Sunday, February 1, 2009

Trip to Nairobi Hospital

So, I was planning on a different post. It was supposed to talk about how i wore the same clothes for 72 hours waiting for my bag to show up to Nairobi. And how I experienced how Kenyan government works when all of my property was demolished by the government in our game of Kenyan Monopoly. And how I spotted my first giraffe, zebras and warthogs on our way to our Gorge walk at Hells Gate park. But of course, leave it to Jeanne to have the following happen to her..........

I have done Gorge walks before in Australia where I was scaling the sides of gorges and i thought i would plummet to my death. Hells Gate was a relatively tame hike with occasional rocks that needed to be scaled or climbed down from. 

So let's just cut to the chase. Over halfway through the hike, i was lowering myself down from a rock to the ground and i heard a pop and then another loud pop. This was followed by a plethora of expletives - all with different variations of a 4-letter word that starts with F.  

I had a moment of envisioning Lethal Weapon. So, while i was on the ground, i tried to thrust my shoulder toward the dirt, trying to emulate Mel Gibson to pop my shoulder back into place. Damn Hollywood. It does not quite work that way. 

After realizing i was in the middle of a gorge and no one could carry me out and i was not going to get air-lifted out, I sucked it up and finished the hike - luckily it was only 15 minutes.

We then made our way to the local hospital (7 minutes). Pictures to follow. I was with Kristoffer (lisa's husband) and his two Danish friends, Stig and Stefan. They were awesome...and I think i almost broke Stig's hand as I was using it like a squeeze toy to help me ignore the pain. The doctor played around with my arm to test the mobility, and I screamed out more eff-bombs. It was then advised we drive to Nairobi to get x-rays since their xray machine was broken. I passed up on the injection of pain meds. The idea of getting poked with a needle in Africa sounded worse than the pain. So, the doctor made me a make-shift sling.  I should note that he had to borrow Kristof's swiss army knife to cut the bandage. Why the hospital did not have scissors... i don't know.

So we purchased some oral pain meds and we drove back to Nairobi (2 hours) through the pot-holed streets. Good times.

So, to make a long story short, i got expedited through the queue  at the hospital in Nairobi and the doc said my shoulder was dislocated, but it popped back in on its own. Maybe my Mel Gibson move worked after all. The x-rays said i did not fracture anything, so that's good.

So here I am recounting the tale. I have a fabulous cocktail of pink/purple pills and red ones and a glass of wine. I am in a sling, pictures to follow...

But i am still hopeful that i will be able to make my safari and walk up Mt Kili...very slowly. The bungee jump might be out. 

This is one way to start Day 2 of my 49 day trip.....




  


7 comments:

  1. You were so brave and you look soooo good with your brand new fancy sling. :o)

    I'm sure that you'll be perfectly fine. Actually I'm more wooried about my left hand.... :o)

    Best wishes

    /Stig

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  2. Now THIS is the way to begin a travel blog. I'm hooked. I'll check in every day from here on out. Get healthy, be safe, have fun, stay in touch.

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  3. Here I was thinking I was gonna get a "regular" travel blog. I should have known better!

    I hope you are feeling better and post photos soon!

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  4. redonk, and yet, totally unsurprising. :) Hang in there Jeanns!

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  5. OMG! Only Jeanne could conquer Africa's highest peak in a sling. You can do it! The backpack will provide good support for your shoulder. I'm hooked on this blog too!

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  6. wow i can't wait for the movie

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