The Fall: Larissa and I were traveling north through Argentina after Antarctica, and had made our way to Mendoza. On Friday, March 20th, at 3am I fell off the roof of our hostel. I was on the roof with two other travelers, and we had relocated up there in order to play music and drums, and make less noise. I leaned against what I assumed was a sturdy wall, and fell about fifteen feet down to a concrete slab as the wall crumbled.
After Falling: I went to two different hospitals, one public and one private, and wow, what a difference! At the public hospital they shoved three pins into my wrist that were later removed by a surgeon at the private hospital as they were not fixing my broken bones, and they were resting on a nerve, causing me to lose feeling in my fingers. At the private hospital they determined that I had broken my face but I was okay to fly back to the US.
Here's what I looked like two days after falling:
Once in NY: I returned on Wednesday morning and have been at the doctor ever since. My face is broken but should just need time to heal. All the same, I am seeing a face-surgeon on Monday to make sure all my nerves and stuff are okay. My wrist was shattered. The pins made three huge holes in my arm and did nothing to stabilize the break. The surgeons at Hospital Central also shredded one of my tendons and possibly a nerve with the pins, so until a surgeon here in NY fixes everything, my right hand is out of commission. My rib and abdomen were bruised and possibly fractured…to be determined with more x-rays today.
How I Feel: I am generally happy. I feel overwhelmingly blessed when I think about the fact that if I stayed in Argentina, my right hand would remain permanently handicapped. I would probably never hope to play drums again. I get a bit sad when I think about Larissa, as I miss her a lot and wish we were still finishing our trip together. Its always hard to come back to the US with all its structure, but its been good to be dealing with the US health care system, and visiting old friends who make me feel so freakin warm inside!
What Now: I’ll have surgery next week and spend the next month or so recovering from everything. In June or July I hope to either go on a trip across the US or abroad with my sister (we didn’t get to meet up and volunteer in Bolivia as we had planned this summer), or I hope to move out to grad school early and relax until classes start in September.
Speaking of Grad School: I got accepted at Tulane University, U of Minnesota, and U of Denver. Yale rejected me, and while it would be nice to be accepted by Yale, I hated their program, couldn’t afford their school, and didn’t want to live in Connecticut. I would love to go to Tulane or Denver. Denver feels safe. I would be studying political theory, which I know I love. I’d be living in a safe and relaxing city…It just feels like a safe bet. Tulane feels more like a gamble as I’d be living in the murder capitol of the US, and I’d be studying a more dynamic and foreign field of health politics.
After all this though, I think I am a little tired of living the adventure. I think it would be nice to settle somewhere for a while and really relax, instead of pushing myself all the time to try new things, learn new fields….etc. We’ll see who gives me more financial aid.
Final Note: So now its time to try and sleep. Everything hurts, meaning I generally sleep for two or three hours at a time, then wake up needing more painkillers, a change of position, or just to stretch a bit. I’ve only been back for 5 days and already I feel my independence suffering not so quietly in the back of my mind. Thank God for closed doors, good friends, and showers. Can’t wait to be better again!
