Spiraling Out of Control

Well, we certainly have had an unexpected week that has been spriraling a bit out of control.

First of all, Covid-19 has turned South Korea upside down. Last Tuesday there were 31 cases. That almost doubled to 50-some on Wednesday, then doubled again to 100-some on Thursday. That is why we were debating if we should go skiing or not on Friday. Most of the cases were in a city call Daegu, about 90 miles northeast of Sacheon. It ended up being a gorgeous almost spring-like day and aside for the whole Daisy's leg hurt thing I was glad we went, thinking there might be a time in the near future we might be stuck inside for a few weeks. 

Second of all, Daisy's leg continued to hurt for the next few days. She has been using her rolling desk chair to get around the apartment. One night she slipped and put some weight on it and it was really bothering her. Her ankle was a little swollen and there was a small amount of bruising. But first of all, she was wearing a ski boot during the accident, so how could it be broken? We figured it was badly bruised, but there was the mystery of no visible bruises. Second of all, there's the whole corona virus thing going around and a hospital is not a place where I want my family to be right now.

Speaking Covid-19, Abe is working from home this week in an abundance of caution due to the mass explosion of cases this week.  The kids are doing online learning for the next 2 weeks in an abundance of caution as well. It looks a little like this:

The bigs actually have class times that all the kids are talking with the teacher and amongst themselves. Lijee has worksheets and websites and assignments to do. The Pops has some computer/paperwork to get done. The Momma has to run around answering a lot of questions.

When I went to school to pick up the kids' supplies for these next 2 weeks yesterday, I ran into a friend who told me that the clinic right beside our apartments has an x-ray machine. Even though I did not want to go to the clinic and risk getting exposed to the virus, we thought it was time to see if there was more going on with Daisy's leg than we originally surmised.

We were third in line at the clinic. I was just hoping those people were in there because they had problems like hurt legs, and not problems consisting of flu-like symptoms which were really the dreaded virus. There was an older gentleman who was not looking good. He did not have a mask on (the country is advising people wear masks when in public). Daisy, Abe and I were discussing that he looked like the type of old guy that was spreading corona.

When Daisy was in the back getting her x-ray, an ambulance with its lights on pulled up outside. I freaked out when a guy in a HAZMAT SUIT got out. No kidding--white jumper, goggles, gloves, mask, the whole 9 yards. I suddenly felt like a caged animal. I needed out, but Sick Guy was right by the door and Hazmat was coming towards it. My mind was racing and I without thinking I walked straight to the desk and pumped out some sanitizer. I think I had the deer in headlights look, because as I pumped the gel, the girl behind the desk (who does not speak English) looked at me and said, "No corona! No corona!" I cannot tell you how comforting that was to hear those words. Y'all, my pulse was racing.

I'm sure it was a bit comical to see my eyes get as big as dinner plates as I ran for the hand sani, and I laugh at the thought. I praise God that I am able to laugh at the story and I am not on quarantine for 14 days because I was exposed to a positive case. It was a grave reminder that there are 1500+ people to date (up from 31 just nine days ago) who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Back to Daisy. My pulse had not even had time to subside when we were called back to see the results of Daisy's x-ray. The doctor said there was a spiral fracture at the very end of her tibia (near the ankle). I could see the fracture on the actual x-ray but I cannot see it on this picture. There is a little arrow pointing to it.

It was near the growth plate so he said we should go see a pediatric doctor who is at...the hospital. 😱Exactly the place that we have been wanting to avoid.😷😷😷

We left the clinic with Daddy carrying Daisy and her wearing this cute little Croc-type boot.

Gyeongnam National University Hospital in Jinju is doing all they know how to prevent positive cases of Covid-19 walking through the doors. They have you fill out a questionnaire before you can enter, and then upon entering there is a thermal machine that can see if you are too hot. Everyone is wearing masks, and our family was even over-kill with plastic gloves.

The clinic doctor was spot on with his diagnosis. The pediatric specialist also called it a spiral fracture, meaning the foot was planted and the leg rotated. I read online last night that often surgery is required with a spiral fracture. I also read that sometimes child abuse is suspected with injuries like these.

After they asked how it was hurt and when it was was hurt, they wanted to know why we waited 5 days to come in. I wonder if they were thinking child abuse?? Our answer that we didn't think a bone could break in a ski boot and we were scared of corona virus at the hospital seemed to shake their suspicions. Whew!

