A Podiatric Update

Last month, after about 6 weeks of my foot hurting, I finally went to Tongatapu to get an x-ray taken of my foot. I’d been waiting until the class 6 exam and an island-wide clean-up attempt were finished, and once they were I figured I should finally have this checked out. My foot was still hurting quite a bit, especially with changes in weather and temperature. So, I flew to the capital and had a very Tongan examination done.

The medical officer, Seini, and I drove to the hospital, where I found out that we first had to get a form filled out by hospital medical personnel. Instead of waiting to see a doctor Seini decided we should just go to her house and ask her cousin to sign the form, since he’s a nurse at the hospital. So we drove across town and pulled into the yard of her parents’ house where she had a child go wake her cousin- I later found out he works night shifts and was sleeping when we woke him up. On the “patio” amidst pigs and dogs and children he quickly looked at my foot, sign the x-ray form, and back we went to the hospital. (As a quick sidenote, I’d like to mention that the newly renovated wing of the hospital outside of Nuku’alofa is quite nice- very clean and well staffed.)

The best part about having Tongan (or host country nationals in PC-speak) medical staff is that they know everyone within the Tongan medical community, and we were able to breeze right into the x-ray room, with Seini stopping to joke with everyone along the way. We got my x-rays taken and developed in record time and then, rather than go through the silly waiting for a doctor business, headed back to Seini’s family’s house to have her cousin look at them. Amid the animals in the front yard he read the x-rays and told me that I have a small fracture that’s healing well, and that most of the pain is coming from the fact that when the cement block fell on my foot it bruised all the way through and that my bone and soft tissue are still bruised and will take a few more months to heal thoroughly. All in all, best news I could have hoped for.

I spent one more day in the capital a got to do a bit of shopping for luxury items we don’t get out in Ha’apai (namely cheese and American candy!) for myself and the other PC, ate at restaurants, mailed letters (they take about a ¼ of the time to get places if I mail then from Nuku’alofa than if I mail them from Ha’apai), and I even drank a chai latte(!) then it was back home and back to school, sort of.