All kinds of everything before and after the hospital july 2012

ALL KINDS OF EVERYTHING BEFORE AND AFTER THE HOSPITAL. , July 2012.

Sunday 9.4.2012

Church

Today several people came at my door asking if I wanted to join church. The first ones were daughters Karey and Lydia who wanted to join church at the nearby Nazarene university where Karey studies. It is a protestant church. Kaso, sister to Agnes, invited me to her church where they speak Kiswahili, so that’ll be next time. Agnes joins again another church, the Presbyterian, and Kiboi is going to a catholic church. Well, what do you think of that? So I went to the university where we were met with a lot of music and singing. You were invited to come along. After the music a lady asked who was new in that church and I had to get up as well. That was not enough they also wanted to know who I am so I had to stand up again. Then I recognized that the lady was Agnes who wants to have her children at Steiner school. There were a lot of children that were welcome in the first part and then some people took them along to do something together. A pastor from Zimbabwe spoke and he had a lot of humor. I must confess that the whole service was nice, without hysterical shouting what I experienced in another church. The whole service took 1,5 hour and that is normal here.

In the afternoon I visited Cornel and Fatuma and their little family. Little Natasha was born in January, she is very cute. Nicole is four years old now. It took me over an hour to come to them and that is in the same village! On Sundays everyone is out and the traffic is even worse than on week days.

18.04.2012

FIRST TIME TO THE OFFICE AT FOREST ROAD.

When I was waiting for a Tukituki a car stopped and offered me to drive me to the main road for the usual price: 30 bop. But it looked like a private car and I hesitated. It seemed like the three ladies in the car also were paying and I got in. But how can I know if it is a taxi when there is no sign?

Today I got picked up from the main road by Cornel and two colleagues from the organization he works ANPPCAN. This is an organization for children’s’ protection, website www.anppcan.org.   

We were dropped off at Forest Road. We entered an apartment building which houses the office. It turned out to be a wonderful top modern office. The Agency for Development and Research hosts Potrain and we can use their facilities. Gideon who leads the agency is a clinical psychologist and looks very smart. He told that he had Norwegian friends and was planning to travel to Norway in July. I felt a little stitch of jealousy. The other people in the office seem to be very nice so this is promising. We took a matatu to meet a colleague from Cornel. As Cornel sat in the front he was not visible. A drunken man offered me to pay for the trip which I friendly refused but he created some confusion as the tout didn’t understand where the money was coming from. The colleague who is a professional IT had found a good secondhand computer and that one looked quite modern. The shop where we bought the equipment is not visible from the street and many computers are piled up in a tiny room. We ate in a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken, that Adrian is so fond of) restaurant. On the way back there arose some commotion as I wanted to take a Tukituki instead of a car. And then someone offered me to drive me alone in the Tukituki. Yeah I am a mzungu (white person) and they will expect extra pay for the drive. So I refused saying friendly that I can wait. And then they pointed out that the car was first in row. Hakuna matata (no problem) I said and all had to laugh.

21.4.12. FIRST TIME VISITING THE GROUP AT KIBERA.

Yesterday I finally became a modem for the internet that Cornel bought and I am very happy. Also the power came back and my shower is working again. So many miracles on one day! Together with Cornel we were at the office and we were using the new computer and we made a work plan and he showed me how to start fundraising. Afterwards I was shown around in the Kibera slums for an hour. I must say that there has been some upgrading. There were towers with electric light, buildings with toilets and showers, and water stations. Human dung is used for bio-gas. Agnes has such an installation with her café for cow dung and uses the gas to cook with.

Strange but true is that you get used to meet miserable situations. Every time it shocks me how inhuman and unworthy it is to live in the slums but you cannot think about that the whole time else you cannot be there. We met Victor who is chairman of the group called Vision Pamoja (togetherness) that Potrain (the organization Cornel has founded and where I will be fundraising for) has inaugurated in the Kibera slums (see www.potrain.org ). The group counts about 30 members and they are trying to come out of poverty. They started last year and meet every Saturday. They have come that far now that they will start a business that sells chicken. The profits come back to the group that will look for more projects. The ones who work in the shop get paid for the work. The meeting was in English, they made minutes and the whole meeting was very effective. A good meeting is a piece of art, if you ask me. All the members told something about themselves and they were very positive about this process and were very grateful for the chance they get now. They have to pay Sh 10 every week as a kind of membership. That also means that they commit themselves. They get money from a fund to be able to start a business. I got the impression that this is very serious and that they work hard. 14 Members were visiting a children’s home that day as part of the project. I will attend the meeting as an observer more often and counsel on different themes they come with themselves.

