Broken foot!!!

5/14/ 11


Well, Jay and I have been “taking it easy” for the last week due to my injured foot and Jay’s swollen knee and I have to say I have been reading about a book a day (I think Jay is on the same book). Nevertheless on Thursday we hobbled in to the cruisers’ lounge to check our email. Sitting down next to a new friend named Christy I learned that she is a nurse in San Diego. She kept asking about how my foot was doing and I started unwrapping the ace bandage that Jay kept telling me was a good thing to keep on it. Christy looked at it pretty thoroughly and after telling me a story about how she waited a week after injuring HER foot and later finding out she had a broken foot, she added “You really ought to get an x-ray done to be sure.” I then started thinking more about what Christy said and Jay and I decided that we would try to get a ride to the hospital for an x-ray the next day which was Friday.
I listened in to the cruisers’ net Friday morning and asked if we could catch a ride into the hospital with anyone. Then sat patiently waiting for a response--- none came, so Jay and I decided to go to the clubhouse and “borrow” the crutches we had seen in there earlier and “hike” up the road hoping to hitch a ride with someone. We passed a couple of cruisers on our way out of the marina and one said he was going to town later and if he saw us on the road he would pick us up. We hobbled on up the road, resting every 20 yards or so because the crutches were made for someone 5’ 10” or taller and my 5’ 5 ¾” height just wasn’t cutting it and the crutches were digging into my arm pits something fierce! Whenever I stopped to rest Jay kept voicing his concern that we were not going to make it to the Hwy if I had to stop and rest every 30 steps. I agreed to sit down and wait to see if any cars went by…….not long after about 4 different cars went by and several stopped (all filled with local Mexican citizens) and asked us if we needed a ride up to the store where they were going…..we told them we needed to go to the hospital in Loreto and since none were going any further than the store we thanked them and opted to wait for a ride to the hospital. We waited about 2 minutes when a fellow cruising couple stopped —they were just going to the store - and they asked “Are you the cruisers who requested a ride on the net earlier?” When we answered in the affirmative the gentleman “Dutch” exclaimed “You mean no one even responded to your need for a ride?!?!?!?” When we said “no,” Dutch, sounding incredulous that no one had bothered to help us, emphatically responded: “Get in!” We got in and Dutch and his wife and cute little dog “Lily” drove us all the way to the hospital. When we arrived they asked us if they should wait for us and like FOOLS we said no and thanked them for their extreme kindness of taking us all the way to the hospital -when they weren’t even going into town until they found us needing a ride in.
We hobbled around the corner to the “Urgentencia” doors feeling blessed that someone took us all the way to town, with pleasant conversation, a cute little dog to pet and even air conditioning! As we limped into the entry Jay asked if anyone spoke Ingles and everyone shook their heads…..a little ways up the hallway a cute young nurse with a bright face and a happy smile queried “x-ray?” When we answered back “si” she got an even bigger smile and motioned for us to follow her which we gladly did……when we got to the x-ray dept. she told the tech we needed to get an x-ray and then she was informed that the x-ray machine was broken…..we stood in the hall a few minutes sharing our bad Spanish and her limited Ingles before she got this ‘I have an idea’ look and took off and grabbed a man who was walking by….we came to find out this man spoke a little Ingles and they spoke amongst themselves and decided we needed to go to a place in Loreto which they kept pronouncing as being “Eemes…..” something. Not knowing the area Jay shook his head, the kind nurse grabbed a serviette from the supply shelf and the gentleman proceeded to draw us a map of where we had to go to the only place in town that ‘MIGHT’ have an x-ray machine.
Disgusted with ourselves that we had declined Dutch’s offer to wait for us we started heading into town grumbling about the mile or so we were going to have to walk to get there. After about 50 yards a van pulled up and lo and behold it was the guy from Puerto Escondido who had told us he would pick us up if he saw us on the road. We clambered into the van and a mile or so up ahead we saw a building that matched the name we were looking for. Our friendly driver dropped us off telling us he had some errands to run in town but if we were on the road when he headed back he would just look for my “bright red dress” and stop and pick us up. After thanking him (and our blessings so far for the day) we started scaling the stairway up to the clinic……Jay had to catch me several times cause I was having a terrible time with the crutches, never having used any before, and couldn’t use them too effectively.

