A Plate and 8 Screws Later...

Well...we are both alive which is a blessing.  It's a good thing we have such a great support system here and back at home.

Phase 1: the break.  Our biggest adventure thus far began Saturday morning as we left Jovenes to go on a trip to Playa Blanca (I guess you could call it a water resort).  We were really excited because this was our chance to spend some time getting to know the older boys.  Surprise...20 min into swimming, Laura, trying to get to know the older boys by playing copy cat, jumped off a six foot wall into about 2 feet of water.  Little did we know, American bones are not quite as flexible as Honduran ones (to be fair, several of the other boys, who are taller than Laura, had jumped off this wall several times each).  I, being the "smart" chicken, sat and watched.  I knew that something wasn't right as soon as she came out of the water.  On one end of the pool, Laura was telling me "Hannah my foot is broken" while Jonny was at the other end telling me to jump (he had no idea what had happened, poor thing only speaks Spanish; Laura was speaking English).  Since then we have learned how to say 'broken' in Spanish (cascado).  It took about 3 minutes for it to register in my head (after she finally had to stick her foot out of the water to show me the damage) that her foot really was broken.  So I ran for the doctors (thank the Lord they came with us).  We really couldn't have asked for better people to have been present.  So as Laura was being wheeled away in a wheel-barrel, I was asking the doctors just how bad they thought the break was.  Our conversation was about this short and went something like this, Me: "Is it bad?", Doctor: "Yeah it's bad".  Of course we didn't tell Laura this right away because we knew that would only make things worse.

Phase 2: the drive.  Now, begins the next adventure of driving on the bumpy Honduran roads with Laura in a splint made out of the back of a chair that Chelsea (one of Ronald's daughters) beat on the ground to break, several t-shirts, and one of Ronald's shoe laces.  I was covered in mud from my knees down but I jumped in the back of the our first vehicle of transportation, the SUV.  The drive back to Jovenes was probably the worst of all the drives just because it was a dirt road with very large pot holes.  Of course this part of the story is still kind of a blur to me (and especially to Laura) since we were both still in shock.  We got to Jovenes and found out that news travels very quickly despite being in the middle of no where.  I jumped out of the car and ran back to my room to change clothes and to get some more things to prop Laura's leg up with.  I was greeted by a swarm of kids that I am afraid I was not very attentive to.  Except for one conversation that I remember with Adonay.  He asked me why I was back (apparently he was the only one who didn't get the memo) so I told him (using mostly body language) that Laura's foot was broken.  His eyes got big but then he smirked and said "un poqueto?", my reply, "umm...no".  That wiped the smirk off his face as his eyes got even bigger and he asked where she was.  2 minutes later he was over by the truck.  We finally got her into the back of the truck as comfortably as was possible and headed into Tegucigalpa with Noella (one of the doctors) and I holding her splint as steady as we could.

Smiling the whole way!

Phase 3: the Tegucigalpa public hospital.  At this point we had no real idea the extent of the break.  Luckily we were with two doctor's who knew the doctor's at the hospital and were able to get us in with really no wait at all.  Before we knew it, she was in the system and getting an X-Ray.  The first look at the X-Ray made it very obvious that there was definitely a clean break right through her fibula.  And it wasn't until this point that the word 'surgery' was mentioned.  Upon hearing that word, Laura said, "no way, get me to a private hospital, I have insurance".  So, we loaded up the truck and drove in a few circles to find our home for the rest of the adventure...TraumaCentro.  Good news...this was the first place recommended by all the doctors for Orthopedics.  The doctor specializing in Orthopedics met us at the door after awaiting our arrival.  We were so relived at how clean the building looked and how professional the people working there were.  We showed him the X-Rays and, to our surprise, there were to breaks...one in her fibula (the only we could see plainly on the X-Ray) and another break in her tibia.  And this is when it was officially determined that surgery was the only option.

Waiting...having a splint was so much better!

Phase 4: the wait.  According to Laura, this was the worst part of all.  At this point we were pretty trusting of the doctor's and the facility but the fact that she was going to need an epidural instead of anesthesia probably added to the long, miserable wait.  At least we had the Jovenes doctors with us who were trying their best to keep calm and crack jokes the whole time.  So after a lot of phone calls and also let it be noted that Laura still has not shed a tear, she was rolled back into the operating room.  They let me ride downstairs with her so I am living proof of how clean and sanitized the operating room smelled like.  If only I had known while I was sitting in the hospital room waiting that Laura was carrying on a perfectly civil conversation with her nurse and anesthesiologist about all sorts of things (in Spanish I might proudly add) while they were sticking a needle in her back and prepping her for surgery.  During the 2 hours of waiting I just hung out in the room finally eating dinner after 8 that morning and watching the only thing I could find that was in English...The Producers. So I halfway watched that and during the other half I was talking to all sorts of different people on the phone.  News definitely traveled fast.  By the time she went back to surgery, just about everyone from back at home knew what was going on.

This was our lovely window view

Phase 5: the first night and recovery.  Well...in case you haven't already heard, the surgery was very successful!  No problems whatsoever and it went by pretty quickly.  Once everyone knew that she was going to be okay and got to talk to her, they all cleared out for the night which left us all by ourselves in the middle of Tegucigalpa.  Normally this would be a terrifying thought, but the whole time we felt completely safe and taken care of in this hospital.  We slept pretty soundly, except for the few times Laura needed me to get up and adjust her leg or the pillows propping her leg up.  Although the night did seem to drag on, it was finally morning and she was finally feeling better...the pain medicines were kicking in and working!  We both got a shower, we ate some breakfast, and even got around to laughing.  The rest of the morning was spent at McDonald's while Ronald went to the pharmacy to get all of Laura's meds.  We had a pretty pleasant drive back, and even had a few laughs when it started raining and Israel, Jésus, and Adonay got covered in rain water from sitting in the back of the truck. Currently we are at Ronald's house in the recovery stage which hopefully should only last about 3 days.  Laura is eagerly awaiting seeing all the boys as they are eagerly awaiting seeing her.  I have been over to Jovenes a few times since we got to Ronald's and all the boys swarm me with questions about Laura.  It is precious really.  I just keep falling more and more in love with the boys everyday...they really do feel like family to me.

After surgery...a little out of it...

Continue praying.  Spirits go up and down like a roller coaster so just pray for positive spirits and a pain free recovery.  Considering the circumstances, we are doing great, so we don't want anyone worrying too much about us.  The Jovenes community and our new family here has been more than we could ever imagine. We have been more than taken care of, we have been loved and that's all that we could ever ask for.  We love you all back at home and will keep you updated!

Hannah and LauraBeth

P.S. Pictures soon to come when my internet connection is better!