We are fortunate in that they think we can avoid surgery. We are not fortunate in that there is a tendon connecting the bottom of the leg to above the knee that needs protecting, so Daisy needs a cast for 4 weeks that goes up from her foot to above her knee. After that she will wear a boot for 8 weeks. That’s a total of 3 months—1/4 a year.  Dang, they are serious about this thing healing properly.

I have never broken a bone, so I have never seen a cast being put on. It was interesting and surprisingly quick. First, the under layer.

 Next the white gauze stuff.

Finally the outer hard stuff. Sadly, she did not have a choice of colors. Green isn't bad, though.

 Her leg is very sensitive and had a bit of pressure after it was bandaged up.

When we were checking out we asked if we could buy crutches. The hospital distributes medicine like pharmacies but they didn't happen to have crutches. They said I could go buy some somewhere close. I asked where, and they were kind enough to send a guy to lead us to a tiny little pharmacy just off the hospital grounds. Here we are, following this dude to who knows where. 

Unfortunately, the pharmacy, which was the size of a closet, had 2 sets of crutches, small and large, but we need medium. We will have to order some off Gmarket, which the the Korean Amazon. The Daiser looks a little pathetic here, but she has been a pretty good sport about it. She isn't even mad that we waited 5 days to take her to the doctor.

When you look at the big picture, this is a great time for her leg to be hurt. Since we are at home for 2 weeks this gives her time to get used to that big, awkward cast. She also has time to learn to use crutches, which is a big deal since her classes are upstairs.  There is no ADA in South Korea, and there is not an elevator as school, so using her crutches well is going to be a must.

This is one story I don't think we will ever forget. #makingmemories

[February 27]

The Griswolds Korean Ski Vacation - Muju Deogyusan Ski Resort

Deokyu Mountain, Muju,  is under two hours from Sacheon, so we decided to take advantage of the kids' day off of school to check it out.

The kiddos have only been "skiing" once. It wasn't skiing on a mountain because it was in Kansas. In addition, Zeke made it up that montain/hill 2 or 3 times, and Daisy and Eli didn't make it off the bunny slope.

Because the coronavirus started to take off like wildfire this week, we couldn't decide if we should go or stay in. We struggled with it for several days and decided late Thursday to go Friday. We were too late to arrange ski lessons so we decided to wing it. 

The first sight of snow was exciting and had everyone wanting to play in it.

After getting everything rented, we were ready to hit the slopes! 

We practiced with the 3 kids and our friend Susie on a slight incline by the lift. 

Then we did it. We all got on the lift. Zeke, Susie and I got on first and got off without one spill. I was impressed! I watched Daisy and Eli get off with the Pops. Daisy did great and Eli almost did not fall. He popped back up and got back on his feet though.

I was trying to herd the cats at the top of the hill to get a group pic since we were all together. Lijee had already fallen about 3 times and I could not keep everyone in a group. 

Daisy asked Daddy if she could go, and that is exactly what she did.

That girl went balls to the wall straight down the hill. I yelled, "Daisy, go side to side!" to no avail. She was gone. I made sure Abe had Eli and then I started after her and chased her down the entire way. Part of me was proud that she made it to the bottom without falling. More of me was hoping she would fall because that girl was building up a lot of speed and she was going to have to stop one way or another!

At the bottom there was a very large opening, probably more than 200 meters across. There was a short mesh fence near the lift probably 20 meters or less. In front of that was a small sign less than 1 meter wide.

You can guess what's coming. I was watching Daisy's little teal coat speed down the mountain, with her arms and poles flying up in the air, heading straight for the sign. One second she was up and going super fast; next there was a blur of skis and poles and signs and Daisy finally skidded to a stop as she hit the mesh fence.

Of course she was in tears when I caught up. I think most of it was fear. But she said she hurt her shin. Zekers showed up and we had a good laugh. Then I asked him to help me put the sign back in the ground. Check out what it said:

When we read the sign, Zeke and I laughed and laughed. Daisy wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying. I think it was a bit of both.

We waited around, but the Pops wasn't showing up. I told Zeke and Daisy to wait on me and I would go up again to find him. The minute I got off the lift I found them. It had been at least 20 minutes or more at this point since we all got off the lift together, and Eli had made it maybe 50 meters down the hill. Abe was patiently helping him. I wasn't sure how long the 'patiently' part would hold on, so I told him to go help Susie, who was tangled in the side fence about 150 meters away.

