 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||
|
May 17, 2001 We finally made it back to the States a few days ago. We must have looked like returning from a battle, Carol hobbling along with her cane, me with a terrible cold, both bleary-eyed and worn-out after the 26 hour flight and four plane changes, Bangkok to Tokyo, Seattle, Memphis and finally to Tulsa. Most of you know by now that we finally decided to return home after being held up in Bangkok for almost four weeks. We knew we would not be able to go to our site in Utteradit soon and do the job we needed to do for quite some time to come. It was a very difficult decision for us and still today we feel disappointed and a strong sense of loss. But, even though we only spent a little more than three months in Thailand, it was an experience we wouldn't want to miss. Training was tough but excellent. We learned enough Thai to order food and not get totally lost, saw lots of interesting places and met many interesting people. We had an opportunity to teach Thai students and conduct a workshop for Thai teachers. And our 'adopted' extended family in our village Na Lao was just wonderful and we miss them very much. We continue to be in contact with them. We did not wait for a final diagnosis at Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok before returning home - maybe we should have. A couple of days ago Carol saw an orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa who told us that she needed knee surgery. The partially torn ligament has healed but the meniscus in her right knee is torn and will not heal by itself because it has no blood supply of its own. Now we are waiting for approval from Washington which might be a lengthy process - very frustrating!!!. But the clinic promised not to make her wait because she continues to have pain after she has been on her feet during the day. We will be here in Grove, Oklahoma for a couple of months and then find a place to settle somewhere. Yesterday we bought a car, a 1997 Honda Passport with 53,000 miles on it. Great car and good for pulling our camper - for future road trips. Love Norbert & Carol June 12, 2001 We finally received approval from the Department of Labor for the meniscus operation on Carol’s knee. It will be scheduled around the end of this month at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Recovery is about six weeks. This means that we probably will leave for Colorado sometime in August. August 15, 2001 - Epilogue Today Carol has her last appointment with the orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her knee aches a little bit occasionally but there is no real pain anymore and she is no longer limping. We rented an apartment in Fort Collins near the university in walking distance to the old town. It’s been over a year since we had our own place and we can hardly wait to pack up here and move our belongings to Colorado. This might be delayed a bit, though, since Carol’s mom had a positive mammogram and we want to wait for the results of the biopsy next week. Last week we received notification from the Department of Labor in Washington informing us to our great surprise that payment for lost wages - probably through today - has been approved. We don’t know yet how much. This will help a lot since our resources have been dwindling at an alarming rate during the last few weeks. We are following the news about Thailand reading Bangkok’s “The Nation” on-line. The typhoon Usagi is causing devastating flash floods in many parts of the country. Over 100 lives have been lost already. Uttaradit, our ‘site”, is listed as one of the 24 disaster areas. We have not heard for a while from any of the volunteers we’ve been in contact with, Karen, Tom and Sarah, Heather, Cherry. The province Nan, where Tom, Sarah and Byron live, is supposed to be the worst hit. We are worried about all of them and hope they are OK. We re-read some of our newsletters yesterday. We felt sad that we couldn’t stay in Thailand.Getting e-mails from our friends helps stay connected. A package mailed a few days before we left Bangkok never made it here. It contained a wonderful wooden “spirit house” we found in one of the department stores. We wanted to set it up in our house along with a large typical Thai “Elephant” wall hanging. Fortunately, we packed the hanging in our suitcase. By the way, we are also still in regular contact via e-mail with Aon, our Thai “niece”. She is now in her last year in high school and wants to go on to college to study English and tourism. We are trying to get her some funding through local women’s groups. Tuition and fees for one year is only $250. Here is some of what she wrote a few days ago: Love and miss both you Aon and family. P.S. There is an unexpected ending to our Peace Corps experience. Norbert contracted an unusual chronic disease in Thailand. Read about it here: http://www .ourbluemarble.us/Norbert/CIDP
|
|||
