjoying the summer weather. 

 Silver lining: I get to see my twin nieces as well! 

 My aunt has made me dinner every night, although I have to admit I could not eat all of this plate of America. 

I believe in the power of positive thinking and am ready to be the best patient you’ve ever met, so I am hopeful that I can get back to Mexico before the 5th of November, and that I can get back to walking without pain.  I’m also hopeful that I can continue to be patient with this whole process and try to cope with the culture shock of unexpectedly being back in the US.  It’s one thing to come back to the US on vacation.  It’s another thing to come back in this state of limbo and to suddenly be surrounded by TVs, politics, traffic and people. 

It’s hard to express how weird it feels to be here, but it’s easy to say thank you to everyone who has helped me out during this process.   

• My counterpart Santiago: he officially wins the award for the best Peace Corps counterpart ever as he drove me to the doctor and the hospital, stayed with me at the hospital late every night, and said he wasn’t leaving Guadalajara until I did.  He showed a level of care and compassion that you only get from people who are like family, and stressed that we weren’t saying goodbye – just hasta luego. 
• My counterpart’s girlfriend Ximena: Not only did Ximena give me cookies and a pear on the trip to the hospital (my only food till about 9 PM that day), she was also a huge emotional and physical support.  She soothed me while I cried in pain, she bought me a Krispy Kreme donut and toothpaste, she helped me tie my hospital gown, and she gave me lots of encouragement RE: positive thinking and how I would get back to Mexico.
• The spine clinic and hospital doctors: the doctors I met with all gave me their cell phone numbers, were super responsive to any requests and continued to message me after I was in the US to see how I was doing and if I was feeling better.
• Dra. Ines: Ines is one of the medical doctors in our PC Mexico office and she was in constant communication with me, helping to ease my fears and get me to the US as soon as possible.  She helped me successfully navigate 3 airports and 2 flights to get from Mexico to Arkansas, and was a much-appreciated and caring travel companion.
• My neighbor Elena: I could not return home from the hospital before flying to the US, and I only had 2 pairs of capris and 2 shirts with me, so I really needed some things from my house.  Elena got a spare key from my landlord and packed a suitcase for me with some essential items for a month away.  She also took out my trash, cleaned out my refrigerator, and agreed to both take care of my plants and pay my rent in my absence.
• My coworkers Fabricio and Poli: Fabricio went to Elena’s house to get my suitcase on Tuesday night and then Poli drove it 3 hours to me on Wednesday.  Then he had to drive another 3 hours back home, so you know I was grateful for him taking that much time to give me some essentials for international travel.  
• Doña Lupe and Silvia:  I received 5 visitors in my 2.5 days at the hospital and you simply cannot say thank you enough for a visitor during a hospital stay. My good friend Silvia came to visit for over an hour and helped me make a list of all the items I needed to have packed in my suitcase.  The next day, Doña Lupe - an 80+ year old woman who participates in our project – came to visit and bring me raspberries to eat.  They both gave me lots of words of encouragement and provided friendly faces which you can’t put a value on.  
• My siblings: My sister Zoe brought me some great food with processed cheese my first night and rubbed my head.  My sister Katie has come to visit almost every day, printed out medical forms I needed, and brought me delicious coffee and a book to read. My brother Winslow and his family came over so I could meet my new niece Wessyn and see my beloved niece Maci.  My brother Amery and his family gave me clothes to wear, brought me coffee and Italian food, and let me sleep in their bed. 
• My cousin Magan and family: they let me stay at their house for the first week of my visit, which is enough said.  Imagine if I came to stay with you for 1-6 weeks with only 2 days of notice, needing help with just about everything that takes place in a normal day.  I’m not sure anyone could be as gracious and welcoming as they have been.  The kids have drawn me lots of pictures and filled up my water cup countless times.  Magan's husband has helped me get to/from cars for appointments and rearranged things in their house for my wheelchair to maneuver. 
• My Aunt Sandy: She picked me and Dra. Ines up at the airport and then drove us straight to the ER where I got some much-appreciated pain killers and an appointment with a neurosurgeon.  She also gave me her bed to sleep in and has been my personal nurse, helping with seated showers, daily meals, laundry, picking up prescriptions, daily hugs, etc.  She's poured me cereal every morning and cooked me dinner every night, and given me access to a TV to watch the Great British Baking Show nonstop.  I love my aunt and will never be able to repay her for her love and hospitality during my time of need.

So, that’s the scoop here.  I will try to keep up my blog during my medical evacuation and will for sure continue when (not if) I return to Mexico. :) 

Tales of Traveling

I recently saw a man sitting on top of a motorcycle that was in the bed of a truck that was driving down the road, followed later that day by a woman sitting on 5 plastic chairs stacked in the back of another truck bed.  Every time I have to travel, a potential adventure awaits me.  It turns out the same is true for my guests.