Sunday 22.04.2012

From the newspaper 20.04.12: Man fined Sh 200.000 for digging up stump.

A man who uprooted a tree stump in a forest was shocked when a Nyeri court slapped him with a Sh 200.000 (= +  kr 14.400 =  + € 1800) fine. He will serve a three year jail term should he fail to raise the fine. The Forest Act prescribed a harsh penalty for such an offence. He was caught by guards in Laikipia West Forest.

They are planting million of trees all over in Kenya. Remember Wangari Maathai, Nobel peace prize winner, with her project women planting trees.

As I have not found a washing-up brush I bought a mini toilet brush to do the dishes with. You need to be creative! Here they use such green Scotch Brite scouring pad, washing up in cold water but I prefer hot water and then a brush does then better.

Sunday 22.04.12.

Today I visited Britt and Ngare and their two lovely little kids. They live in a house in Ngong town. It was a 1,5 hour bus drive for me and they picked me up with the road and it was still a long way up. Normally they live in Norway in a place near Stryn and have been here for a half year now volunteering for a school in the Mathare slums. I met Britt in 2002 when I was a student in the psychiatric clinic where Britt was in 2000. She came back as a volunteer for Strømmen Stiftelsen and lived in the same apartment complex as Odilia and me. Last week they bought a house in Ngong town not far away from where they live now and of course I was curious and we visited the house. It is a little bungalow, very cute. The rain was threatening again so I decided to go home. The rain causes very many damages just in that area. Britt told about a woman who tried to cross the water in the street that became like a river because there is no drainage. She didn’t survive and now they have made drainage there. There is coming down a lot of sand and stones from the hills. And this is not the only accident. The nature powers are very strong. The last few days we were again without power after a storm raged over our house.

Agnes told that they have observed lions right outside the house in the field where I go every time I go to town. She told me not to turn, but slowly step backwards if I should meet a lion. She told that they don’t attack people, but……… Later on I heard about two lions coming at 11 pm to a plot at the end of the road here, just between all the other houses, looking for dogs.

RAIN SEASON APRIL 2012.

With the rain all kinds of insects are invading the apartment. Sometimes there are many! I sweep them away but it is nasty. They roll themselves up when you touch them and they look like dead. When they go they fall aside or on their back and struggle to get on their feet again. I found out that it is wise to close the curtains so there will be no army attacking the living room. Also big spiders are crawling on the wall. If you leave them they disappear, but I think that the spider and me know exactly where the other one is. The rain pours down like a curtain. Outside the road gets very muddy and the mud becomes like thick cloths on your shoes and you need to walk a bit with wide legs else you make yourself dirty. The cloths are flying around. Don’t think that you can stamp your feet to get the mud off, no it is too sticky. But the rain makes everything green again and the soil needs water. During May the rain will stop again until October. After the rain season the balance was that floods took 80 people’s lives, 40 were injured and many thousands homeless. In one place people were bit by crocodiles when they went home in the water. Strangely enough there is no storage of water for dry season.

BLACKOUTS

In the news Kenya was called ‘the blackout country’. You have to be aware the whole time that light goes off. It happens most in rain time and then it can stay away for hours or even days. In spring it happened that two times the whole country was without electricity!!! Can you imagine. Last autumn the transformator in this road was stolen, it took a while when it got replaced but the new one has not the same quality. So it happens that everyone around has got power again except we and our nearest neighbours. People believe that it is the Kenya Power workers themselves who steal the transformators! Every Thursday in the rain season the power is off in Rongai, to save electricity. The shops that have no aggregator just have no business that day. And everything in the freezer melts. As electricity warms the water to the shower, no shower too. When the power is gone for a longer time we have no water at all because that gets pumped up (I live upstairs). Then I get a drum with water. Yes you learn to cope with situations but else I live quite comfortable compared with most people here. I am very grateful for May-Lisa’s idea about a head torch, perfectly when it is dark. And there are always candles on the table and in the bedroom - with matches!

