Jen and Callista's Mt. Chirripo adventure
The accident story is a long one, even if I edit it so I'm posting it in parts. This is the story of how I broke the ankle Feb 6th, 2007. No I wasn't climbing a coconut tree or chasing an iguana. The hospital tales will be in seperate postings. We didn't have a camera so no pics to post with this one other than the ones already on the website....
I took a picture of Bill and the others as they loaded into Omar, the hotel managers’s pickup just before 5am on Tuesday, Feb 6th. We tossed them the camera with instructions to take lots of pictures for us as Callista and I waved good-bye and wished them luck.
The sun was already coming up so going back to bed wasn’t an option. Callista settled down to watch a DVD on the portable player we’d brought along and I set up my coffee maker on the balcony. Yes, I travel with my coffee pot. In a country known for its coffee it’s hard to get a cup early in the morning. I enjoyed my morning coffee watching the parrots, hummingbirds, woodpeckers and others feast on the beautiful trees near the hotel while Callista ate her cereal and watched a movie. We were thrilled to be by staying in a hotel with fantastic gardens and a swimming pool. After rolling down the hill up to the hotel the previous day I wasn't anxious to do any hiking off the property. In hindsight maybe that would've been safer than the pool I didn’t want to go on this trip in the first place but once circumstances dictated it I decided to make the best of it.
I packed lots of nail polish, hair stuff and the likes and decided to make it a nice mommy daughter experience. By the time Cal’s movie was over I’d showered and was ready for the day. We snuggled and had some serious talks. No question was off limits. She’d studied reproductive cycles and the likes in school the previous year but there were lots of questions to be answered. Those questions are best dealt with when fathers are no where around. After it seemed I’d answered every question she could think of we decided it was warm enough to go to the pool. I was ready for a break!
We packed up our girl supplies, nail polish, magazines, snacks, etc. and headed to the pool where we planned on lounging the day away. The water was too cool for me. Callista swam for awhile then would lie on the pool deck with me catching rays while Bear explored the property. It was a wonderful day. We had a cooler full of food so we brought down a picnic lunch and made plans to do eat dinner at the hotel restaurant that evening after putting on our best t-shirts and doing our hair and make-up. No, we don’t usually let Callista wear make-up but this was a mommy daughter special day. At around 2pm we finally got around to doing Callista’s manicure then headed to the restaurant for an afternoon snack of ginger ale, french fries and ice cream. Tummies satisfied we headed back out to the pool. Callista swam a little more then went off to see what Bear was barking at near a cabin on the other side of the pool.
Bear had found an agouti, a strange little animal, a rodent looking like a cross between a giant rabbit and a guinea pig. After much coaxing I went up to investigate as well. We didn’t find the agouti but did check out the cabin for a future rental possibility. The cabinas had private bathrooms. The rooms we rented were just rooms. The bathrooms and showers were at the end of the hall. For a savings of over $50 I’d rather walk down the hall to the bathroom. While we were looking at the cabin the owner’s wife came up to show it to a couple of North American men. We walked Bear over to play on the huge grass lawn while they looked over the cabin deciding whether or not to rent it. After the three of them walked past the pool headed to the reception area I told Callista it was time for my manicure. She’d lost interest by then, her nails and toes were done and said I could paint my own. I teased her a little and headed down the concrete steps to the pool to paint my own nails. As I was on about the second of 6 or 8 steps Callista called out to me to look at Bear, mid-step I turned and that’s when it happened…I missed the next step and stepped on the following with the side of my ankle, that’s when I heard the first snap. With three steps still to go before hitting concrete the only options in the split second were to either put weight on the already broken ankle or fall and risk cracking my head open. I took first option and heard the second crack. As I hit the ground Callista heard the “OH SHIT!” and came running.
I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and told her everything would be fine. I had her take a deep breath as well then told her to get help as I’d broken my leg. Staying calm was crucial. Callista returned with the two gringo men we’d seen minutes before and the wife of the hotel manager. Everyone looked panicked. I told them I was fine I just needed to get a couple of boards to stabilize the leg and some ice and I’d be ok until Bill got back the following afternoon. I watched as everyone shook their heads then sat up to look at the ankle. That’s when I understood I had to go to the hospital. There was no blood but the bone stuck out unnaturally in one direction while the foot went the other.
Something snapped in me and all I can say is the angels took over. I calmly gave Callista directions on what to do; put all our stuff and Bear back in the room and bring my purse down. While she did that the hotel manager got her mother in law, Dona(donya, I don't have a tilde on my keyboard) Elsa and we started figuring out how I was to get to the hospital. It was decided our car would be more comfortable for me than the back of Don Rafael’s pickup for the 30 to 45 minute drive down the mountain to the hospital. The two North Americans carried me up the steps I’d just fallen down and situated me in the front seat of our car. We reclined the seat and propped the leg on pillows on the dashboard. Thank-you guys! I don’t know their names but I do know they were angels. There is no way I could’ve gotten into the car from where I was without their strength.
As Don Rafeal and Elsa prepared to drive Callista and me to the hospital their daughter in law contacted the ranger station at the base camp of Mt. Chirripo to notify Bill. Luckily Bill had reached the base camp a few minutes prior to the call. I was able to tell him what happened but when the first tear fell I had to pass the phone to Callista. It took all my concentration to focus on not losing it in front of Calli. If mommy lost it she’d go to pieces. The pain was great but my faith was stronger. I knew he wouldn’t give me more than I could handle. As we drove down the winding dirt road towards town Dona Elsa asked how I could stay so calm when I had to be in pain. I confessed my faith and told her I was in God’s hands, I had to trust in him and stay calm for Callista’s sake. From that moment on there was a peace in the car and I heard the whispered prayers of both the Don and Dona.
I’ll never forget Don Rafeal’s pleasure in driving our car. In my pain I could still see the joy in his eyes, worry too but there was a sparkle. At one point he even told us how much he liked the car. We all laughed. He honked at the other cars and buses on the road trying to get me to the hospital as fast as he could. When we finally reached town Omar, his son met us and took over the driving as Don Rafeal didn’t have a driver’s license and didn’t want to risk getting pulled over.
Continued... Part 2, The ER in Perez Zeledon
