A Gringa No Brasil

All of those years playing rugby, and my award winning facial injury is thanks to the bottom of a pool. Yesterday I went to Agua Splash, a water park in Tegucigalpa, with Leo (a friend of mine) and some of his coworkers. We got there mid-morning and after lathering up with sunscreen and storing our belongings we went over to one of the “deeper” pools. Unfortunately it looked deeper than it actually was. There were no “No Diving” signs or anything, and my friend wanted to dive in at the same time. So we did. He was fine, but what I had intended to be a shallow dive actually turned into me face planting on the bottom of the pool. Such a dumb mistake.

I hit the bridge of my nose and busted up my lip. Thankfully, my teeth are all fine. It didn’t hurt too badly, but the bridge of my nose had split open and was bleeding profusely. Leo ran to get me a towel to stop the bleeding and then took me to the park’s infirmary. They don’t keep a nurse or doctor on staff, just a receptionist, so they sat me down in a chair and told me to wait for the doctor that was on his way. I got some ice for my lip and kept the towel on my nose, but I lost a lot of blood and fainted while waiting for the doctor to show up. I was only out for a few seconds, but when I came to I asked Leo to go get my phone so I could call the Peace Corps doctors since this seemed a little more serious than just a scrape.

The PC doctor told me to get to one of the hospitals in Tegucigalpa and she would meet me there. When the doctor that had been called in finally arrived, he took a look at me and wanted to stitch me up right there. I was still a little woozy from fainting and didn’t really understand what was going on. Thankfully Leo stepped in and told him that PC gave me specific orders to get to a hospital so we all got into the ambulance and headed out.

I have to say, PC really takes care of their volunteers whenever there is any medical issue. The PC doctor met me in the ER, and called in a nose specialist, a plastic surgeon, and a neurosurgeon (to make sure I didn’t have a concussion). All of the doctors they work with have to be approved by Peace Corps headquarters in Washington so I was definitely in good hands. I had x-rays taken, which showed a small fracture in my nose and orbital bone. I was told that they will both heal on their own so no funky face cast. The plastic surgeon stitched me up – a few internal stitches and three superficial.

Now they have me on pain killers and antibiotics, and I’m just waiting for the swelling to go down. My top lip is swollen out of control, and my nose is bit fatter too. There’s some bruising under my eyes, but it’s not too bad (yet). I have follow up appointments on Monday and Tuesday, and the stitches come out on Friday. In the meantime, I’m busy getting awkward stares and frightening small children.