Struggling on...

A special "shout-out" to my brother JP who quickly reminded Daddy, after my last post, that he should be more careful with wild, unbridled running. Thanks to JP we were reminded of the great horse Barbaro, a beautiful specimen who loved to run...yet, "he ran one too many races."

'nuff said...

We soldiered on today pushing Daddy in the wheelchair to school. I was out of breath pushing him while pulling along 3 recalcitrant students who wanted me to help with their water bottles, backpacks. Two decided they wanted to be carried mid-way. We literally rolled into the school yard 3 minutes late for our report time. We couldn't roll into the building however...just close enough to reach the entry-way steps. No ramps on the school.

We do have a ramp on our apartment building though...while everything is relatively smooth concrete and pavement...the wheelchair ramp is COBBLESTONE. Makes me chuckle every time I see it...I don' t think anyone will slip in their wheelchair though.

Daddy struggled through the day, teaching his classes and being chastised by our colleagues to get to the hospital. He smiled graciously and gulped hot water.

We were given a traditional remedy to assist in the circulation and pain management of the affected area. The serum, called "Red Flower Oil," is in fact red as you spill it uncontrollably out of the bottle, it runs off your hands and covers much more than the affected area on your patient. (The idea is to use a sparse amount and massage it into the skin.)

The odor of "Red Flower Oil" is pronounced and very herbal/mentholatum-type. Last night Daddy remarked that he liked the smell when the nurse was giving him the rub down. Tonight, it roused several young from their beds complaining about the "horrible smell!"

Red Flower Oil also has a definite effect on the skin with which it comes in contact. It's a sort of natural liniment. To hearken back to the "Barabaro" parallel with Daddy's injury...I slathered tons of liniment on my horse's legs back in the day after a strenuous work-out or if they seemed to be going a bit lame. The stuff really heats up....

So when the amateur nurse/massage practitioner tonight spilled the Red Flower Oil on the patient's thigh and it ran about over the skin, well beyond the intended area...the result was a very negative experience. Daddy rose up from the couch like a man with his head on fire (or at least parts of himself on fire) and rushed to the shower to attempt to find an antidote to the Red Flower Oil's intense thermal effect.

The nurse did consider the well known remedy for hot pepper oil here in our host country...rice. The patient did not take kindly to the nurse's suggestion that she apply rice to all the affected areas.

Sadly the nurse was unable to focus on the patient's obvious discomfort...because it was frankly just too amusing.

On a positive note...the patient does feel a great deal of relief at the sight of the injury!

The patient did inform his nurse, after berating her ineptitude with the application of Red Flower Oil...that her services would never be requested again relating to this particular remedy.

In defense of the nurse: 1) The nurse had no idea that the Red Flower Oil had such powerful heating qualities. 2) The instructions on how to apply both verbally given and on the box were in an, as yet, unintelligible language to the nurse. 3) The nurse's own hand is aflame as she is typing this blog even now.

Magpie is well today. She began a new project tonight. A birthday gift was given to her last month, a cross-stitch. She was thrilled with it and I think very happy as she went off to sleep tonight. We are suspicious that many of her ailments recently have to do with internalized stress and emotion. Please remember her that she will develop healthier patterns of processing all the change and culture stress we're experiencing. And remember us, who need wisdom and peace when dealing with those times when the stress becomes physical for our dear girl.

The Bug is totally into her Tae Kwon Do class. Daddy says she really has the "eye of the tiger." She does her entire workout with a smile on her face, batting her eyelashes at the instructor and giggling. A recent picture of her taken in the class had her striking an offensive pose. I kid you not to say it looked like she was modeling Tae Kwon Do clothing for a magazine layout. Too funny.

Potato (4) is enjoying life in her birth country. The kindergarten here is a Montessori method school. This suits Potato very well as she is able to "work" on puzzles, hand/eye coordination tools and generally be busy all the time.

Brownie (4) is amazing all of us with her use of the local language now. She is using so many words interchangeably now that we stare at her with our mouths agape. We've heard her twice conversing with a local friend...many sentences...all in the local dialect.

Bub, speaking of rice (as mentioned several paragraphs above), is the Rice King. He would eat 3-4 bowls of it at every meal if we'd allow him to. (Food Culture Note: We eat rice everyday. This is a major change from our diet back at The Old Place. Sometimes we eat rice twice a day. There were times at The Old Place when we might not eat rice for 1-2 months. Yet everyday since we arrived here, nearly 4 months ago...white rice...everyday. The author is yearning for some mashed potatoes right now!)

We're going to prowl around this weekend and see if we can find a Turkey to purchase. We're going to take a stab at some elements of our traditional Thanksgiving meal. If no turkey...we can always have tofu. Nothing says Thanksgiving like tofu and rice...nothing.

The author must run now. Sorry for the lack of deep thoughts in this update...

...must go ice my Red Flower Oiled hand...or find a nearby burn unit...