Toe no more....

Going in to the Salalah public hospital to have an ingrown toenail removed was quite interesting!! We were given some detailed directions on how to get to the "operating room". "You will see dhe emergency room entrance. Dere is a door on dhe right and a door on dhe left. Don't go in dhere. On the right, dhere is a courtyard on dhe right. Go dhere. Go dhrough the doble doors. You will see another set of doble doors. Don't go in dhere. Go left and dhen right. And sit. Ring dhe bell and wait." So I did. Joel and Luke sat and waited with me. Someone opened the door and I gave them a slip of paper that had all my info on it. The male nurse started laughing and said, "We take it all off!!" Thanks goodness I could tell he was kidding!

There were a couple other people there waiting for whatever reason. Then another nurse opened the door and said my name. She was a very nice nurse. I walked through the door into a room that was much like a closet with another door on the other side. She had me put on a green coverup over my clothes and sit in a chair to wait. She said, " when boy come out, you come in. Dake your shoes off. Pud dees on." And she pointed to some old slippers that looked like they had been worn before and were labeled visitor. I chose to keep my own shoes on. A few minutes later, the door opened and a teenage boy walked through. He had obviously had some procedure done. The nurse sticks her head in and says, "come." So I walk through the door right into the "operating room." Boy walks out, I walk in. Thank goodness I kept my shoes on. There was a cotton sterile pad soaked in someone else's blood on the floor.

The doctor instructs me to lie down on the table. The nurse who joked about removing my whole toe is in there and was still refering to the whole toe amputation. I knew he was joking, but with a language barrier I was wondering if I had made the right communications.

I was given local anesthetics on each side of my toe. When the doctor started his work I could still feel pain so I said "Ouch". He said, "Does it hurt? Or do you feel pain?" Uhm, there is that language barrier again. Doesn't that mean the same thing? So I said, "Hurt!! Pain!!"

The nurse goes, "Don't look! You look, you feel pain!" Believe me! I wasn't looking!

The procedure went well all in all. I still have my toe. It is wrapped up right now. The medical team was VERY NICE. Just very different especially due to verbal communication.

I am still glad that we made the decision to return to the states for Luke's birth.

I am so paranoid about the kids stepping on my toe right now. I look like a flamingo when they are around me. I go back in Wednesday for a follow up.