Thursday started off a normal day. My squad leader, Megan, and I were walking down the side walk in search of lunch. After walking about two blocks the day changed from normal to “oh crap, now what?”
What caused that change? A seemingly innocent looking puddle of water – which happened to be covering a less innocent patch of slimy, slippery, cement. Not thinking much about that puddle of water on the sidewalk, I stepped in it with my left foot, which happens to be attached to my left ankle. That’s right, my left ankle that I sprained just 5 weeks ago in Romania. I stepped in that puddle, on that slippery, slimy, cement, and I went down. My “mostly healed” sprained ankle swelled up to the size of a small melon almost instantaneously, and was filled with nearly unbearable pain. I laid down, right there on the sidewalk. Megan helped me prop my ankle up on my backpack then she rushed off to the nearest 7-11 (luckily there’s one on literally every corner here in Bangkok) to get ice for it. Meanwhile, I started to attract attention, lying there on that sidewalk.
Megan returned in record time and we got ice on my swollen ankle. Then we discussed the fact that I should probably get my ankle x-rayed, just to make sure I hadn’t actually broken it this time. Good plan, we just needed to alert my team and our hosts that we were headed to the hospital and find a taxi to take us. Before any of that could happen however, we were surrounded by a group of very concerned Thai people who just wanted to help me in what ever ways they could. While Megan was calling my team leader, they brought me a pillow and started massaging my ankle with some sort of medicine. While Megan was trying to get a hold of our ministry hosts, they called the volunteer EMS people. By the time our ministry hosts actually knew what was going on, a pick-up truck ambulance had arrived at the scene, sirens and lights blazing. What the heck was going on!?!?!? It was only a sprained ankle!!!!
Well, apparently if there’s a hurt American girl lying on your sidewalk, you know that she has no clue where the hospital is, so you call the ambulance. Thank you kind Thai people for your concern.
Thankfully, somewhere in all that chaos (it was also beginning to rain as this was going on), a man who spoke English happened upon us, and he explained to Megan and I exactly what was going on. The “ambulance” was run by volunteers, and it was free! Pretty soon my entire leg was splinted, I was strapped onto a stretcher, and loaded into the “ambulance” – a pick-up truck with lights, sirens, and a camper shell. Megan and I rode in the bed – me strapped to the stretcher and her sitting cross legged next to me holding ice on my ankle, as the volunteer EMS drove us to the hospital just as fast as they could, sirens and lights blazing. At this point all I could do was laugh (the 4 ibuprofen I’d taken for the pain had finally kicked in). Who would have thought I’d get an emergency ambulance ride just for a hurt ankle??
We arrived at the hospital and they took me straight into the ER. Without any wait at all they took my vitals and were wheeling me back to get x-rayed. Around this time our ministry hosts arrived at the hospital, and what a blessing it was to have them there! They were able to translate Thai to English and English to Thai so Megan and I understood what was going on and I was able to answer the questions the nurses asked me.
We got the results from the x-ray back quickly and were relieved to discover my ankle was not broken, only sprained! Finally, I thought, they’ll just tell me to ice it, wrap it, and elevate it, and I can go back to the hotel! No more dramatic fussing over me! But no.
When the doctor came to talk to me, rather than just telling me to keep it iced and elevated, he informed me they would be putting a cast on my ankle to keep it stabilized while it heals over the next 2 weeks. So, now I’ve got a cast, a real cast, on my left foot. All because of a sprained ankle.
The up side to having a cast – Kids can decorate it!
I’ve adopted Psalm 118:14a as my theme verse, because clearly I can’t count on my body to be strong any more. It keeps getting hurt!
“The Lord is my strength and my song” ~ Psalm 118:14a
Hopefully I can remember this in the future, without all the drama of an ambulance ride and a cast, just for a sprained ankle! God is always the one who gives me strength, it never comes from me myself. With Him I can find joy in all situations.
