She's BAAACK!!

The short version:

·       18 months into Peace Corps service I fell on vacation in Thailand, February, 2012

·       Hospitalized for 3 weeks with blood clots, I was sent home to the US on April 17th

·       After treatment (and rejection by Peace Corps for returning), I decided to return to the Philippines for about 9 months on my own

·       Returned here to Palawan almost 6 months ago – and am considering staying longer.

 
The longer version follows:

 A year ago, after 18 months of service in the Peace Corps, I took my first big vacation - to Thailand - first exploring islands, then Chiang Mai's elephants, cooking schools, flower markets and temples, temples, temples - then bussed to Chiang Rai and stayed outside of town at the home of an indigenous family of the "hill tribes" - the family I spent the night with was Yao.

4 of us slept here

The next morning (February 20^th, 2012), the husband told me we were going on a hike..."Oh - I didn't know that and don't have a backpack, or hiking shoes."   Not to worry - my sturdy Merrell sandals would be sufficient and a backpack was produced (our young, handsome guide wore flip flops).

After 3 hours, as we were descending a steep hill covered with thousands of beautiful, tiny leaves, when 2 of us slipped and fell - one slid down the path; one fell, face first over the side. The faceplant would be me and the impaling of my shin on a rock stopped my flight. I was stunned, but got up and asked how much further ..... 7 km...hmm.

This was the view just before we fell - I claimed the cliff to the right

PANGIT!  A beastly sight

Thankfully, my body was in shock and I made it a couple more km, where we hailed a tourist van and they agreed to take me back to town. 

The White Temple in Chiang Rai - white marble

Gorgeous linens at the Night Market

People told me it was just a scratch (what a wimp I am I thought!), so I limped to the magnificent White Temple, then finished the evening at the Night Market.




                                          



A sleepless night with pain second to childbirth and a 4am trip to the hospital yielded test results: nothing broken and no infection.  "Just walk it off."  After assuring there were no risks for flying (it looked like a baseball had been subcutaneously inserted), I limped back to my hotel and joined the 7am all-day tour to a tribal cultural center and then to the "Golden Triangle," where we boated to Laos and ate lunch on the Mekong River. We returned at 8pm.

Depicting local culture at the tribal center

  

No caption needed

At the Golden Triangle, standing in Thailand

Ashley's very comfortable couch

I flew to Bangkok the next day - I will post those pictures here soon - wow!

Visiting my daughter for 4 days in Bangkok was a whirlwind of walking 10 hour days - I slept on her very comfortable couch with my leg elevated…then flew home via Manila to Palawan.  And made it 2 days at work before something major clobbered me with 104F fever.  After 2 days the fever broke and I made it to the hospital, where the doc told me that nothing was wrong with my leg and that I had coincidental flu – and sent me home.  Where my fever started rising. Against the Peace Corps' wishes, I asked friends to escort me back to the hospital where I was tested and admitted immediately for amoebic dysentery (on March 8^th, 2012) ….which ironically saved my life.

My first semi-private room on Palawan

Upgraded to Garden Suite #5

Two days later, sounding like a broken record “please, will you look at my leg?” they finally did a sonogram and operated, taking out 100cc of clots (not in the official report, but my doctor told me). 

I thought that I'd be good to go snorkeling in a week with Cathy and Liz who arrived to visit me.  But, medical being what it is on Palawan, they didn’t get all the clots, and a few days later I passed some – a very scary episode in the middle of the night that had white-faced doctors and nurses telling me not to move. Portable heart scans, oxygen tanks and monitors filled the tiny room. They finally gave me some pain medication and I slept. 

The next day my PCV daughter Krystal called the Peace Corps saying to get me to Manila, and I called the executor to my will  and told him to add several beneficiaries and to make sure everything was in order.  I quite thought that this was it.

The next morning I got my first ambulance ride and my other Palawan PCV daughter, Petra, accompanied me to Manila, where the medical was day to the night of Palawan.  I started my 2nd week in hospital hooked up to blood thinners and visited by 4 different specialists.


   

I thanked my vascular surgeon in Manila, Dr. Chua, for saving my life – his response was that God did it and he just helped.  “Thank you then for being the first doctor to assist God in saving my life.”  He smiled.  So, after 3 weeks flat on my back in hospital, I was released in time to meet up with my two dear friends who had traveled to visit me on Palawan…my plans to snorkel with them – or even have dinner together on the island I had so wanted to tour with them - were not realized.  They pushed me around in a wheel chair through Greenbelt and we did a little shopping before they took off. 


We knew we would see each other shortly, because the Peace Corps had told me they were sending me home. I will avoid most comment about the Peace Corps here, it is all water under the bridge now, except to say that I’m not sure that I’d recommend joining to someone who might get hurt or develop a disease during service – haha – how one decides if that pertains to you, I’m not sure.

Arriving home without a doctor, barely able to walk a block, without a home (rented out) or car (sold) is rather daunting – especially when you are still ill. More Peace Corps dreams were dashed with a lack of support, but my view of friendships became nearly spiritual. And the only way that I will be able to ever repay my friends is to “pay it forward.”  For a total of 6 months (!!) my friends offered beds, cars, food and camaraderie – like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.  I was totally cared for and allowed to heal in all respects. 

At the end of medical treatment in June, I faced another emo:  the Peace Corps said that they decided to not return me to my site, contrary to conversations with me before I left the country.  But, after the emo, and, since my home was rented out until at least November, 2013, I decided to return on my own – one of the best decisions I’ve made.  So, in the end, should I be thankful to the Peace Corps?  I’m trying to look at it that way.

I spoke as a Peace Corps Volunteer to several groups while I was home in the states (obviously before the Peace Corps ditched me), and after they heard that I planned to return without Peace Corps, people asked to contribute money for the several projects I returned to.  I’ve tried to keep them updated with a Facebook page called Palawan Progress Fund.  But, it’s not nearly as pretty to read as this blog, which I may print as a memoir….so I will transcribe the Facebook entries here as soon as I can – apologies if you’ve already seen them.

I returned to Palawan in October and have been busy since I landed; resuming pro bono work with the Chamber of Commerce and doing consulting work with businesses.  I am so grateful to be here and accepted – much more so than when I was with the Peace Corps – people in other countries still seem to believe that the Peace Corps is CIA!!!  I’m even investigating a retirement visa here and how to build a little home (nothing that my friends in America would think of as a house though!). 

How life can change!!

Dedicated to all the incredible friends who got me through life to this point!