Two weeks ago we were in Tbilisi, Georgia and everyone was good and healthy. We have now returned with both Aspen and I needing to go to the hospital. This is the story of how we both got to this point. This is also the short story of the one and only time I was wrong and Aspen was right…
It all started in the little mountain town called Mestia, located just a handful of miles south of Russia.
The story of how I got to this broken stage is much more boring than Aspen’s so we will get mine out of the way real quick. When we made it to the town of Mestia, we found an open recreational center with a padded floor. On our third day in town the entire team went there to hang out and goof around. Jake and John began teaching Aspen, Sarah and Laura some self defense moves. Then it was just Victoria and I left to observe. I remembered that Victoria was a professional gymnast in America and asked her to teach me some tricks. Like a good coach she had me start off with some basic things like cart wheels and other moves that I don’t remember the name of. Anyway I knew what I wanted, I wanted to be able to do a flip! I wanted to be Jacky Chan. Victoria finally gave in to helping me achieve this goal and we did it! It was sloppy but we did it!
I was so pumped that I just kept doing it! Victoria then warned me that I was landing sideways and I was going to hurt myself if I didn’t fix it. I remember feeling invincible because I had just done several front flips and also feeling fine so I didn’t take it too seriously (Sorry Victoria). Then on my last front flip as I came down there was a nice pop from my ankle and I instantly regretted all life choices that had got me to this point. Out of fear of looking like a baby and also fear of Victoria feeling bad for something that was definitely my fault, I refused to accept I was hurt. But then after a week of falling on the ice covered roads everyday, going snowshoeing, skiing and everyday walking. I hobbled back to Tbilisi with a very swollen and discolored ankle. The doctor at the hospital basically just scolded me for half an hour for all the things I mentioned above. He told me that due to my stubbornness, I now have “severe soft tissue damage” and I’m not allowed to walk for 2 weeks.
Now for the story you’ve all been waiting for. The time I was wrong and Aspen was right. (Full disclosure, Aspen is actually almost always right but that’s not the point of this story). Back in the sweet little town of Mestia there are some beautiful hiking trails… in the summer. We weren’t going to let that stop us though. Jake researched these awesome mountain lakes that were only about a seven hour hike. Myself, John, and Aspen were in to join him. The snow was at least waist deep so we all had to get snowshoes. It was also pretty cold. I know down in the valley it was right at zero but if I had to guess, once we made it up on the mountain it was probably -10ish.
When we had made it to the top of the mountain we decided to take lunch. Aspen had been talking about how cold her feet were and I kept telling her “you want them to go numb because then they don’t hurt anymore”. This is a true statement that I stand by from my experience hanging out in the winters of Alaska. Anyhow, none of us had proper footwear anyway, Jake and I had tennis shoes, John had duct tape boots, and Aspen had trendy/hipster leather boots with all the socks she owned. During our lunch break which took place in an abandoned shed. We noticed Aspen was shivering and also her speech was not the best. We were all cold but she was significantly colder than the rest of us. After attempting to warm her up and dry out some of her clothes that were soaking wet from what she says was “snow” but others might call “sweat” we decided it would be best if we head back down. We made a speedy retreat down the mountain just sliding on our butts the whole way down.
Once in town we returned our snowshoes and went to our favorite restaurant with a wood stove to warm up. Aspen took off her shoes to warm up her feet. As she removed her socks, it revealed her newly discolored big toes. She asked for my opinion since I had mentioned that I had got frost bite in Alaska before. I told her it wasn’t that cold for frost bite and that it just looked like she had bruised/blistered her toes from the snowshoes being too tight. As time passed she would say that she thought it was frost bite and I would keep telling her no.
Fast forward to our day at the hospital. We both saw the general doctor together and mine was simple, he looked at my foot and wrote me up to go get X-rays and see a specialist where I got scolded. Then when the general doctor looked at Aspen’s feet the first thing he asked was “Were you walking in the snow bare foot?” And wrote her orders to see a different specialist. This specialist did confirm that Aspen indeed has frost bite and that the skin on the tips of her big toes will peel off. In 10 days if it has not peeled off they are going to cut it off to speed up the process for the new skin to grow.
Now here we are, I have a brace and crutches and Aspen has enough gauze wrapped around her toes to cover an entire mummy.
(Sorry for the sideways picture, I have absolutely no idea how to fix it)
Just like with most funny stories there comes consequences. Outside of the fact that we are both broken, we have a total of $119 in medical cost that the insurance will not cover. If anyone is feeling led to help us with this please let me know. Also our teammate Laura is not yet fully funded for this mission trip and could really use some financial help.
Thank you to all of you as always for the prayer and support. Keep Aspens toes in your prayers even though I think she might actually want them to fall off. Also, be on the lookout with me be crippled I might even post another blog this week!
