Turkish Healthcare Adventure
Our return trip to the US took an unexpected detour, and I’m learning to use crutches!
On our way back from India two weeks ago, we stopped in Turkey to attend a conference, on ministry among nomadic people groups (a lifestyle we can relate to!). After we left the conference we had planned to meet up with some co-workers, and we took a bus to Izmir. As we were coming out of the bus station, I accidentally stepped off the side of a ramp and fell about 4 feet, landing hard on my left leg! So our visit with our friends took place mostly in the hospital emergency room!
Turkish ER Doc
The emergency room doctor was a young woman who didn’t speak much English, but managed to communicate care and competence to us. Assuming that the leg was broken, she put a temporary cast on it, and we found a hotel with a handicapped room, where we relaxed for a few days with a view of the Aegean Sea.
Hotel with a view
When it came time to travel, it took a huge effort to talk the airline into moving me up to a business class seat on our long trans-Atlantic flight. But we met friendly wheelchair attendants at every airport. In Istanbul we even got to ride in a special truck from the terminal to the plane—handicapped delivery!
Airport special delivery
After arriving in CA, I made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor, assuming that he would replace my temporary cast with a plaster one. The morning of the appointment, I woke up with a tingling feeling in my leg, in the spot that had been most painful. When the doctor looked at the x-rays, he couldn’t see any break, and when he checked my leg the pain was almost gone. He believes that there isn’t actually a break, only tendon damage, so he replaced the cast with a removable brace. When we arrived back at the house, my nephew was excited to hear this—it turns out he had been praying for me that morning, that the diagnosis would be better than what we expected!
God answers prayer, although we can’t always predict how or when. I’m thankful for that, and for very little pain overall. So in addition to catching up on sleep and unpacking, I’m learning to get around on crutches, adding sore shoulders and wrists to my list of complaints! I’m grateful for Mary and other family members who are eager to help out. It’s a season for me to rely on others, to slow down, and to keep my eyes open for answers to prayer and blessings, however unexpectedly they arrive.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged hospital, Turkey by Lisa
Falling Leaves and Good-byes
We are now back in California. Saying good-bye to our friends and our adopted home was profoundly sad. As we were packing up and making preparations for our departure, we noticed that the trees along the stream that we see through our window were starting to change color. Autumn was on its way.
My husband gave me permission to copy what he wrote after returning from a walk:
It is now time for this crop of leaves to fall. Yet they do not fall in vain. Slowly, as they blend with the soil of our hearts, they will in unseen ways both protect and nourish, so that in due time, that soil will produce a new crop of leaves and fruit, more abundant, sweeter and higher than before, all on a trunk that is made stronger by one more ring of winter. My leaves are yours, oh God. Do with them what is best. 
Through the seasons, it was amazing to see the trees go from bare brown sticks in the winter to spring-green buds, then leafy summer foliage. Now the leaves are turning gold and brown, and falling to the ground. Do trees ever feel reluctant to release their leaves? Letting go can be hard, and I feel the grief of all that I’m releasing, all the good-byes that I’m saying. But new leaves can’t grow until the old ones are gone. And those brown, decaying leaves nourish the soil for the growth to come in the next season. But for this season, my branches will be bare.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged fall leaves by Lisa