A lot has happened the past couple months!
First, the Good:
I had my first birthday here in Belize, the big 27! Late twenties now…wow! It was a whole bunch of fun. Some of my friends came up from Belize City and down from Corozal and then I had some the girls from my volleyball team and teachers who I work with. So, we had a little get together at my house then we all went out a couple places in town for some drinks and celebrated into the wee hours of the night. It was a really, really good birthday! Couldn’t have asked for anything better! Thanks Loves who were all there! :)
The month of March was also the start of Women’s Month! So, I decided to hold a couple sessions at Muffles High School, where I coached the girls’ football team. I did two sessions with the first form girls (freshman) on self-esteem, self-confidence and body image. It went really well, the girls’ were very receptive to the information and totally engaged in the activities. I also did some sessions out at Santa Martha Gov’t School (my home away from home). I worked with the Std. 4-6 girls and decided to spread out the material over a couple months. So far we have covered self-esteem and self-confidence and in the next month the plan is to cover more material on puberty, hygiene and sexual reproductive health. These girls are a little shyer and it’s tougher to get them to participate but as the weeks went on they got more and more comfortable sharing their ideas and thoughts. I am really looking forward to the next few weeks and sharing more with these young girls.
In the spirit of Women’s Month I also wanted to do something for the mother’s in the village of Santa Martha, so I wanted to start a parenting class with mothers who were interested. And to my surprise there was a great response for them. I was able to get in touch with a wonderful woman, Ms. Cami Cahun from Human Services and she is helping with the classes and it’s a major plus because she can help with the Spanish translations. The 10-week course covers just about every topic from: how we learn to be parents, family communication, discipline, understanding adolescent behaviors/stages in child development, puberty development, anger management, self-esteem, values, conflict resolution and domestic violence. The classes are still going on and each week we get more and more participants!
Second, the Bad:
One morning in the past few weeks I woke up to feed the dog and went outside to find her vomiting everywhere. And not only just her food, saliva, there was blood in it. So, immediately I cancelled my day and took her to the vet. The prognosis was she had ingested a toxin…how? I have no idea. The thought is that she was able to squeeze her little body through the fence to the neighbor who lives behind me and go into something over there. After the vet gave her meds and vitamins, I took her home and was dog watch for the next 48 hrs. It took her about 2 weeks to fully recover and I can confidently say she is 100% back to her normal spunky self! That was a real scare for a while, but she pulled through.
Lastly, the Ugly:
So, finally after being in country for over a year I found a women’s football team to play on!! I was overjoyed to finally lace up the boots again and kick the ball around and just play. Our first couple games were great. So far we are undefeated! However, all the sports I played growing up (soccer, basketball, XC, track, running) finally caught up to me. We had an away game in Belize City and dominated, we won 4-0. After the game my knee was a little stiff and I just figured I banged knees with someone because I never fell wrong or felt a pull/twist/turn with my left knee. On the ride home, it got even more stiff and swollen. Getting home was a struggle as I hobbled home. But, I did the usual R.I.C.E. that evening, with no real change the next day. I went over to my host family’s home to see what they thought and immediately they called their doctor friend and took me to the hospital, they took x-rays (obviously no broken bones), so the doc set up another appointment the following day (Tuesday) to see the visiting Orthopedic. I finally was able to see Doc Jefferies from Guyana (he was great!) and he did all his testing of turning, pulling my knee and his prognosis was partially torn meniscus! DAMN IT!.. I thought (but at least it’s not an ACL tear, right?)
I finally contacted Peace Corps and told them the situation and immediately I was sent to Belize City for an MRI later that week. **Side note: I was able to get the swelling down significantly and able to get most of my ROM back and assumed it was nothing more than what the doc said, meniscus tear. So, Friday the MRI, this is the first time having one of those…gosh they are long! The following week Monday, our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) got the results from the MRI and drum roll please…..torn ACL!! I seriously could not believe it!! I tear my ACL here in Belize playing football…wow!! I’m not going to lie I was in a little bit of denial of all this…first thought was, “They are going to send me home!” But, after talking with some other PCVs, I think things are going to turn out alright. I had a good conversation with our PCMO about my options and the plan. Since this injury is not hindering me from working, I can get around still; I’m walking fine and still able to do my everyday tasks so there is no real reason to be medically separated. And since I have real no swelling at all anymore and no pain, I’m starting to do lite, lite jogging and going to finally purchase a bike and ride a lot more now. I probably will have to get surgery post-Peace Corps, but not thinking that far ahead now.
Considering all this!...there is still more Good than Bad and Ugly going on here in Belize! :) My Easter vacation was fantastic! A few friends and I went to Sarteneja up in the Corozal district and spent the Easter weekend up there camping! We had a tent and did the whole camp ground and everything. Sarteneja is a big fisherman village, so on Easter Sunday they hold a big Regatta out in the sea. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and plan on making our way back there next Easter!
Until next time…love you, miss you and see you all soon! xoxo
