On Sunday, the teachers and the week of prayer speaker (Dr. Eustacio Penniecook) took a trip to Nge Nge, an island down the causeway. We went to the dock and hopped in a boat (the same one that I was on for the horrific return from Carlos). It was a beautiful boat ride with sunshine and wind and waves. When we got to the island, we started unloading the boat and taking our stuff to the shore. I was the last person in the boat besides the driver and I was handing things to the people to take to the shore. I was wearing my water shoes because it is hard to walk in flip-flops under water. When I got out of the boat, I took my stuff and started heading for the shore. All of the sudden something hit the side of my big toe on my right foot. It hurt immediately, so I started limping back to shore.
Once I got on the beach I found a place to sit, tossed my stuff and then started crying. I writhed on the ground, as the pain was unbearable. The closest description of the pain is that it felt like my toe was going to explode. The other teachers gathered around me to see if I was ok. They told me I looked terrible (in a nice way) and needed to lie down (I was told later that I was so pale it was scary). I lay there as Ryan held up my foot. I cried and cried as the other teachers tried to comfort me with what my mom jokingly says, “Amputation is always an option” (I was considering…). Lorraine offered her hand for me to squeeze, but I only held onto it because I didn’t want to hurt her and I felt too tired to squeeze. The boat went back to get the second group of teachers to bring them to the island. I would have gone back on that trip, but they were worried I would pass out on the boat since I was still so pale.
When the boat returned with the other teachers, Alan and Ryan carried me out to the boat. Alan asked me if I knew any good jokes and I told him I knew a joke about this girl who hit her foot on something and it really hurt (it wasn’t really a funny joke, but yeah). Ryan and Dr. Penniecook rode back on the boat with me. I sat in one of the chairs on the boat and propped my foot up on a backpack. It was still incredibly painful, but I tried to focus on the wind in my face and repeating part of the chorus of “I’ll Fly Away” (“when I die, Hallelujah by and by, I’ll fly away”…).
When the boat got back to Ebeye, Ryan and the Dr. helped me get up the stairs at the dock. I was trying to hop on one foot so I wouldn’t use my injured foot. They got a taxi and I rode to the hospital. I hopped into the ER where they put me on a bed (the one Megan was on last time). Mama Rose came to see me, saying that the pastor (her husband) told her Ryan was in the hospital. She asked why and he said that I was hurt. I was glad to have her there because it’s always better when “mom” comes. Anyway, the nurses and doctor decided to give me an anesthetic in my arm, saying that it would make me sleepy. It did make me sleepy, but I wondered the point when my foot didn’t feel any better and I couldn’t sleep because my foot was still too painful. I spent a little while in the hospital after the anesthetic because I felt too dizzy to walk anywhere. When I started feeling less dizzy, Mama Rose took me outside to get a taxi back to the apartments (all too familiar from the last trip to the hospital).
That night Dr. Penniecook took us to Litaki’s Restaurant, which is at the other end of the island. I decided to hobble my way there instead of taking a taxi for 75 cents. My foot looked alright when I left the apartment, and it definitely didn’t feel as bad as it did when I was on the other island. When I got to the restaurant, someone looked at my foot and said, “Your foot is huge!” I looked down and sure enough, it was very swollen. I tried propping my foot up on the bench across from me.
Once I got on the beach I found a place to sit, tossed my stuff and then started crying. I writhed on the ground, as the pain was unbearable. The closest description of the pain is that it felt like my toe was going to explode. The other teachers gathered around me to see if I was ok. They told me I looked terrible (in a nice way) and needed to lie down (I was told later that I was so pale it was scary). I lay there as Ryan held up my foot. I cried and cried as the other teachers tried to comfort me with what my mom jokingly says, “Amputation is always an option” (I was considering…). Lorraine offered her hand for me to squeeze, but I only held onto it because I didn’t want to hurt her and I felt too tired to squeeze. The boat went back to get the second group of teachers to bring them to the island. I would have gone back on that trip, but they were worried I would pass out on the boat since I was still so pale.
When the boat returned with the other teachers, Alan and Ryan carried me out to the boat. Alan asked me if I knew any good jokes and I told him I knew a joke about this girl who hit her foot on something and it really hurt (it wasn’t really a funny joke, but yeah). Ryan and Dr. Penniecook rode back on the boat with me. I sat in one of the chairs on the boat and propped my foot up on a backpack. It was still incredibly painful, but I tried to focus on the wind in my face and repeating part of the chorus of “I’ll Fly Away” (“when I die, Hallelujah by and by, I’ll fly away”…).
When the boat got back to Ebeye, Ryan and the Dr. helped me get up the stairs at the dock. I was trying to hop on one foot so I wouldn’t use my injured foot. They got a taxi and I rode to the hospital. I hopped into the ER where they put me on a bed (the one Megan was on last time). Mama Rose came to see me, saying that the pastor (her husband) told her Ryan was in the hospital. She asked why and he said that I was hurt. I was glad to have her there because it’s always better when “mom” comes. Anyway, the nurses and doctor decided to give me an anesthetic in my arm, saying that it would make me sleepy. It did make me sleepy, but I wondered the point when my foot didn’t feel any better and I couldn’t sleep because my foot was still too painful. I spent a little while in the hospital after the anesthetic because I felt too dizzy to walk anywhere. When I started feeling less dizzy, Mama Rose took me outside to get a taxi back to the apartments (all too familiar from the last trip to the hospital).
That night Dr. Penniecook took us to Litaki’s Restaurant, which is at the other end of the island. I decided to hobble my way there instead of taking a taxi for 75 cents. My foot looked alright when I left the apartment, and it definitely didn’t feel as bad as it did when I was on the other island. When I got to the restaurant, someone looked at my foot and said, “Your foot is huge!” I looked down and sure enough, it was very swollen. I tried propping my foot up on the bench across from me.
(My foot Sunday night.)Since then, my foot has been gradually getting better. Monday was the Freshman-Junior class picnic, so I didn’t have to stand up and teach which was good. Tuesday we didn’t have class because of parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon. Wednesday I had classes and my foot was still kind of swollen, so I hobbled around the classroom. Students asked me about my foot and so I started on an incredible tale on how I had an encounter with a shark and I narrowly escaped. They didn’t believe me, but we had a good laugh. Currently, my foot looks mostly normal but it is still pretty stiff and somewhat hurts. I am hoping that this will go away so I can have full function of my foot. I am glad that I didn’t have to amputate my toe. : )
