I have returned to Malpaisillo

Hello All,


I last posted on this blog around May 16 which is when I left Nicaragua, bound for my sister’s house in Arnold from which I went to an orthopedic surgeon in Baltimore for a second opinion on my shoulder.

He basically said the same thing the Peace Corps doc said, which was that surgery would be needed to correct the problem. There was no real difference between what the two of them said, so I felt pretty confident in the diagnosis. But, their prognosis was what blew me away. Both of them said I only had a 60 % chance of having a successful surgery. That sounds an awful lot like 50-50 to me which is random chance, or something like that. That was not much of an incentive to go under the knife, even if it was an arthroscopic knife.

So, I did a lot more internet searching and reading and consulting my learned friends and family and  decided to do Physical Therapy for 6 weeks before even thinking further of surgery, and boy am I glad I did. It has been very successful and I am back in Malpaisillo, Nicaragua, starting to get reoriented and back into the projects I had to leave behind . Both the docs said I would probably need a shoulder replacement surgery sometime down the line, but, hey, I am going to need a whole lot  of things somewhere down the line, and shoulder surgery can just get in line behind a facelift and a tummy tuck !!! ( Just kidding !!)

And, tho the therapy  was good and attained its desired goals, the best part was that I got to be in the US with my sister, brother, nieces, nephew, kids, grandkids and all my BFFs for 6 weeks !!!! My sister’s was like staying at the Ritz Carlton and we did lots of fun things together and ate lots of great food. ( I’d give it 5 stars) She and her friend, Kenneth, took me to Williamsburg for 3 days ( it was wonderful, you should all go if you have not been lately or ever) then I spent about 3 days with my brother in NY at his new house which he is fixing up to be very very charming. Then I went out to Utah to see my precious family out there and while there, two of my granddaughters drove with me down to Vail ( 7 hours each way) to see Rich and his band in a sort of festival performance. We spent the night with him and Wren in a condo of a friend of theirs and had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting and eating more great food.

So, it was a wonderful 6 weeks in all respects. I have exercises I have to do on my own which I will do religiously. I can tell that my arms are both a lot stronger but I can also sense pain and weakness when I do something I shouldn’t or get them too high over my head. I was simply wiping off some windows today , those awful jaulosy ( I know that is not spelled right) glass slats, and got some little twinges of pain….so I stopped…that is easy for me to do, the stopping part.

I am going to hire someone to wash my clothes and clean the floors, walls, ceiling ( mucho cobwebs and dust) and windows for me once a week. I hope I don’t run out of money protecting my arms !!

As for my projects, both my gardens seem to be blooming – one better than the other – but neither is a total disaster and that is very good news. The recycling project has not gone any further, but I think I can get that going again. The school kids are on vaca until July 20 so I’ll have time to reestablish contact with the mayor and his chief of municipal waste. I also will get back in contact with the Health dept. as one of Peace Corps’ big pushes is to educate young people about HIV/AIDS/STDS. I would not want to lead one of those sessions on my own, but I would like to work with the health dept. to pull it together.

Plus, Peace Corps emphasizes that we do thing that are “sustainable,” i.e. that will continue long after we are gone. So, I interpret that to mean we should buddy up with local agencies and lend them our resources and energy but let them take the lead. So, that is what I am doing whenever I can.

One last thing, I have reestablished contact with that professor from U. of Nebraska who is working down here with the Univ. of Nicaragua to develop a master’s program in Special Ed. I am hoping to meet with her next week while the kids are out of school to determine what I can do to be involved in that process. It sounds like a lot of fun to me.

It has been great walking thru town and seeing the reaction of the kids when they see me. That is what I was really looking forward to and it has come true. It is so inspiring !!!! Actually, even a guy who was down in a ditch, digging up some pipes or something, called up to me as I walked by and said something about my returning to Malpaisillo. I was so shocked but I stopped and tried to speak with him….I think I said, “yes I came back, I am very happy to be here, and I love Nicaragua !!!” I think he was pleased. Actually, what I love is the people of Malpaisillo but that was too many words and way too nuanced to try to convey in my Spanglish. So, I went with loving Nicaragua.

My life has returned to normal, the new normal. It is the beginning of the rainy season, it runs from May thru November, so we are getting a lot of rain, the dust is minimal, but it is still unbelievably hot. As I recall, it was cool when I got here last November so I guess I should be expecting to sweat profusely until then. I think of it as a daily cleansing and that makes it tolerable, but only barely !!

I think that covers everything….hope you are all well and taking care of your rotator cuffs !!!

Thank you for all your generosity and hospitality while I was there these past 6 weeks.   It was the best vaca ever !!!!!

Love,

Pat