Thomas News

The most recent letter from Sister Watterson:

"I visited Elder Fulcher in the hospital today at about 2:00. He was considerably more lucid than when I left him last night. The orange arm was a source of amusement now, rather than distress! He was grateful for the cinnamon rolls, fruit, and water I brought. Hospital food here is the very bare minimum in both quantity and quality, and he was hungry.

He has 3 roommates, all with arms and hands in casts. One of them had brought his computer from home and was playing non-stop movies, much to the delight of the other patients. Your son was valiantly trying to study, but it was hard for him with all the noise. The other patients all spoke varying degrees of English, and they were all 'nice guys', according to your son.

I told him his job was to make sure they all had contact cards by the time he or they left the hospital. He's working on it.

We also worked on quick comebacks for the inevitable ribbing he's going to get about this. I suggested , 'Yes, this does look awful, but you should see the WALL.' He's going to try to have a few comments ready for if/when he needs them.

The doctor had Elder Fulcher's hand x-rayed this morning, and everything is where it should be. They had just given him a shot for pain before I got there, so he was quite comfortable when we were visiting. He did mention that it was pretty sore before the shot. The plan is to release him from the hospital tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:00 pm. Leadership Council is right at that time, and I will be in the middle of feeding 26 hungry men, so I'm going to have Elder Rasmussen, Elder Fulcher's companion, pick him up.

We'll have to wait and see how he feels to determine how fast he can get back up to full missionary speed. We've found in the past that a cast is a good conversation starter, so he can use this to his advantage in the work if he's careful. He's bored and ready to go, but that hand is going to be sore for a while, and he'll have to take good care of the wound so it will heal without problems. I'm going to give Elder Rasmussen a list of questions to ask at the hospital about follow-up care. I already gave the list to Elder Fulcher over the phone, but he can't write (!) and was afraid he'd forget what to ask.

The final bill was 718.54 lati; the exchange rate is roughly 2 to 1, so in US dollars it would be about $1400.00; expensive, but probably much cheaper than if he'd hurt it at home.

So rest easy - he's doing well physically and is in good spirits. Love, Sister Watterson"

The Missing Link

Jesse claims that is what her english teacher will be calling her - this teacher taught Thomas for Extension English where he was a bit of a star, and Alec for the most basic English - where he was not a star (except that he was a pet because he's so nice). Jesse reckons she falls in the middle - hence the missing link.

Mozzies

Since we cut the grass and messed up all their hiding places we are inundated with mozzies - and as the flood waters have gone down in central Queensland there is literally a plague of mozzies and sandflies.

Lee & Joan were remembering the mozzies in central Queensland from their droving days and had some horror stories:

• Wearing long pants, coats, hat with fly screen tied into the neck and gloves to try to keep the mozzies from biting - in January!
• Lighting fires for the cattle to try to keep the mozzies away and having to literally push aside the scrubbers - cattle who came in for the fire but had never been handled before.
• Not being able to tell the colour of a horse because it was covered in sandflies.
• Wiping the neck of a horse and leaving smears of blood all down the neck.

Truly - with that in mind our mozzies don't seem so bad - and as Max observed that our screens are actually working.

Thomas News

The latest from Tom's Mission President's wife (the photo captions are hers too):

"First of all - It's over, and all is well.

Now for the details -

We (Your son, his companion Elder Rasmussen, and I) met at the hospital this morning at about 9:30. We waited, filled out papers, went to a different building through an underground tunnel, and waited some more. They brought us a medical history paper to fill out. Of course, it was in Latvian, but they brought a Russian translation of it. Elder Rasmussen's Russian is great, and he brought his English, Russian dictionary, so between him and and my limited knowledge of Latvian, we managed to inform the staff about Elder Fulcher's epilepsy, his medication, that he doesn't smoke or drink, is not allergic to anything, has no internal diseases, and is not pregnant.

When we completed the papers, Elder Fulcher practiced signing his name left handed for a while and then autographed the forms. Next it was off to another room for a blood draw - not his favorite part of the day. Then we waited some more before they brought him the inevitable plastic cup with orders to fill it up. He complied as best he could, considering he hadn't had anything to drink that morning except a cup of juice. Then a nurse handed Elder Rasmussen a copy of the hospital contract, which he translated for us. Basically it said that Elder Fulcher had to do everything they told him to do, to not cause a fuss, don't try to run away, and recognize the chief nurse as the main authority in his life while he was there. He signed.

At about noon they assigned him to a room with 3 other men. We knew that his surgery wouldn't be until after 3:00, so I left to take Elder Rasmussen back to their apartment to retrieve Elder Fulcher's toothbrush, and drop E. Rasmussen off at the mission office to work with another companionship. I went back to the hospital and stayed with your son until 6:00, when they came with a gurney and wheeled him away. He was gone for about 1 1/2 hours. He had planned to opt for the local anesthetic, but the plan changed and he had a general anesthetic. He was very groggy and confused when I first saw him, and wasn't quite sure who I was for a little while. After he finally recognized me, he couldn't figure out where he was, and was a bit distressed about the fact that his arm was orange (iodine anti-bacterial scrub). I reassured him that everything was normal, that his surgery went well, and that he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning! His hand was hurting quite a lot, so I told the nurse (in limited Latvian and lots of Charades) that he needed some pain meds as soon as possible - she agreed to take care of it.

