Blog

Busted in Malaysia!

February 23, 2015

Busted in Malaysia!

Yep, I tripped my very first day in Malaysia! I caught my sandal in the crack between the stairs and the wheelchair/suitcase ramp.

So, thankfully, Malaysia has a state-of-the-art International Hospital and I was given a complete tour of ER, X-ray, orthopedic and then physical therapy to pick out a pair of crutches. I cracked a small bone in my right foot and badly sprained my ankle. Busted!

After only a day’s rest I was anxious to see the rest of the area. With my foot looking like a candidate for a zombie movie we planned quieter things to do such as visit the Camera Museum, Spice Gardens and the Blue Mansion where I could rest when necessary. On day four I felt brave enough to tour the Hop-on Hop Off bus to see more of the town. So, it wasn’t all bad. This product arnica, I had heard of before but never used was amazing! Twice a day application, after icing, worked amazingly well! I think that is what brought the swelling down so fast, so I could move my foot a lot easier.

The next part of the trip was the flight to Vietnam to see my son. I was allowed ‘priority boarding’ but the perk was (only) that I got out of the gate first. Ahead of me was three flights of stairs down to the tarmac, 200m across the tarmac and then up another flight of stairs into the plane! You got it: everyone passed me along the way and I was the last person to enter the plane!

In the meantime, my crutch fit very well in to the gun rack fitted into the vintage 1950’s jeep we toured in. We were still able to help a local business ‘Tam’s Pub and Surf Shop’ with a makeover and the jeep served as our transportation and delivery truck for the new tables and lights!

My foot was getting better and better throughout the 3^rd week, and I was forgetting my crutches in different places. (A good sign to move along…)

On the last morning, I was able to donate my crutches to ‘Bread for Life‘ for the Blind Assoc.

What a crazy way of getting crutches into the country?

The point is: it could have been worse. I could have broken my hip when I fell hard on the tile floor, or I could have needed a cast (that would weigh me down). So I feel pretty lucky I was able to ‘walk away’ from the incident with a solid lesson:

Always look where you are going!

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