Why I came home from Haiti 4 days early

I didn't get to sea the beach or water. Sad but true. There were many things that did not happen. We didn't get to ice sugar cookies... had only bought 2 Haitain things...and really, there were a lot of things we had planned to do, but didn't get to. So that sucked. But what sucks more, is the reason. Lori and I were preparing supper for the kids on Boxing Day (the day that a couple arrived for their kids). Everything is cement there and when it gets wet, it's super slick, Lori was carrying a glass dish and wiped out on the wet stairs. She received this small but significant cut from the glass. Realizing she couldn't bend her thumb, as a physio-assistant, she was pretty sure that she had severed her tendon which would require surgery if she wants to use her thumb again. It's hard to explain how chaotic and stressful all of it was. But long story made short. They went to the UN doctor late that night, he didn't think he was qualified to do anything (which is good since Lori had mentioned that he wasn't even aware that there was a tendon in that area) and referred her to the UN base in Port au Prince. We went the next day and there, we were interrogated a bit and it took 3 tranlations for everyone to understand we had to get back into the truck. They had told Lori that they could give her a referral, but after 6 doctors poked and hurt her, they told her that since she wasn't military, they couldn't do anything. Not that they knew what to do anyway, but the paper work was what was really important since her insurance company was being really difficult. You see, they need you to fax a doctors report before you can do anything. (because Fax machines are super common in Haiti, or not). Anyway- they require documentation for absolutely every little step and then they evaluate it and then they tell you if you are allowed to do the next step. We were trying to get her home to Canada since she was pretty confident that it was severed and she'd need surgery. Since the risk of infection is so high there...surgery in the US or Canada seems the only sane thing to do. Oh yeah, I failed to mention that when this happened, the phone lines were down so we couldn't get a hold of the insurance company to find out if she could go to a doctor, but we finally phoned my mom through Skype and she was able to phone for us. So after the UN - we changed our flights and caught the last flight out.

I must mention that in all of this, I had grabbed some food out of a bag that Lori had had in her room. I opened it to discover there were fire-ants in it and they were all over my lap. Needless to say, I was bite repeatedly. On the plane, I turned to Lori and told her I was sure I had one in my underwear... I was right.

So after hours of waiting in Emerg last night and then today at a clinic, Lori is scheduled for surgery on Monday with a severed tendon and potentially another one. She'll have to wear some sort of brace and can't lift anything for 4-6 weeks...including children. Apparently, there is an unusual chance of infection with this type of surgery. Glad she came home for the procedure and to heal.

A horrible thing that happened in all of this (because it's all pleasant to begin with) is that her brother was mugged last night while going to get drinks for us. The punched him in the face and took his wallet. (they were kind enough to give his license back upon request). But they cleared out his bank account...including his savings to go to Africa.