May 2009

If life throws lemons at you, make lemonade … and if you fracture your ankle, use crutches! - I know, I know, Charles doesn’t find this amusing at all, since it is he who has to hobble along for three months without putting any weight onto his left leg. – Oh, I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

 

While Petra was away accompanying a medical team for a week, Charles tripped, fractured and dislocated the bones and tore the ligaments in his left ankle. Three days later he underwent surgery here in Guatemala City. The surgeon put in a metal plate, fastened it with several screws to the broken bone, put in a longer screw to hold the two bones together, and sutured the ligament. Since Wednesday, April 29, he is home with a splint, until the swelling has gone down. Then he will receive a cast. However, Charles is not allowed to put any weight onto that foot for three months, lest the longer screw breaks, which would complicate matters. Of course, driving the Land Cruiser, which has a manual transmission, is out of the question. Thus, Petra will be nurse and chauffeur to Charles … and not just for a week, but for the whole three months!

 

Moral of the story: If life throws lemons at you, make lemonade … and if you fracture your ankle, use crutches and have your beloved take care of you.