At that point I said goodnight to him, and went in search of someone who spoke a little English so that I could make sure that the Drs. and nurses remembered about his tegritol, and that he HAD to take it before he went to sleep for the night. Everyone was up to speed on that item, so I headed for home. I spoke to the surgeon, who told me that they put 2 metal plates and 4 mini-screws into his hand. He assured me that the surgery was a success. They will x-ray the hand tomorrow just to make sure that all is still well, and then, if the wound is healing as expected, they will release him on Thursday. Depending on the pain factor, he might end up here with us in the mission home for a day or 2, or, if he's feeling great, we'll let him get back to limited work.

I took pictures of the events of the day, up to when they wheeled him into surgery. I didn't take any when he came out out of respect for his privacy. I plan to go back at noon tomorrow with some homemade cinnamon rolls. I watched what they fed the patients for dinner tonight at the hospital. I've never actually seen gruel, but I think this was it! It looked like wallpaper paste as the nurse ladeled it into the bowl, and then slapped a chunk of margarine on top. It is served with a tepic cup of black tea. Probably nutritious, but not too interesting or tasty. The doctor said I could bring in food, so I plan to spoil the lad a bit. I will also bring cinnamon for the nurses - that should insure that he'll get plenty of TLC!

Elder Fulcher is a great young man, and has handled this situation like a champ. Love, Sister Watterson

Elder Rassmussen translating the contract

Wheeling him into surgery:

Going to a different building through an underground tunnel:

Elder Fulcher and Elder Rassmussen mugging for the camera:

Elder Fulcher practising his left handed signature:

Having blood drawn:

Fill 'er up:

A missed opportunity

Driving home from school today Max said 'I can't believe you said no to Tom coming home."

When the Mission President's wife phoned to tell us about Tom's hand she said that they had checked the injury with various mission and US medical staff who felt confident the operation could be done in the Baltics, but if we weren't comfortable with that, they would fly him back.

Max thought I should have taken the chance - I explained that Tom wouldn't stay - he'd still go back to the mission - Max said 'at least we'd have seen him.'

First for Peet

A day of firsts for Peet:

• First day at high school.
• First day at any school other than Pine.
• First uniform.
• First homework diary.
• First teachers he has called by their surnames.

And there are lots more firsts to come. He loved the day.

Thomas News

There will probably be no letter this week because Tom is in hospital having an operation to put pins in his hand - he broke his hand - playing soccer! He was the goalie and missed a shot, got frustrated and punched a brick wall! The big kids are laughing at him because he has had people threatening to kill him, been beaten up, had kids chucking snowballs at him, been sworn at numerous times - and through all of that he's fine - but miss a goal in soccer and it's all too much to bear.

This letter is from his Mission President's wife:

"Elder Fulcher, Elder Rasmussen ( your son's companion), and I went back to the hospital today to get things moving forward for Elder Fulcher's surgery. We visited with one of the surgeons - he and his colleague specialize in hand surgery - and they have scheduled Elder Fulcher for tomorrow (Tuesday) sometime between noon and 8:00 pm.

Their system is to put all the surgical candidates on a list, start at the top and work their way down until everyone is done or 8:00, whichever comes first! The doctor said the list for Tuesday isn't too long, so Elder Fulcher's surgery should be done tomorrow - if not, then it will be Wednesday.

This type of surgery typically takes about 40 minutes to complete. I asked whether they would do a general or a local anesthetic. The doctor said that would be up to Elder Fulcher. At first, your son said it might be interesting to watch the surgery as it progressed, but then decided that maybe sleeping through the whole thing might be a good idea. We'll see how he feels about it tomorrow!

There is a 3 to 4 day hospital stay expected. As I mentioned, Baltic medical tradition is to keep people in the hospital MUCH longer than what we're used to in the US - This would be out-patient surgery at home. I don't know about how it's done in Australia - at any rate, Elder Fulcher should get caught up on a lot of sleeping and reading for the rest of the week.

The great thing about this surgery is that Elder Fulcher will be able to use his hand almost immediately after the surgery. He has to give it a little time for the surgical wound to heal, and then he should have normal use of the hand. The doctor said that the pins and screws should be removed in about a year.

The hospital we are using is the chief trauma hospital in Riga. The facility itself is not new, but appears clean and equipped with modern technology. I was pleased with the interview we had with this doctor. He spoke Latvian, Russian, and fair English, so we could communicate with him quite well. He seemed very capable, professional, had a good wit and a sparkle in his eye. He teased Elder Fulcher lightly about the nature and cause of his injury, and assured us that they do a lot of this surgery, with all the drunken fist fights that occur! His colleague will be doing the surgery tomorrow, but he will be in again on Wednesday to check up on your son. I feel confident that all will go well. We'll make sure Elder Fulcher receives a blessing before the operation.

I asked Elder Fulcher why he chose to punch a cement wall, and why his frustration level was high enough that he took that course of action. He replied that he wasn't really mad at anyone else, just frustrated with himself. Punching the wall seemed like a good idea at the time - but he promised that future frustrations will be dealt with less self-destructively.

He's in good spirits, but feeling a little silly at being in his present circumstance. He's taking a good deal of ribbing from his fellow missionaries, but it's being given and received in a spirit of camaraderie ."