November 10, 2011

I took a nasty little fall this afternoon at school.   I was putting something up on the wall, standing on one of the chairs, which I felt was sturdy enough.  When I started to get down… well, I’m not really sure exactly what happened.  I must have stepped too close to the edge and the chair tipped over.  My foot was twisted and there was nothing for me to catch to block my fall.  I was close enough to my filing cabinet, though, that it caught my head on the way down and I hit my thumb on something, perhaps also the filing cabinet.  

My head is fine, just a little bump.  My thumb has a really nasty gash.  I’m very thankful that it didn’t seem to cut anything important inside my thumb, like nerves or ligaments.  It did, however, need immediate attention and 2 stitches (without any numbing agent… OUCH!) 

My foot… well, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  It immediately swelled up with a large egg shape on one side and a smaller one on the other side.  I am SO THANKFUL that the other teachers were still there.  Normally they would not have been there at that hour after school.  One was within earshot and I received good care right away.  It was a bit tricky going down the stairs and getting to the car.  I hopped all the way, with support on each side.  Going down the stairs, I held on to the rail with both hands and hopped all the way down!  Getting into the car was tricky, too.  Our guard finally picked me up and put me in.  One of my teacher friends took me to check with another friend, who is a nurse, about what should be done.  She told me the foot could wait till the next day when the swelling went down, but the thumb needed attention right away.  I went to a doctor who has studied in the U.S. and her English is very good… another praise!  After one of the nurses stitched up my thumb, the doctor wrapped my foot and found me a pair of crutches.  I’ve never used crutches before and they aren’t as easy as I hoped they would be!  I hope it will be easier soon.  I will go back in the morning for an x-ray to see what really happened inside my foot.

Prayer requests:

Please pray that my foot is not broken and that the ligament is not broken or pulled.  Pray that it will all heal properly and quickly!  I’m not sure how I’m going to manage going up and down stairs to my classroom every day…

Please pray that the stitches in my thumb will do their job and that my thumb will heal well.  Using the crutches is putting a lot of stress on my thumb even though my thumb isn’t directly involved or even touching the crutch.  I really don’t want the stitches to pull loose! 

Pray that I will do well with the crutches.  I’ve already come close to falling a couple of times! 

Thank you so much for your prayers!  I LOVE that I can always count on you all to lift me up!  God is so good and faithful to answer your prayers.