So last week I spent one beautiful week on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It was just what I needed and one of the best trips I've ever been on. Hawaii is gorgeous, shopping was perfect, and the water helped wash away all my stress.
I'm now back at work at my desk job in Japan and all the wonderful healing I experienced in Hawaii has been completely rinsed out of me along with the super typhoon now looming over the city.
But the magic that occurred in Hawaii has at least given me back the ability to walk.
On Tuesday this week, a few days after getting back from my trip, I headed to the doctor to get an x-ray on my foot. I was pretty anxious about this visit because I had completely ignored all medical advice and only used my crutches to get the wheelchair pass at the airport (great speedy service for anyone who hates waiting in line - no medical form needed but then why would anyone subject themselves to going around on crutches). As soon as I got to the hotel in Hawaii I tucked my crutches into the side of my bag in the presence of a very surprised hotel worker who then watched me walk off into the sunset never to pick up those crutches again until my return journey.
Yes, I could have further injured myself and yes, it hurt like hell at times but the ability to carry shopping bags and walk down the sandy beach was well worth it. It did however make me think that perhaps I had condemned myself to extra plaster cast time for a bunch of new dresses and pretty makeup.
I was the only person in the waiting room on Tuesday evening and was greeted by all the nurses warmly. Everyone was curious as to how my trip had been and whether it had been difficult on the cruthces ("oh, umm, yes, but it was fine"). The nurse took me in to get the x-ray right away and my leg was twisted from side to side while I struggled to keep balance on the bed in my precarious position.
The doctor said nothing as he suddenly left the x-ray room and headed to his office so I took the initiative to get off the bed and crutch my way over to the other room. He stared at the x-ray for a few minutes only using one of the 4 shots we took.
He then pulled up my old x-ray and started saying "so fast, so fast, so fast" repeatedly under his breath.
"So fast?" I ask.
"So fast" He confirms.
After a few minutes of mumbling to himself the nurse starts nodding and I am yet again left with the feeling that my doctor is telepathic. But he eventually turned to me and said "It's healed. Well almost."
He then spent 10minutes pointing at the before and after photos claiming there were two more fractures that, to my knowledge, he hadn't identified before but that now all of them were gone apart from one faint line of the major fracture right through my 5th metatarsal. The entire medical centre was flabbergast and talked fervently about the miracles of Hawaiian 'power spots'.
They started talking about 'rehabilitation' which I presumed would consist of exercises and walking with balance bars but I was lead through to a room out the back where my foot was faced with the random placement of suction cups connected to a huge machine with a dial. The nurse began to turn the dial and told me to call out when I felt 'buzzing'. My foot was electrocuted for 6 minutes while I sat there laughing my head off. It wasn't even triggering the area where my foot had been broken.
After six minutes they gave me some clear pain gel for my foot and told me to come back in 2 weeks and that would do it. I kindly thanked them and threw my crutches to the side as soon as I made it back to my apartment.
So to summarise, Hawaii is the miracle cure (how many times did I say miracle in this entry?) and electricity will stimulate your freshly healed bones and .... rehabilitate... them...?
Tune in next time for how to heal a cold in Korea.
No comments:
Post a Comment