We made it inside only to see about 50 people waiting! I opted to stand in the shortest line (3 people ahead of us) and wait. After about 2 minutes a woman poked her head around the door and spoke Spanish to me and with me limping along with my minimal knowledge of Spanish she motioned that I should follow her, which I did to a small office. The door was then closed and we waited outside- The door then opened and we were motioned inside. A gentle giant of a man told me to be seated and I sat while a woman stood in a corner behind the chairs and stayed there. Jay leaned up against a wall and the “doctor” who informed us his name was Dr. Ramos asked what we needed. I told him about my fall a week earlier and he got us and came around his desk and proceeded to pull each of my toes out straight seemingly to see if they were sore or needed to pop back in, or?.......he then palpated my foot a bit and told us that the clinic was “not a public facility” and therefore probably could not help us. Jay then explained that we had already been to the hospital and their x-ray machine was broken and they had sent us to the clinic. The doctor then looked pensive and told us to wait and he would inquire as to if it were possible for us to get one x-ray since no other office in Loreto had an x-ray machine.
As we waited in the doctor’s office I turned around to the woman who was standing “pinned” in the corner of the room and motioned for her to sit in the extra chair, which she declined, laughing, and continuing to stand pinned in the corner. Then the doctor re-entered the room and told us to follow him. As I was passing thru a young boy seated in the lobby, seeing me jumped up to offer me his seat. Thanking him profusely for being a little gentleman I followed the Dr. into the x-ray room where a very gracious tech woman motioned for me to get on the table. No one put the lead aprons on that were hanging on the wall and with Jay and the Dr. standing nearby the x-ray was taken. (I guess those lead aprons are only needed in the USA). The doctor went into the booth, looked at the x-ray and came out and told us “Yes, the foot is broken.” At this point Jay and I were kind of dumbfounded as we both thought it was just a sprain. The doctor then showed us the x-ray that very clearly showed the top bone adjacent to my 3rd toe from the baby toe being very sharply broken in two places! We then got up and followed the Dr. back to his office. The doctor explained that my foot needed to be put in a cast but they couldn’t do it there. The doctor then offered to do it at HIS office downtown when he was done for the day at his volunteer stint at the clinic around 3 p.m. It was about 11a.m. We told the Dr. that would be GREAT and we would hang out in town and go to his office at 3 to be casted. The Dr. then drew us a map to his office and also suggested that I use just ONE of the crutches in place of the two, to perambulate more effectively, which I did. As we left the clinic wondering what we should do till 3 pm our friend in the van came by and pulled over to see if we needed a ride back. We told him we had to wait till 3 to get a cast put on and then he asked to see the map of where we had to go. After looking at the map and deciding we couldn’t walk that far, me being on one crutch and all, he popped a u-turn and told us to get in and drove us to the Dr’s office and wishing us luck on catching a return ride and bid us adieu.
As we stood in front of the Dr.’s office a very nice young woman in a policia uniform conveyed in Spanish that the doctor’s office had moved to around the corner. Seeing we were so close and noticing a café nearby we stopped to have lunch. I had 3 very yummy shrimp tacos and Jay opted for some fish tacos that he graded only“so-so.” We then proceeded down the street where Jay stopped at a bank to replenish our flagging funds and I limped in to a pseudo-starbucks to order our usual mocha, frappe grandes (espresso milkshakes…..) We then limped around town till 3 and caught the Dr. as he was walking in the door. We went to his office and sitting in an office chair he wrapped my foot in casting material that looked like fiberglass… Jay joked that he could use the material on his boat and the doctor told him he HAD found it to be quite useful for patching things on HIS boat…we laughed and Jay told the doctor that my foot was being casted at a bad angle, but since it was still soft the doctor readjusted the angle and continued casting it. When he was done and I got up to leave I had a heck of a time getting into a standing position even using the crutch. Figuring I would somehow get used to walking in the cast Jay asked the doctor what we owed him for his “services.” After paying the doctor the requested amount (around $42) we left and hobbling a few steps down the street in pain as the cast was 1/3 up my leg and digging into my shin bone I stopped. We heard someone hailing us from the street and discovering it was the doctor and his 13-year old son offering us a ride to the end of town we gratefully jumped into his SUV and he dropped us off at the bus station where we caught a taxi to Puerto Escondido.
I told Jay about the cast cutting into my shin so he decided to leave me at the cruisers’ lounge while he dingyed back to the boat for some dikes, scissors and a sock to trim and modify the cast. When Jay got back we chipped away at the cast till it was better and Jay said he would make the heel higher the next day so I could walk better.
We then went onto the blog and found out our friends, Steve and Lulu Yoder, had opted to turn around and sail back to La Paz to do some boat repairs instead of heading toward us and coming to Puerto Escondido where we have been waiting for them to arrive for about 2 weeks now!!!! They left La Paz BEFORE us but we evidently snuck passed them somewhere along the route and got here before they did! Steve asked in his blog from yesterday if we needed anything from La Paz that he could bring to us and we want to tell him to please contact our friends Cindy and Jake of s/v Ku u Kuamehaku who are at the Marina de La Paz, (if you call them on the cruisers’ net they told us to just ask for Jake and Cindy on the red boat if you can’t pronounce the name of their boat, and they will answer you) -anyway Jake offered to let us download some 300 movies he has on his hard drive but they left PE before we could do it. Please ask Jake if you can download them onto YOUR computer for us and bring them to us (they are very nice and we were celebrating Jake’s birthday on Cinco de Mayo when I fell and broke my foot)…..then we will BOTH have a slew of free movies to watch!!! But no worries if it seems like too big a hassle don’t bother………..but thanks for asking if we needed anything anyway…
So here I sit with my leg up in the air waiting for Jay ‘s gasket-cast heel layers to dry so he can attach it to my cast and I can walk better. The doctor said my foot needs to be in the cast for 8 weeks…….boy is THIS going to be fun on the boat AND on the airplane when I leave in 2 weeks to go to my daughter Darcie’s wedding in Portland! But hey, the bright side is I remembered when Darcie had a cast on HER leg as a child we got to go to the “front” of every line at Disneyland……maybe I will get some preferential treatment on the plane with my foot in a cast…..upgraded to 1st class? Free drinks? One can only dream (wistfully smiling)………another good thing……I only have to buy ONE shoe for the wedding…. Ha ha!!!

Later that evening: After all the hard work Jay did trying to make this cast workable it still is pretty miserable....the only alternative seems to go to La Paz or Constitution Ciudad and have another doctor re-do it or use 2 crutches and use a scooter chair at Wal Mart to shop when I get back.....what a drag.....oh well.......my friend Pat is baking me some goodies to enjoy while I am in Medford so can't wait for that........2 weeks till the wedding and shopping at Trader Joe's who haaaaaaaaaaa!