Back Home in the US

I was medically separated from the Peace Corps on May 2nd and flew home to Virginia. The next Monday I had skin graft surgery to cover my wound. The nurse gave me the anesthesia documentation and spent a lot of time explaining the risks, etc. It was comical considering I had been put under anesthesia every 1-2 days, when they cleaned and rebandaged my wound, during my hospital stay in Senegal. I was in the hospital for a week, truly appreciating American medical care. The TV actually had something on it besides African dancing and rugby. My hospital stay was extended due to a drop in my heart rate. The average person's heart rate ranges from 50-100 beats per minute. Mine is usually around 60, which is on the lower end. Lance Armstrong, a human machine, has a resting heart rate of 26 beats per minute. My heart rate had dropped to 32 beats per minute, though I felt completely fine. Nurses who came in to check on different things would always remark that I was "so athletic" or some such. I believed that maybe I could have a Lance-like heart rate for about an hour. Then I realized I had been in and out of hospital beds for the last month or so, and hadn't been on a run in a long time... To make a long story short, I had to spend the night awake watching "Endless Summer" on repeat in the hospital, because every time I drifted off to sleep my heart monitor would alert the nurse that my heart rate was dropping below 30. I would nod off and hear the phone ring, the heart monitor station a floor below alerting my nurse. Let's just say that "Endless Summer" isn't the movie to keep you awake through the night. My heart rate jumped back to normal and I was released from the hospital with my leg in a big cast.

I had to keep my leg parallel to the ground at all times, to keep the blood pressure low and allow the skin graft to take to my leg. Therefore I couldn't use crutches or climb stairs, so we rented out a wheelchair and portable commode and I took up residence on a cot over the oriental rug in our living room. I spent the next month or so in the living room and den on the first floor of my house, with 2 excursions to the doctor's office.