FECA and AfterCorps and PC-127C, Oh My!

Peace Corps has a reputation of being, well… disorganized. I’m currently frolicking through the world of insurance battles. Supposedly any injuries obtained overseas are supposed to be covered by Peace Corps when you return. I even have a niffy form that says basically says Peace Corps must cover any thing relating to my ankle injury. It appears I was wrong to trust this form. I’m currently fighting with insurance to cover my doctors’ visits and X-rays,

The actual wording on the form is: “Covers up to 4 visits with surgeon including X-rays, must be used within 6 months of COS”

I have heard every excuse from “It doesn’t cover X-rays!”, “You need to file XYZ claim!”, “You need a new form for every visit”. In a word: difficult. Everyone I speak to in Peace Corps says that’s crazy the form should cover it, but for some reason the actual people that give the money are tightening the purse strings screaming “No, no, no! You can’t have its ours!”. I sort of imagine them like this:

I’m getting the feeling this is going to be an ongoing process, considering I’m still getting E-mails from South Africa about money not being paid. We’ll see how it goes with physical therapy, and my COS doctor’s appointment. I’m avoiding all the medical processes I’m supposed to get done because I really don’t want to do battle with insurance every week.

I take bitter sweet comfort in the fact that I’m not alone in this. There is an whole web group originally named “Abandoned by Peace Corps” that deals exclusively with post medical evacuation difficulties. 

Website: http://www.healthjusticeforpeacecorpsvolunteers.org/index.html

Med Evac Blues

4 am is the standard time for me to get what I have come to call “med evac blues”, basically this is when I’ve run out of things to distract me and I begin to dwell on my situation. I’ve been trying to find active support groups or at least blogs by med evac RPCVs but interestingly the internet seems to be drawing a blank. The only really groups I have found are about trying to get your medical stuff dealt with (which seems to be a huge issue for most PCV’s returned to the states).

A friend of mine from PC Zambia Jessica is one of the only sources of real info on the subject, she was sent home from Zambia after contracting HIV and her blog is an on-going look into what she is doing after. http://nogoingback-thereisonlyforward.blogspot.com/ I sincerely suggest looking at it.

Though every med evac is different I feel like there is a common sense of “well now what?” and bit of hanging on by your finger tips. We experience all the feelings and trouble adjusting that a regular RPCV has but we didn’t get to mentally prep at all.

For me my biggest struggle is the lack of mobility and independence. Just now 2 months after my accident I can carry a plate of food myself and navigate a store without getting winded. I’m still on crutches, can’t drive and can’t start working yet. Also that I’m 24 years old with a college degree, and have been living on my own in another country for a year and suddenly I’m transported to feeling like I’m in high school again. Living with my mom, no money, no car and unsure of what I’m doing in life.

I guess the point of this entry to make a formal calling out to other med evacs, how are you guys doing? What did you do to not make yourself crazy?

Guess Who is Getting Medically Separated?

Alright so I have bad news; my Peace Corps Service is being cut short. On my vacation to Tanzania (which I’ll post pictures of later) I had a silly accident playing volleyball. I went to make a shot (I won btw) and my body went one way and my foot didn’t. I ended up fracturing my ankle in 3 different ways and dislocating the foot.

This injury really illustrated the difference between African medical care and American health care. I was on Zanzibar so it took 8 hours for me to get an ambulance and to get to a hospital. They took X-rays but because of the machine quality only could see the dislocation; the doctor there relocated the foot and wrapped it up and said I’d be fine in 2 weeks (which was very wrong). Thankfully the PCMO for Tanzania came the next day and flew me to Dar Salam to get real X-rays. Where they saw 2 of the fractures and decided I needed surgery. So then I was flown to South Africa. I ended spending a week in the hospital; during surgery number 1 they found a 3rd fracture which required a second surgery. 2 weeks since the break, I now have an ankle made of screws and plates, and am at the Rose Guest House in South Africa waiting until I am well enough for a trans-Atlantic flight.

The estimated healing time is sounding like 6 months until I walk normally and longer before I can rejoin Peace Corps. I’ve been hearing longer and longer times from other people with similar injuries. Peace Corps has decided to send me back to America for good. I’m bummed that my service is ending because of a volleyball game. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone, finish my projects, or even pack my stuff. I don’t really know what I’m going to do from this point on.