LADIES PARTY AND VISIT OF JAMILA – 01.05.2012

On the first of May there was a chama at Agnes’ house. A chama is officially registrated. Every time they meet (once a month) all the members pay a certain amount which they give to the lady who is hosting them, they all have their turn to be host. When you become a member you pay a certain amount. This money is possible to loan against an interest of 10%. From this interest the group gets its income. They help each other when there is a need, like with funerals, weddings, hospital bills etc. Not only financially, they also support each other when someone needs help in any way. Some ladies of that chama came to visit me after the operation. There is a chair woman, a treasurer and a secretary and minutes are written from the meeting. When you do not show up you have to pay a ‘fine’, because you are obliged to come. There is good food that everyone is paying for. There is fun, dancing and maybe a glass of wine. I am invited as an observer. I appreciate that very much. Giving money every month and receiving when you are the host is a form of saving. The meeting opens and ends with a prayer. The money the host is receiving is also blessed by the whole group. I get ideas of starting such a group back home.

It was really fun being together about preparing the food. We started already early in the morning and most of the work was done outside.

To my big surprise we got company of a colleague of mine from Norway, Jamila. She took along her aunt. Jamila is originally from Somalia and has relatives in Kenya. The aunt is involved in an NGO working with Somali girls who are in danger to get married off at a very early age. She is teaching them skills in among others sowing so they can maintain themselves. Unfortunately, it took Jamila and her aunt hours to come here because of traffic jam. We did not expect that as the 1. Of May is a public holiday. It was very nice to meet them and they joined the chama.

 Kaso cooking chapaties

 

     

  

                                                                                                     Kaso, Moni and Dennis cooking outside

 

Delicious food that soon was gone

 

                                                                                                         

01.06.12.

While I was rehabilitating the nurse from the nurse agency Lydia came to visit telling a horrible story. She does not live far from here. Last Sunday it started raining while her son already left the house, leaving the house empty. He returned to switch the security light on and discovered two dead bodies of the puppies. He assumed that there was a big dog in the garden and went over. The dog attacked him while he was running towards the house and wanted to take him in his neck. He was protecting himself with his hands and got many bites. The other dogs came to rescue him and he could come into the house. The next day the Kenya Wildlife was informed because from the trails they could see that it was no dog. The Kenya Wildlife first assumed that it was a lion but changed that later into a leopard. The compound is fenced and still a wild animal could come into the compound. It scared all of us because that is also possible here.

30.06.12

Today the chama was at Moni’s place at the Diguna, a German mission, very nearby. Moni is baking my daily bread which is lovely. It is baked in an oven with charcoal. I was excited because I could understand many Swahilian words. As we were at the mission there was no wine or dancing, but they did kind of children’s’ play singing and dancing and I really liked to be part of that.

Afterwards we were invited to a kind of wedding celebration in a children’s’ home nearby. The daughter of the leader of the home had married an older German man six weeks before in Mombasa and now they were celebrating with all the children. But the man is married from before and has 11 children. His wife was sitting next to the couple. Their youngest child is 16 years old and this new wife is maybe 22 or 23 years old. Legally it is impossible to be married twice in Germany. He told that he is a bishop in the Celestial (don’t know if that is right) church and that he had a vision that God told him to marry this girl. She had kind of the same vision. Well I think that I have a broad view on things and can accept a lot but this was very weird to me and it did not feel good being there.

REHABILITATION

THE REHABILITATION

On Sunday 13.5 I was discharged from hospital. Amref, the Flying Doctors came with the ambulance and 6 people were carrying me up the stairs to my apartment. Again I was grateful for strong people! But also to conquer the fear that they could slip me on the stone stairs. I got home nursing 24 hours until I should visit the doctor again after three weeks. So Rosemary and Carol came into my life dividing the shifts. They did not leave me alone for one second. They were great and showed so much care. The one came in the morning at 8 am and they were both assisting in showering. Than one went home and the other stayed till next morning. I insisted that they should sleep at night, I had my mobile with me that was hardly necessary, they heard me getting up to go to the toilet. They were nice company the whole way. The sisters from the two agencies came to visit regularly and called every day to give advice and see if everything is like it should.

