My first major injury

Injury
After 3 years of living here, we finally had to use the E.R. in Panama. 

I ruptured my Achilles Tendon. We went to our regular doctor who sent us to the E.R. in the City of David. Thankfully there was a orthopedic surgeon that could see me that day. After an examination he sent me to imaging for an ultrasound. We quickly found out that the ultrasound tech was out for 2 days. The surgeon then sends us down the road to a private imaging facility. We were surprised how clean and modern it was inside. After a very short wait, a doctor, not a tech, did the ultrasound and took pictures of the tear. Back to the hospital with my report and a CD with all of the images....

The surgeon offered to do the surgery that night or I could go home and work out all of the pre-certifications with insurance and come back in the morning, which is what we chose to do. 

After the surgery, Rick is driving me home and we stop off to pick up a wheelchair and crutches from one of the local community charity groups and then to start my recovery! The first few days were incredibly painful.

Paige and Jacque came by a few times and have helped us out. Paige even helped Rick fix my wheelchair. Jacque made some food for me and even restocked our banana bread supply for tours. :)

In one of the pictures below you will see my cast with a couple of black boxes filled in. My wonderful husband put an advertisement for a USA president candidate that I am really hoping does not get elected....so the paint marker had to be used to black it out.:)

On the other hand, my son found a bell for me to ring if I need him for anything. He is so sweet!

I am on day 8 of recovery now and the swelling and pain are much better. One more week until I go back to replace the cast with an AirBoot if all goes well. In the meantime, while I am stuck on the couch all day the internet goes out for 2 days (no tv, no phone games, no email work....) Longest 2 days! A couple of hours after the internet was restored, the power goes out! We had to test out our new generator for real....all went well and power was restored last night around 11:00pm. Then we find out that water is now out in our area. Again....I am glad that the rain catchment system works well and we have 4 reserve tanks full of water.

The worst part of all of this, is that I am stuck here and unable to walk. Everything happening around here has Rick running all over (taking Cole to the orthodontist, transporting him to and from the school bus, feeding everyone, doing the coffee tours, fixing stuff....) while I just sit here. I thought I would enjoy a little forced vacation more than I am. :(

Earthquakes
Last week the earthquakes slowed down, but before that we were having an earthquake swarm. I had never heard the term before, but I guess there were hundreds of little earthquakes and a few bigger ones that we actually felt.

So far there has been no damage from the earthquakes that we have had to deal with. But our neighbor, Hector, came home from a vacation to some damage to his rock wall. I cannot go outside yet, so I am not sure if he finished fixing it yet or not.

Projects
I have a very small laundry room. It barely fits the washer and dryer and even then there is not enough room to plug or unplug the machine. However, this room is the best place to put cleaning supplies. Our house does not have any storage or closets other than one closet in each bedroom. Before Rick made me the wonderful shelf, I had cleaning stuff hidden in the dining room, under the kitchen sink, on the floor in the laundry room, it was all over! Now, everything is in one place and all organized...yay!

Roaster
I bought an old, used roaster that does not work. Panama does not have a store that sells roasting equipment, so you have to take what you can get...right?

It is the size I need for the majority of my roasts and since we roast only small batches and ship out freshly roasted coffee, I had to get it! Which means Rick has to fix it and build a new roasting house for it. :)
​
We decided to move the pilon station and build the roasting house there. Rick and Melvin are  finishing the prep work now and should be ready to pour the flooring tomorrow.

Bug
I had never seen an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar before. I actually had to put it on our community Facebook page and ask people what it was. It is not poisonous or harmful to people and pets, but it looks like it came out of an Alien movie.

Caterpillar - Moth