Bumps in the Road

"It's not just songs and glamour. It's sweat, blood, 

broken toes, and mistakes...It's life." ~Mary J. Blige

Illness in the Peace Corps is very common, and frankly, I expected to get sick like most volunteers do with Giardia, amoebas, or even malaria. When my mom calls me or emails me she doesn’t ask “How are you feeling” or “Have you been sick?” She asks me “How are your toes?” It seems that my feet, specifically my toes, have not been agreeing with my life in Togo.

The first sign of problems came last September, when my feet were getting cut up by my running shoes every day. Sore toes, bleeding heels, so I decided to switch to different shoes, but this just resulted in both big toenails turning purple and blue. About one month later one of them fell off, and a few months after that I lost the other one. In December the right toe became infected, which led to a course of antibiotics. In March that same toe became infected again. Then just a few weeks ago, a third infection! This time even after antibiotics, it was still red and sore.... diagnosis was that my brand new toenail was growing back ingrown. This brings me to today, one of my WORST visits to a doctor.

Don't get me wrong, Peace Corps Medical Officers are amazing at what they do. They take care of the volunteers so well. This is the best medical care I’ve ever had in my life. I mean, how many people have a doctor who knows all about their medical history and who is available 24/7, only a phone call away, whenever you need to talk to them? Today I left super early in the morning to travel down to Lome to get the ingrown section of my new toenail removed. I know a few family members who’ve had this done, so I thought it would be no big deal. Last summer I had to have my whole foot numbed to remove about 30 sea urchin spines from the bottom (my souvenir from traveling in Turkey). Compared to that, I thought this would be easy.

The moment the shot of anesthesia hit my blood stream, I was ready to hurl. Thankfully, I didn’t have any breakfast today, because I just felt awful, closed my eyes and kept thinking “Emily, don’t throw up, don’t throw up, don’t throw up.” Then my ears started ringing and I couldn’t hear anything, so I thought I was going to pass out. They waved something in front of my nose, which made the nausea stop. The toe is pretty hard to inject, so about halfway through the syringe just exploded and the anesthetic flew everywhere. While the doctor had to go get another one, the needle end was stuck in my toe, just chillin there. As the doctor was cutting down my toenail to the root she said “This is too easy, the whole nail is dead.” So she decided to remove the entire toenail. Unfortunately, since the anesthesia was administered on the left, ingrown side of the nail, I was able to feel the pain of the right side getting pulled out.

Now here I am, 10 months in Togo, back to square one, with no toenail again. I have to remind myself to look on the bright side. With the wide array of possible diseases and illnesses in Africa, I will be LUCKY if my toenails are my only problem, and overall, I’m very grateful to have the PCMOs. They are like our little guardian angels, guiding us through all the bumps in the road, on this incredible life adventure.

May Days

"The biggest lesson from Africa was that life's joys come mostly from 

relationships and friendships, not from material things. I saw time and again 

how much fun Africans had with their families and friends, 

and on the sports fields; they laughed all the time."  -Andrew Shue

Hurray for May!!! I’ve always loved the month of May, not just because of my birthday. At home in the rainy Pacific Northwest, May is always the month where we get a small taste of summer. Unfortunately, it’s followed by the “June gloom” rain where Mother Nature reminds us “not too fast, this is the Pacific Northwest after all.”

Usually at home I wish for a sunny birthday, but in Togo I was hoping for some rain....we didn’t get any. At one point I almost forgot it was my birthday since it was just like any other day. I taught my class, went to the market, visited with my neighbors, etc. I didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday. I did get a few packages that week, so thank you Mom, Grandma, and Auntie M! My Grandma sent me dark chocolate M&Ms, which were amazing! Is that a new invention or something because I don’t remember those? I shared the big bag with my neighbor kids, who loved them. I can’t describe the look on their faces, but just imagine what a kid’s face would look like the first time they eat chocolate....pure joy and amazement.

These kids are such sweethearts. I refer to them as my Little Rascals, about 15 neighbor kids. When I get home from school there are at least three or four who run up to me screaming “Emily! Emily! Emily!” It’s quite a warm welcome. Once a girl even ran out of her compound in her towel to greet me. She had just stepped out of the shower. I think it’s become a competition between them for who can spot me first on my way home. I’ve taught them how to high five and fist bump, which has sparked another competition. As I make my way into my compound, they all want to be the last one to high five me before I close the gate. All in all, it takes a while for me to make it into my house now, but I love the company and the feeling of belonging to my neighborhood. Kpalime is a large city of about 100,000 people, so the feeling of belonging is something I never really expected to happen. Fortunately, I was wrong. Happy May Days!