On Monday physiotherapist Wycliffe came to do exercises with me and he was coming every other day for 7 weeks. He is great; he made a plan and comes every time at the same time despite his different shifts, he is just well organized. Again a surprise in Kenya! He did a great job with me. Step by step I am making progress. Is an exercise difficult first, after one or two days I see that I succeed. This whole process is very interesting and learns me a lot about life. Once he asked me to lift my left leg while sitting and I answered I can’t, I thought that that was impossible, the leg felt like a rock, but I could! Everything on its time. I got nightmares just thinking that I had to go down the stone stairs with crutches. He showed me how to use the crutches and we exercised on the one step to the balcony first and slowly I could manage. The treatment plan from the doctor focused on careful rehabilitation because of the osteoporosis. I cannot enough praise the work Wycliffe has been doing. Also the doctor said that he was doing a good job. He became a good friend, and it was interesting to talk with him, I will miss our discussions over a cup of tea.

The first week I feared Friday, staple day, sister Wamboi from the Nairobi nurse agency and sister Lydia from the Rongai one came to remove the skin staples from the wound. They had to laugh about me! It was not really comfortably but it was not that bad. I thought that they removed 3 staples while they were 20! It was a step ahead not to have that kind of pillow on the wound and felt much lighter with dressings. In all those weeks there was a new step to be made and hindrances to over win, very interesting. The doctor had said that pain is the limit, but I could not do exercises without having pain. To my big surprise I had to start taking again pain killers 2 weeks after the operation. I had not expected that, it must have been due to the exercises. There appeared strange bruises on my injured leg, first red, afterwards getting all kind of colours. The nurses massaged my legs every morning, the highlight of the day and very successful.

the frame

 The program of the day was: three times exercising (hard work), physiotherapy, resting, showering, eating, reading papers, watching television, meeting all kind of people on email and facebook, sitting on the balcony, doing sudoku’s, playing cards, getting visitors, watching movies on the laptop. Showering and moving around takes a lot of energy and time. I had a good rhythm and was very consequent in that. I wanted to come to my feet again as soon as possible!

We found out ways to make things easier for me. My chair was a plastic chair with pillows because I couldn’t sit on the normal (much too comfortable) chairs. The computer became an important mean for communication and I got active on facebook. We got the plastic table from the balcony to function as a desk for the laptop so I had everything in reach.

Many nice andinteresting discussions with Wycliffe

 Meanwhile the insurance contacted me often by email and the Danish doctor called regularly. A week after I left the hospital they told me that they had decided to let me stay in Kenya! That means that that was cheapest for them, in the end it is the money that counts. I was very relieved. I had decided for myself that I would stay in Kenya anyway and would pay myself, realizing that that would cause financial problems. But like Agnes said: just count on that you can stay.

Wycliffe observing

I did it! Nurse Rosemary in the background

                

Looking back at those weeks I must say that it was a good time. I got so good support of people around me and all the people who came to help me with rehabilitation. And all the visitors, I got even visit from May-Lisa from Norway with her husband and a friend who is social worker in Ngong town and works together with a volunteer from: Jevnaker. But most of all Agnes and her (extended) family were such a great support, no words can describe. I am grateful to them for everything they do and mean for me. They showed so much care. Even her parents came to visit me. But also all the calls, emails, the sms from everywhere made everything better to bear.

Four weeks after the operation I went to see the doctor and to make an x-ray. It showed that the wound had healed 60%. Everything looked very good, I made good progress. It meant much for me to meet the friendly doctor again and I was very glad when he told that I had to come back after 4 weeks. The whole outing was a big event for me. I had not been out in the world in so many weeks and being in Nairobi again was just great. The hospital is just around the corner of Ojijo Road where we lived last time. So much has changed in the last four years.

I had not expected that it hurt to sit in the taxi, the driver was very careful avoiding all the obstacles and they are many here. First I had to come down the stairs on crutches but we had exercised many times. There are many hindrances for people with crutches like the ramps in the hospital. I was very glad that nurse Rosemary was accompanying me. Also nurse Carol came to the hospital, collecting her things as she should not continue with me. Rosemary also took along the mount I use on the toilet.

And the chairs, the best were the highest and the hardest ones. I also had to take a blood sample because of too little red blood bodies. The doctor and I agreed that it would be best not to take away all the help at once but to continue a week nursing in daytime to use the time to train to get more independent. The same day Karey, the daughter of Agnes, moved in. It was a scary thought to be all alone at night in an apartment where you cannot come in or out because of security. Should I fall, I could not get any help.

Rosemary making brown chapattis

                             a new of cycling!