Bless Eli's heart. He would go about 5 feet and fall. He couldn't get up so he would pop off both skis. It felt like it took 10 minutes to get the skis back on. Then he would go another 5 feet and fall. No kidding. Wash, rinse, repeat. After about 3 times of this Zeke called. He said the ski patrol was there and wanted to take Daisy to the infirmary. I told him to tell them to wait on Abe, because he would be there any second.

I'm not sure how many attempts Eli took, but we moved about another 20 meters down the hill and Zeke called a second time, wandering where I was. I was like, I can't leave Eli up here alone, tell them to wait on your father. Even though Eli was a trooper and kept getting back on that horse, I finally told him to take off the skis and walk down because I needed to get down there to see if the Korean ski patrol had hauled Daisy off.

Finally we rounded a bend and I could see the snow mobile and several people were around Daisy so they hadn't taken her anywhere just yet. I showed Eli where they were and told him to keep walking and meet me there. I carried his skis and skied down to the crash site.

When I arrived I was surprised that Abe was not there yet. The ski patrol had Daisy loaded on the snow mobile and had a stint on her leg. They were intent on taking her with them. We all had our phones out and were trying using Google translate to try to communicate when I heard someone swish up next to me. To my astonishment it was a ski patrol who was carrying Eli like a baby. He had seen Eli walking down and asked where Mom was. When Eli pointed to us the guy just picked him up and skied down with Eli right on his hip. It was a good tension breaker as we all laughed at them. I only wish I had been watching and could have take a picture. It was a funny sight indeed.

Finally I spotted Abe and Susie slowly working their way down. It still took forever for him to join us.

After Abe discussed through broken English and a translation app, we decided they could take Daisy to the infirmary. 

The ladies in the infirmary gave her some pain-killer spray and an ace bandage wrap. I left Daisy in the care of Daddy and the infirmary, along with Eli, and I took Zeke and Susie back to the slopes.

 This is the Pops carrying the Daiser to the car after he brought her out to meet us. She couldn't put any weight on her leg.

 Lijee had fun playing in what little snow was left over. He made several snowmen, but only one tiny guy didn't get knocked over.

 Zekers joined him when we were done skiing.

That was about it for our Griswold-ish shenanigans. Except for when Susie got taken out by a snowboarder. Hard. And when Daisy got a bloody nose. 

I gave awards for the day in the car ride home. Eli got the most persistent for getting up every time he went down, which was a lot. Susie got the bravest for trying a hard hill twice. Zeke got the best skier award. Daddy got the 'take one for the team' award. I just got to enjoy the beautiful afternoon skiing.

Now the Korean Griswolds are dealing with this:

[Februrary 21]

And The Beat Goes On - IL Jangdaesan

Due to so many factors, including holidays, Eli's bday, others' injuries, and corona virus, I have not been hiking with the International Ladies since December. It was a good day back!

After taking the dogs for their morning potty walk, I was secretly hoping someone in their right mind would say it was too cold to hike and call it off. The temps were a few degrees negative celsius. But no one did, so I figured if they could stand the cold, so could I. Turned out it wasn't too bad out there and it warmed up as the day went on.

We hiked Jangdaesan, which is on the north side of Jinju. The mountains are not nearly as picturesque when the trees are bare, but it was still nice to be out, and the company was great. Our group was small, with 2 Koreans, 2 Filipinos, one Dane, one American, and 2 American dogs.

Ming was a good Chuey walker.

This is Waryong Mountain that we hiked one other time. It's the highest in this area and easy to spot from afar.

I only saw one of these little guys on this hike.

Lunch break.

We made it to the top!

 When you can't see the trees through the bamboo forest.

At the top of the mountain we came across a marker.
It was for the famous singer Nam In Soo that we found on another hike this fall. Here is a picture to remind you:

Apparently he like to come up to this spot on the mountain and practice his singing. How neat would that have been to stumble on your own private little concert while hiking through the woods?

Probably the reason he liked this mountain in particular was because his family has a very large burial plot at the bottom.

 This is his grave.

 It's a little more special than the rest of the family.

 The graves started in the 1600s.

 We came across this little yard on the way to the car. Those are kimchee pots in the yard. Ming said they probably make kimchee and soy sauce in them, right out there in the yard.

 [February 18]