It looks as though I can access the internet from my lodge now so I'll try to give a quick update to show you how Betty and I traveled here from Kasane, Botswana.
Mother fell early Sunday morning. At first we thought she had just bruised her bum. She was able to walk around fairly comfortably. She decided to sleep in and not take the boat ride/walking trip to a Namibian village that morning. I brought her breakfast in bed and left her settled comfortably.
When I returned from the village the pain had increased and she knew she needed to see a doctor. Fortunately, I had just been visiting with an orthopedic surgeon, Joe Crow, who was traveling in our group. He asked Mom a few questions and determined that yes, she needed to head to the nearest hospital for x-rays. He offered to stop by later to have a look at them.
After calling for an ambulance and realizing there was nobody handy to drive it, our tour director, Peter, and the hotel manager carried Mother to a car and drove her the 4 blocks to the hospital. The doctor there, Dr. Chibwe, asked a few questions to determine where the pain was located and then ordered x-rays. Then came the wait to find an x-ray technician. There were two on call, but it was several hours before one could be located. Dr. Chibwe didn't see anything broken in the first set, but ordered one more view from a different angle. When Joe stopped in later, he held up the x-ray to the light in the hall and said there was clearly a fracture in the neck of the femur.
Peter had by this time notified the traveler's insurance company and the paperwork was starting to flow. We moved Mother into a hospital room, tucked her under the mosquito net, and finally left her there for the night, hoping that by morning the plans would be made to move her to Johannesburgh for further evaluation.
Monday morning the rest of the group headed off to Capetown. I got several warm hugs and everyone sent their best wishes to Mother for a speedy recovery. The folks at the lodge told me to just ask for anything I needed during the wait. I took breakfast and lunch to the hospital from the lodge. I walked back and forth several times, checking for e-mail at an internet cafe along the way. A very competent nurse, Portia, adopted Mother during the day and made sure she was clean and as comfortable as possible.
Tuesday morning I ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel, leaving our baggage in the office and headed to the hospital. When I arrived I found the ambulance was expected momentarily. I ran to exchange dollars to pay the hospital bill- $30 for 2 nights stay and x-rays! Portia had already called the lodge and asked for our luggage to be brought. She was busy helping Mother bathe and dress for the journey. Soon Mother's room filled with the nurse and doctor from the jet ambulance service, porters from the hotel and staff from the Kasane hospital. She was hooked up to an EKG, loaded onto a neat blow up stretcher, and rolled on a gurney out to the ambulance for transfer to the airport.
The plane had room for the stretcher and 3 passengers plus pilot and co-pilot. Fortunately it could carry our luggage and all the medical equipment as well. Dr. Alves and the nurse, Tonya, sat beside Mother facing forward. I sat in front of her, facing backwards towards her. The flight was lovely-- perfect weather, great visibility the whole time. We flew above 33,000 feet. I could turn around in my seat and watch the altimeter as we landed in Johannesburgh. Once in Johannesburgh at the smaller of the two international airports, I went with the pilot to pass through immigration and customs while Mother was loaded into the new ambulance for the 30 minute trip to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 1 pm. Dr. Volkersz met us in the emergency room. He ordered new x-rays and sent Mother to the Orchid ward until he'd had a chance to review them.
Late in the afternoon the x-rays were taken and Dr. Volkersz showed me the clear picture of the fracture. He said the American doctor had done very well to spot the fracture on the fuzzy x-rays from Kasane! He then ordered bloodwork and a medical exam by an internist and said that the surgery would take place around 8 or 8:30 pm. Dr. Kretzmer stopped in for a nice visit. Sure enough by 8:30 we were headed to "theatre" as they refer to surgery here. By about 10:30 Mother was settled into a bed in the ICU so she could be well monitored after the surgery. Dr. Volkersz said he had used 3 "American" screws to pin the neck of the femur. He expected a good recovery.
Mother stayed in ICU all of Wednesday. She slept and dreamed plenty and talked a blue streak. Wish I had recorded it! Most of it didn't make much sense. A physical therapist came to do breathing and stretching exercises.
Thursday morning Mother moved back to the Orchid Ward. She's in a 4 bed ward. One of the other patients has been there most of the time. The others come and go. She still was a bit out of it Thursday so once again, therapy was limited to breathing and stretching. By Friday morning, however, she was back to being herself and when the therapist came in, she took off walking with walker and then crutches. She's loving the freedom of being able to wander the ward, go down the hall to the bathroom and even out to the lobby.
It's now Saturday and when Dr. Volkersz stopped in this morning he said she'd be ready to leave Monday. I reminded him to go ahead and fill out and fax the fit to fly form today so that on-call can start making the flight arrangements. Here's hoping he did and they are! I think I'll give them a call in a little bit to check.
So now I'll finish taking photos of the hospital and the lodge where I'm staying. Hopefully Mandy will allow me to upload this blog using her computer this evening! I'll just select a few photos which hopefully you can identify from this description. I won't take time to organize them now.
Mother sends her love and so do I!