 This is the form of transportation I see most often (but never do - that's one of those PC rules).

The red and white moto-taxi in the distance is a big hit in my town.

My friend Chris came to visit me earlier this year and people at the bus station talked him in to taking a different route than I normally take.  He ended up on a bus that brought him about 30 minutes outside of town and then needed to find a ride the rest of the way.  While the locals in Guadalajara had suggested a taxi for the last leg, the locals in my town told me "good luck with that", so I was a little nervous.  Luckily, he met some kind people on the bus who helped him exit at the right spot.  When he exited the bus, he found himself on the side of the road with two women.  He jokingly put out his thumb, and sure enough a truck pulled over right away.  He thought he was super lucky and was ready to ask for a ride for the women as well until he learned that the driver was the women’s uncle, and they were actually offering him a ride!  They moved the many bottles of tequila and bags of limes into the truck bed to make room for everyone and then gave Chris a ride all the way to his hotel (along with a great story to tell).

 I took this picture months ago and have been waiting for a reason to use it. I think it's associated enough with "transportation" to qualify here. That poor, poor doll.

Another friend came to visit me in December and stopped in a touristy beach town along the way.  She set down her bag with her computer, passport, money, camera, etc. while getting a snack and then walked away without realizing she didn’t have her bag.  She called me in a panic, doubting that she would be able to continue her trip.  She must have had some good karma built up, because she found her way back to the snack vendor who miraculously had her bag inside, with everything intact. 

When my friends from Seattle came to visit, they took a local bus about 3 hours from a tourist hub to my small pueblo mágico.  When they reached the top of the mountain pass that leads into my town, they were more than a little concerned when the people next to them started making the sign of the cross as the bus hurtled down the mountain.  They are both fairly tall and fell prey to the dreaded reclining bus seat on that ride as well.  The fact that most bus seats can fully recline to a horizontal position is not my favorite part of travel in Mexico.  It's awkward to spend hours with a strangers head in your lap and the seats can go so far back that you physically cannot get out of your seat until the person in front of you moves.  Claustrophobia can kick in big time on buses with reclining seats. 

No leg room for Tim! 

Clearly there are lots of adventures awaiting you when traveling through Mexico, and there are just as many different forms of transportation.  At the top of the list, there are the really nice buses with personal entertainment screens, plush seats and footrests, tinted windows, air conditioning and bathrooms.  I can't say that it's easy to use those bathrooms while barreling down the highway and jostling about, but it's better than the alternative.  In these buses, you choose what you want to watch and the volume for your entertainment. 

Super posh ETN bus.

This is a bus station where you can find the fancy lines, like ETN and Primera Plus.

The nice bus stations even have recycling!

There are also really old buses with seats that may be permanently reclined all the way back, fabric window curtains that you can’t keep in place, and windows that you'd like to open for natural air conditioning only to find they are stuck shut.  In those buses, you often have one TV screen at the front of the bus that is playing movies at a very loud volume.  I didn’t really want to watch another iteration of the Die Hard franchise on the bus, but there was no avoiding it.  There are also vans that pick people up and function as short-haul buses, yellow taxis, moto-taxis that can give you an affordable, albeit bumpy, ride around town, bicycles, horses, donkeys and no doubt many more options that I've yet to encounter. 

Local bus station, which is located on the sidewalk by the grocery store.

 The azul line seems to have nicer seats, and sometimes AC. Notice the religious image at the back of the bus. 

This bus had the dreaded one screen, no-choice-but-to-listen-to-it movie playing.

Here in town, I walk everywhere.  I went to visit my friend Maria earlier this year and started out at 12:30 PM for an 80-minute walk in the heat of the day.  That’s admittedly not the best time to go for a walk in the blazing sun; however, I had been longing for a hike and took advantage of every tree providing shade along the road and the nice breeze at the top of the climb.  I will admit that I said yes to a ride back home after a glorious lunch of turkey pot pie and cinnamon sugar twists.  And I was very happy to be in a truck when we passed a large number of cows with horns sauntering down the road.   

I have plans to see more of Mexico this year and I'm sure those trips will yield some more good stories.  In the meantime, if you're headed my way, be sure to bring some comfortable walking shoes, some extra patience and a good sense of adventure.  

 View on the walk to my friend's house, before the rainy season!

 This tree provided some much appreciated shade.

Landscape scenes along my springtime walk.

Got stress?

