It all began at the early time of 4:00 am on March 31st in Bulgaria. Taxis were picking up my team in order for us to begin the first leg of our journey to Romania. I typically carry over half my body weight in some form or fashion, so walking in itself can be a bit challenging anyway. I also seem to trip over my own two feet on a regular basis, so it had been only a matter of time before my gracefulness was exhibited while carrying my pack. I tripped when stepping off of the sidewalk curb, and my little left ankle could not handle it. Standing and walking were pointless after that, so with the help of my some of my teammates, I hobbled to the taxi.
Our travel day consisted of one taxi ride to the train station, two three-hour train rides, a two hour wait in between, much hopping on one foot, and many piggy back rides. Upon arriving in Bucharest, I hurriedly took a taxi along with my teammate, Amanda, to our hostel leaving our team behind to take the less expensive metro. By that point my ankle was swollen to the size of a tennis ball. After quickly dropping our things at the hostel and informing our squad leaders of my injury, we recruited another squadmate, Will, to help with carrying me (hopping gets tiring very quickly), and we were off to the hospital.
Romania has public hospitals with free emergency rooms. Though not having to pay is nice, I think money is what would have bought us good bed side manners. They shuffled us through each phase of caring for my injury like we were at the DMV. We were told no wheel chairs were available, so I got a sweet gurney ride instead. I also got to eat pizza in the gurney while waiting for my x-ray.
After learning the fate of my fractured ankle, we had to make our way to a pharmacist to purchase crutches and my prescriptions. Though they supplied me with a cast, the crutches were not seen as a requirement. We faced bit of a language barrier with the pharmacists first offering me a walker, but we finally got our point across that I needed crutches.
Fast forward a week to my first follow up appointment. Since we were now in our ministry village, I had to visit the local hospital in that community. The service was much better than our first hospital experience, but this place was like a step back into the 1960s with large emergency room wards filled with patients and doctors taking smoke breaks in their offices. When I saw the orthopedist, she informed me that I would have to have surgery to fix my ankle and it needed to be done as soon as possible. Needless to say the rest of that day was a whirlwind of activity filled with phone calls and planning. One of our contacts suggested I go to a private hospital in Bucharest for better care and a second opinion, and so the next day four others and I were back on a train headed to the capital with overnight bags packed prepared for a hospital stay. Thankfully, this doctor was not of the opinion that I needed surgery and put me in an air cast instead. Later that same day, we were headed back to Dragonesti not needing our overnight bags at all!
I still have several more weeks of recovery ahead of me, and even though I have a walking cast, I need to use my crutches since my ankle can’t handle the pressure of my body weight yet. I have limited mobility which results in minimal activity this month. Obviously, this affects my ministry experience. I am mainly doing office work via my computer for our church and staying put as much as possible. Honestly, this is a challenge for me and my go-see-as-much-as-I-can-in-every-country personality. I know that I will learn through this experience lessons that I would not have otherwise, but it definitely brings along many trying moments. I am continuously having to trust the Lord daily for strength and for a positive attitude, as well as looking for ways to make the most of this time of sitting still. Hopefully, I will be able to fully engage in activity next month!
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