For me it was obvious that a big part in the whole healing process was thanks to the use of Arnica D30 that I had taken along from home. I started using that on the day after the operation and continued in 4 weeks. I am very grateful for the advice that my brother Henk gave about dealing with osteoporosis. No refined food, no white rice, flour, bread, pasta etc. No sweet things, rather no sugar at all, lots of vegetables and fruits. Lots of sunshine that give vitamin D for free. He sent me medicines to help the body take up the calcium. You can take a lot of calcium but it can also leave your body again unused. He also sent me skin food, not knowing that that was exactly I needed for the bruises on my left arm due to the fall.

I also used Reiki on myself every day that must have helped too.

And so many dear people that were there for me, so much warmth. I will always look back at this time with great gratitude. Even my mother who was very skeptical about Kenya, got tears in her eyes when I described how much good care I got.

Last Friday, 7 weeks after the operation I got a stick to replace the one crutch. Again it was tricky to go down the stairs with it, without holding the railing because Wycliffe says that I have to be able to face all kind of situations. On Saturday Agnes drove me and Graca and Furaha to the Buffalo Den nearby where the children played on the swing and jumped on an air castle. And after a while we met Kiboi and we were having a good time. Kiboi ordered grilled meat and after a while I asked what I was eating and it was goat!!! Only the smell made me deny eating goat before and now I found out that I liked it! It is kind of a sweet taste. On Sunday Kiboi took us along to visit his father and two brothers and sister in Nairobi. The father needs an operation and they had a family meeting, in Kikuyu. It was nice to meet his family and by the way I had a great challenge as I had to go on a bad road that looked much alike the one in Mwanza where I fell. The whole thing must not get a trauma for me, so I have to take such challenges. A few days before Agnes took me along to the café where I met people. It is so good to come out in the world again.

Since two weeks Komora is coming home to me every day to teach me Kiswahili. He is a Kiswahili teacher at the Steinerschool Mbagathi, he is also a good storyteller, teaches also dance and percussion. It is a very different language than the European ones, very interesting, it is fun.

What I did not realize in the whole process is that I lost 7 kilos in weight from the time I came to Kenya!!! Here you eat a warm meal for lunch and for supper. Now that I am on my own again I eat a warm meal once a day. This weight loss is despite that I have been sitting a lot because of the injury. Maybe the 1,5 liter water every day contributed. I will absolutely keep it that way.

Tuesday 3.7. I visited the doctor again. The x-ray showed that the wound has healed for 80-90%! I have to use the stick outside for another 4-6 weeks. Continue with physiotherapy but now in the Nairobi hospital department in the Galleria which is nearer where I live, once a week for several weeks. I don’t need to come back for control and I got so confused that I should so suddenly not meet this nice doctor again that I only stumbled: ‘Thank you for everything’ when I left, that I can be so stupid! I’ll buy him a gift later.

some more weeks to go with the stick outside

Fall and hospital, 06.05.12

THE FALL

                                                                 Mwananchi hospital Mwanza   

Sunday 6.5. 4.15 pm.

First I asked Agnes to let me wait a while before getting up but then I found out that I could not get up at all! My left knee was falling aside and I could not stand on it, a very strange feeling I can tell you, very weird! Some men helped me to a chair on the road where I had to wait for a doctor. While I was sitting there I had a strange experience. A pastor came by and asked me if he was allowed to pray together with me. I agreed and he put his hand on my head and I felt a strange power come into me. It made me very calm.

In the meanwhile Lydia and other relatives came to help. I thought of an ambulance but they arranged an orthopedist. It was very painful to be carried in the car. He drove to a hospital but there was no access to x-ray. He told he was very sorry that we had to drive to a hospital he would rather avoid because the x-ray room was on the third floor with no elevators and no stairs. Four men were pushing me up to the third floor and I chose not to think what would happen if they slipped me. Coming up there were three watch dogs barking and showing their teeth. Just before the entrance was a big hole they had to carry me over. The x-ray showed that I had broken my thigh and needed operation. Woops the dream that they maybe could put the leg in its place again was gone. The young, competent doctor said that he could operate me but that he had not the right machines to do it so I had to be transported to either Dar-es-Salaam or Nairobi. Agnes started the first of many phone calls to the insurance alarm central in Denmark. The doctor decided that I should stay in that private hospital to avoid more transportation. 

I was brought to a room with again a dog in front of it, the building was open, so when you got out you were in the open air. The nurses understood little English so Agnes had to translate. They cleaned the bruises on my arm and gave me an injection with pain killers. Four women had to carry me to the toilet and all that time with a broken thigh! They could not supply a nightgown so I had to sleep in my clothes that were very uncomfortable to lie in. I was thinking of the commercial an insurance company has in Norway what can happen when you are in a far away hospital where maybe a cleaner draws out the power to hover, meaning that the patient was not attached to machines anymore.