There’s a lizard that lives in my bathroom.  I’ve never seen it but it poops everywhere: on top of the toilet, on the toilet lid, on the sink, on the floor, in the shower - you name it.  I had a dream that I moved my trashcan and discovered the lizard in the form of a 50-pound turtle/stegosaurus creature.  Luckily, that was just a dream and the real, tiny little lizard continues to thrive.

I will admit that my house lizard adds a small amount of stress to my daily life.  While I appreciate that it may be eating mosquitos, I also fear that I will accidentally sit on it when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  All the lizards I've seen here look pretty friendly, but I'm guessing they would be pissed if I sat one.   

This was a nice, zero stress day on the coast earlier this year.  Due to recent landslides, I sadly will not be able to visit the coast anytime soon.

Viewing sunsets, from the beach, is a key method of stress reduction.

If you asked me, I would say that I have a lot less stress in my life now compared to my life in the US.  However, that's not really true.  I just have a different type of stress.  There's nothing like Peace Corps service to really help you identify your stressors, and create some entirely new ones.  So what new stressors have I identified? Let me tell you!

Street Dogs: I have been forced fortunate to spend A LOT of time with dogs here in Mexico.  I'm not what you would call a "dog person" but I've learned that if you ignore them, they generally ignore you.  And if they don't ignore me, then I just start talking to them in my voice normally reserved for babies and pretend to be a lot more comfortable and braver than I really feel in the moment.  I recently ran into a pack of dogs on the sidewalk who were unhappy to see another dog on the street and things got intense.  No sweet talking was going to help there, so I just hugged the wall and retreated to the previous corner.   

A collage of our office dogs during the past year. 

You also have to watch out for those street chickens!

Scorpions, Spiders and Lizards - oh my!  While showering the other morning, I saw something large and dark climbing on the wall next to me.  I jumped out to grab my glasses and found a spider the size of my palm showering with me, and neither of us were happy to see each other.  Now that I have found one scorpion inside my house and one outside my front door, I am constantly scanning walls, ceilings and floors for anything that doesn’t belong there.  I tell myself that I will never ever find a scorpion in my bed, but anytime I feel (or think I feel) something touch me, I jump – violently – with arms flailing.  

Trying to Have a Sense of Humor in a Second Language: It can be stressful not to be able to put your (awesome) sense of humor on display.  In my experience, sarcasm does not resonate in my community, so it's been a struggle to make jokes.  Cheesy kids jokes also don't seem to work: one day someone asked me "what's up?" so I said "the sky!" Ten minutes later I was still trying to explain why that was a joke.     

This is a natural spring for mineral water. I drank out of this hole and survived to tell the tale. No stress there. 

Explanation of mineral water site.  

Constant Changes: In my 15+ months at site, we’ve had more than 10  employees/consultants come and go from my office and there are always more on the way.  It’s been nice to meet so many different people but I’m also constantly re-introducing myself, establishing new relationships and saying goodbye to people.  

Getting Asked Innocuous Questions - every day: I know it sounds crazy to say that it’s stressful to have people ask you “where are you going? what are you doing? why are you so quiet?” every day, but it is.  I have a feeling my fellow volunteers can relate.

Flooding: I think it goes without saying that it’s stressful to be in your house dealing with flooding.  It's also stressful to be away from your house when it starts raining hard and you're worried about flooding.  And finally, it's stressful when heavy rains cause landslides that take out chunks of the road that connects you to the coast, leaving you without passage for months.

Noise: If I had to confine Mexico to one word (which admittedly would not be fair), that word would be noisy.  As a delicate flower with a low threshold for loud noises, I have a long list of noisy stressors: super loud car engines, 5 AM church bells and fireworks, trucks driving by with loud speakers advertising their watermelons/tomatoes/mangos for sale, people holding conference calls by using the speaker feature and talking loudly on two cell phones at the same time.... Even thought I love the song "Personal Jesus," I don't love hearing it blasting from passing cars, which, strangely enough, has happened multiple times.  

News from the US:  Enough said.

More time spent with trees = less stress. 

There's nothing stressful about this lovely table setting. 

There are lots of peaceful places in the countryside.  But.... there might be some stress regarding how you're going to find a bathroom or water to drink out there.  

It's an awesome experience being a Peace Corps volunteer but it is not stress free.  That should not surprise you but I will ask you to keep that in mind when we're emailing or talking on the phone.  Yes, I'm happy and things are good, but every once in awhile, a stressor hits and you may find yourself wondering why on earth I'm stressing about something that seems so benign. 

My brothers and sisters have been so awesomely patient with me even when I know I'm complaining to them about something that doesn't really make sense ("the sun was out AGAIN today and then this person smiled at me, asked me where I was going and offered me free food.... it was a hard day").   I'm operating in a different world these days and am often a little sleep-deprived after a night battling imaginary scorpions in my bed, so thank you for your patience.