Toe Update

Hello from the wilds of Brazil! :)
That´s a joke... Itu is anything but "the wilds".

Anyhoo, here´s the word on my dedão... my big toe!

I went to the doctor yesterday, and let me say that this doctor, Dr. Flavio was his name, was so amazingly wonderful. He looked like the storybook doctor... dignified, elegant, kind and knowledgable. He did x-rays and the toe is definitely broken, but he said it´s not severe (although it feels severe!) and he wrapped it up tight and told me to rest it and come back Monday.

It still hurts, but I´m going to live. :)

If the heroes of Monday were Aníbal and Jandira, then yesterday´s hero was definitely Ivan. He found the doctor, made the appointment, arranged my transportation, then came home with me and cooked dinner for me. Dinner was kind of a joint effort... I told him what to do and he did it. I felt really bossy and lazy. :) Our meal attempted to be chicken parmesan, but it ended up not like any chicken parmesan I´ve ever seen. But it was still really good! Just not chicken parmesan. ;) Then he made chocolate chip cookies, which were delicious. Here´s a video to demonstrate my bossyness. :)

Seriously, I´ve said it before, I´ll say it til the day I die... I have the best friends in the whole wide world. Thanks for all the e-support you guys! I´ll keep you updated. :)

I broke my dang toe.

Last night I was coming home on the bus, which was unusually overcrowded. As I was stepping around a lady to pass, my foot hit the ground funny and I felt a lot lot lot of pain. Trying not to fall over on the bus, I somehow manage to get off the bus and get home (which if you know where I live in relation to the bus stop, is quite fantastic). I took my shoe off-- gingerly-- and before I took my sock off I could see a huge lump growing on my big toe.

Yes, people, I broke my big toe. It was hurting pretty bad and I was sad about being alone to deal with it, so I called my friend Jandira to see if she would come spend the night with me. When I told her what happened, she dropped what she was doing and she and her marvelous fianceé came over and hauled my sorry body to the hospital. Yes, my world tour of hospitals spans three continents now! :) By the time we reached the hospital my toe was turning lovely shades of purple.

The hospital experience was... interesting. The doctor I saw was truly awful. He was gruff and mean and generally angry seeming. He looked at my toe, told me to go get two shots and an x-ray and booted me out of his office. The line for shots was enormous, and he didn´t even tell me what they were for, so I made the decision to just leave. I was thinking I would just elevate it, take tylenol, put ice on it, and see how it was the next day (today). And I wanted to call my wonderful doctor friend, Thiago (my friend I visited in São Paulo a few weeks ago).

So Aníbal took me back to his house and he and Jandira fed me since I was so hungry I thought I was going to die, then they brought me home. I called Thiago who gave me some advice on how to treat it at home, and told me I needed to see a doctor today in case it needs to be set. Jandira stayed the night with me and took care of me, and this morning when I woke up she was preparing a delicious lunch for me.

As I write my amazing friends are finding a doctor for me to see and generally meeting any need I could have.

You can see that I am well taken care of, so no worrying and no comments or thoughts about poor Ann alone in Brazil as a cripple. :) My experiences in Japan and here (and America, too!) confirm beyond a doubt living reality of the body and family of Christ. I am absolutely blessed.

By the way, yes I have taken several pictures of my big, purple toe, but I won´t subject you to those. But I will subject you to a video! Hahaha... then again it´s totally up to you if you hit play. ;)