There was only one position to sit/ly so after a while I did not know what to do with so much pain. The doctor was called and I got a second injection. Agnes and Lydia were sleeping and snoring! in the other bed. The insurance company was terrific, they were calling and organizing. Lydia was really great, she is a nurse herself and she followed us all the way to the airplane. 

                                                                                         

                                                                                                         Mwananchi hospital Tanzania

             

                       

In the morning Lydia’s sister came with breakfast. Apparently you did not get that from the hospital. Lydia and Agnes took a taxi home to collect our things and were just in time before the ambulance came to fetch me. While I had contact with the insurance upstairs about clearing the bill, meanwhile the family downstairs paid the bill without me knowing it. They wanted to help as much as they could, I really appreciated that. In the ambulance the stretcher had no breaks, so in swings a porter and I had to hold so the stretcher was not sliding away. At the airport a small plane from Flying Doctors was waiting for us and I had to cry, realizing that a whole plane from Nairobi came to pick up little me. It was very painful every time I had to be moved. It looked very difficult to get into the plane with a stretcher but no that was no problem at all. They used air mattresses and traces to slide the stretcher into the plane. I told them that I am so grateful that there are strong people! It is not easy to be forced to accept help from others, being unable to do it yourself. A female doctor and a male nurse were accompanying us. It turned out that they both live very near where I live. The flight took 1,5 hour. I have always wished to fly over the Maasai Mara and now I did, only in lying position. All the time they were checking on me how I was. It calmed me down that Agnes could come along and I am very grateful that the insurance made that possible. 

This time in Nairobi a very modern ambulance came and drove us to Nairobi hospital. Entering this hospital was coming to heaven compared to the other hospital. They did several checks on me and gave good information. I got lunch right away that Agnes consumed, because I had no appetite. They arranged a single room for me, I could share a room but the insurance arranged this, and I was driven to x-ray again and to the ward. Agnes could not do anything more and went home. The doctor who would operate me came and gave information about the procedure. The next day at 10 am I would be taken to the theatre. Theatre??? That is how the operation rooms are called. For me theatre is something joyful, not this. The doctor (Indian) was very friendly and calmed me down saying no one likes to go to the theatre, when I told him that I never had been operating before. There was no choice: I could not stay in bed the rest of my life and by the way then I should get blood cloths so then I had to miss my leg. He made me feel very confident that I was in good hands.

Later the Indian anesthetist came by. I had three choices: complete sedation, half sedation with me being drowsy and half sedation. Complete sedation is more unsafe because of possible heart -and long-complications. I have also heard from people who needed a long time to get in themselves again after complete sedation. So I choose half sedation with a puncture in the back and me half sleeping. The anesthetist acted very experienced and I trusted him. I astonished myself being so brave. I have no other words than compliments for the staff at the ward. They were very efficient and professional. The hygienic and ethical standard was very high. They did what they said they would do and I got very good information all the time. And they had time for you! The food was very good, you could choose all kinds of dishes for breakfast, lunch and supper. I had a jug with treated water all the time. Tea breaks with cake. I must say I often had to force myself to eat, no appetite at all. But they were checking on me saying that I needed it. Maybe it was good that I had not got so much sleep the nights before or just that I surrendered to everything what was going on. And after all that transportation it was so good to be there. I had a strong dream that night that deceased people I was very close with, stood around my bed offering me comfort, saying that everything will be all right. 

The next morning I decided to try not be part of all this, that it just happens around me. A nurse came to remove my nail polish on my toes that could react under the operation! The doctor came to tell that there was a delay of an hour. The whole time I was imaging the moment that they would take me to the operation room, until it really happened. I kept my eyes closed, but had to sit right up to get the puncture. A very strange feeling arose in my legs, like they were air mattresses. I did not want to see the operation room. I got a glimpse of the doctor in green with a cap. A nurse was asking if I could spell my name and really, I said, do I need to do that now? Later May-Lisa told that they were checking on my drowsiness so it was not only a stupid question. But I could hear everything, the carpenting on my leg, the drilling. Every time the doctor said: shoot. First I was waiting when I should feel the cut but found out that they were operating already. May-Lisa was telling me later that you get a headphone with music on in Norway so you do not hear what is going on. At the end of the operation I felt pain when they were sowing (later it turned on that they were using skin staples) and the anesthetist told later that I could manage that, he did not want to give more than absolutely needed. Leaving the theatre I got a glimpse of the hammer they had used to fix me! After 1,5 hour I was brought to intensive care and was so relieved that it was over. Back at the ward I slept for several hours and was very pleased that Agnes and Kiboi came to visit me. The next day Kiboi came with beautiful roses which made the whole room smell roses the day after.

