holiday saturday the 2nd, Jan 15 ~ the damage

Ocean, tropics, friends, lazy days - if only Brenda and I had known, one of us surely would have gone to watch the Steelers. Unfortunately, neither of us is prescient and so my dear brother stepped in a pothole when catching the taxi back to Mariners after the game (which we abandoned him to watch alone)and the ankle went one way and the knee the other.

Holy crapola was his leg swollen. Sat nite in a foreign country with the closest hospital an hour away, the local medicenter closed till Monday and the 800 number for our Travel Insurance agency NOT working. Thank the hundred little gods that it wasn't life threatening. Even the direct line for out country emergency calls put him on hold 3 different times for over half an hour on international cell phone rates. REALLY!

Improvise & overcome. Leg up and immobile, pain meds & red stripe until Doc could get a pair of crutches for him from Savannah la Mar - 30 miles away. At least he could get around the room a bit and out to the patio. Our friends the Rowleys brought in a metal reinforced knee brace from Canada the following Thursday which saved our asses I am sure. It was 8 days before he could crutch hobble the block to the restaurant for a meal NOT served in styrofoam or takeaway containers.



Thank goodness for friends, the fridge and the microwave in their room. Lots of company - Doc & Annette, Brent P, me & Ivan, Brent & Sheri R, Ray Ray & Charlie, Asquith, Statement, Kerry & Beffie - but still a hell of a way to spend half your vacay. Upon arrival at home his dad took him straight to hospital where it was determined over the next few days that he had a fracture in his knee and 2 in his tibia - so he's off the leg for the next 6 - 8 weeks. But since we did what our docs would have done except for the Xray etc, being in Jamaica was waaaay better than being in the -41 degree C temps here at home.