Nurses came in and out, checking all kind of things also during the night. I had pain and got pain killers but I could manage, not more than before the operation. So that was a good experience. All the staff was very nice, people came in for all kind of purposes. Someone took the mosquito net to wash it; cleaning people coming in, and people bringing the meals. When the watch changed all the nurses came in and there were many students. I had a great time for being in a hospital. The next day Doreen and Philip came by to say hello. And Lambert who also visited his grandmother in the same hospital. It was sad that she died the Monday after my discharge. She was 90 and very sick, but it is sad when your grandmother passes on. But Lambert had the attitude of let us celebrate her life and be grateful for her life. The day after the operation Albert, the physiotherapist, came with a frame and I made some steps around the bed. The next day I had to go out on the corridor to train walking! I also got stockings that help the blood circulation. The doctor in Mwanza had told that I already could walk one day after the operation and I could not imagine how that would be.

I had a television in my room and there were two channels with only movies. Not that it was possible to see a whole movie, something is going on the whole time. And a few hours in the middle of the day they saved power. Boring was the generator at night, making electricity but also a lot of noise. Every morning the doctor came to visit me. Two times a doctor from the insurance called to hear how I was doing. There was a good contact between the two doctors. But the one in Denmark was talking about me getting back to Norway. Where would I live then, my house is rented out and Christian has a three level house. I begged them to let me stay, convincing that I was in the best hands. More people came to visit like two sisters of Agnes and Cornel and Fatuma. And Cornel and Lambert found out that they knew each other from before, from primary school. They were talking about that I maybe had been an African queen before. That I came to Kenya to take care of others while now it was the other way around. Payback time! And as I had sent out sms to many I know, there were a lot of calls and sms from different countries and that was really a great support for me. I am sincerely grateful for that! Agnes said that I now was a part of the family and it is great to experience to be part of an extended family. Even brothers in law were calling me to wish me soon recovery. I was again in good hands.

On Wednesday I went for a scan because the doctor wanted to measure the density of my bones as he assumed that I may have osteoporosis. Well it is a severe form 4.2. It will take three years before I get well again. All the time I have the chance to fall again and break again while it is very important to walk a lot, to really put weight on the bones. I have to take calcium the rest of my life. And for these years a calcium injection every three months. (Later on I found on the internet that the cause of osteoporosis can be use of medicines for a long time, smoking, physical inactivity or not having enough hormones. The latter happens to women over 60 years. Later the doctor told that it is risky to give hormones to women above 60 because of cancer). Well that was a lot to digest.

On Friday the physiotherapist told me about the process further on and thought I was maybe very optimistic and needed a bit reality. Suddenly I got afraid not to get my mobility back and I got depressed. I could not help crying and the nurses were worried: the lady is crying! and two came to talk with me. They offered me a counselor but that I can manage myself or I could call Doreen or Lambert. The physiotherapist came back to calm me down. And I did not want them to call the doctor who was not supposed to come to the hospital on Saturday morning but he came and talked to me. I will get 98% of my mobility back. To meet this doctor impresses me very much; he is very calm and has an inner peace that makes that when he enters the room everyone gets calm. He is such an up-raised person, has such a lovely being, it really struck me to meet such a person. I told him that I am very grateful that he studied and worked hard for years to be able to do such operations, he is very competent. He looked being bit embarrassed. I am grateful that he came on my way.

And I did not wish to fall and be operated but at least I know what is going on and can do something about it because osteoporosis shows no symptoms. The doctor was surprised that it is not a routine in Norway to scan the bones of women above 60. But I have to over win the fear of not falling again. I say to myself that that simply does not happen.

The attitude of people around me has helped me a lot to be positive. Of course they say sorry for what happened to you, but now you will get better with the help of God. It is more thinking from this moment, today, and looking forward and not backwards. Of course also people around me started to reflect on life, that you should not take things for granted. Just such a small thing as falling on the street, that that can have so big consequences.