Gaudali updates 2021

[gaudali]

Hi TRN fellows, it's good to come back, even if I use to do it as often as a comet. Some of you already know me, I'm an architect living in Esteli and working in Managua. I've been kinda bussy working on some major Design-supervision projects like this 1, 2 ,3, 4, 5 and JPII

In December 2019 being an expreso bus passenger on my way back to Esteli I was involved in a frontal collision. As a result of inertia, I was abruptly thrown off the bus. I recall that before getting on the bus I thought about the low accident rate of these buses, shit happens. I was able to grab a handrail at the bus door, but I couldn't avoid to step down my right feet on the asphalt, at 50kmph. Suddenly I became a number and fresh meat for the media. Anyway, the most serious thing that happened to me was an open fracture on my right foot. This happened in a dirt environment which led to an infection. After one month and 11 surgeries at the Velez Paiz Hospital, I found myself with almost no heel and an ankle fusion (arthrodesis). I haven’t been able to walk since then, I naively expected to recover myself in a couple months, it’s been a year and I’m still in physical therapy. I expect to get rid of crutches in about three months or something.

Needless to say that events like this change life perspective. Lying in that cold hospital bed and suffering a deep, persistent and undescriptible pain I used to curse my situation. You know, being the only one severely injured from out of 52 souls in that bus you often question: Why me? But I also remembered that line from the 127 hours movie: "This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface."

Yesterday I read about Tiger woods accident I thought about how fatality might find anyone, anytime and anywhere.

Good thing is that before the coronavirus thing I have been able to attend my projects working at home, sharpening my digital axe, getting in shape, reading a lot. But the main gift is having so much time to spend with my wife and my two daughters. In the meantime, I wouln't ask for anything more.


Eso es, I just wanted to say hi.

[Daddy-YO]

Buenos dias patojo. It's tough reading about your misfortune and your suffering, but it sounds like you're getting through it with a healthy, life-sustaining attitude. It'll do a lot to build strong character in your daughters as they blossom before your eyes.

Have you read "Of Human Bondage" by Somerset Maugham? It's fiction. I enjoyed it in my youth. These days I read little that's not bottom-lit on my cell phone or computer screen. One of the last books I read was non-fiction: "A Brief History of Time". That was years ago. To read a good book well requires time, big chunks of it without piddling distractions. Life, it seems, shoved you into that sort of a situation, and it's good you can take advantage of it.

[Jonh]

Good to hear from you, sorry to hear about your accident. Make lemonade out of the lemon.

The John Paul II link isn't working, but I like this plan - it reminds me of da Vinci:

[bill_bly_ca]

Shit man - Sorry to hear that, but glad to ear things are measurably improving

The JPII project looks like it is rolling good from some of the bits I have seen. I tried to get BIL to stop at the Arguello stadium for us to take a walk around but he and Chilo were uninterested.

[gaudali]

Thanks Jonh. By the way, I had these German clients, chocolate makers, who asked me to consider using square shapes in their facilities design. It was fun.
JPII looks pretty much like the BRT transmilenio project in Colombia.

Good to hear from you, sorry to hear about your accident. Make lemonade out of the lemon.

The John Paul II link isn't working, but I like this plan - it reminds me of da Vinci:

[gaudali]

Hey man! Thanks for the recommendation, I already have the ebook in my laptop.

Have you read "Of Human Bondage" by Somerset Maugham? It's fiction. I enjoyed it in my youth.

[gaudali]

Thanks, Bill. About JPII, I think the same. This project will be built in four stages, the extreme ones will be the first. As it is a main avenue in the city, preliminary work is being done to divert traffic.

The JPII project looks like it is rolling good from some of the bits I have seen.

[KeyWestPirate]

It's amazing how the fickle finger of fate points and changes your life.

The pic is of an ex-employee. Rushing home on his motorcycle without a headlight just after dark he struck an ox cart and suffered a compound fracture.

I was in the US,, he called me the following morning,, I arranged for a US trained surgeon and a move to the Baptist hospital in Estelí.

The metal alone to tie it all together was over $2500,, the operation was deemed a success, and we expected Jayro to be walking in 6 months. It's been over two years. Jayro insisted on going home after the operation , against everyone's advice and the bone became infected. The wound was covered by a plastic surgeon but the bacteria got in through an open drain.

We fought it for a year, but had to bow to the inevitable: open the wound again,, get rid of the infection (by then an alphabet soup of bacteria, after a number of Nicaraguan hospital stays),, cut off the necrotic bone,, and install an external fixation.

This is serious rocket science here, but Jayro still at least has the leg. Diet is a problem,, I think, in terms of growing the missing bone. If we were in the US,, I think that they would harvest a piece of bone from somewhere else and bridge the gap. There are limits to the resources his doctors have, this is not criticism,, it's just a statement of fact.

You or I could go back to the US, and get it fixed right.
Jayro doesn't have that option

[el duende grande]

Went to mga the other day with a car/driver to avoid the buses. same company as before but different driver. Upon return, we called the owner to say to never send that driver again. The owner said the driver was in a hurry. Hurry to die in our opinion. No respect for anyone, tailgating motos the whole way there and back, among other things..

Life is cheap.

PS, I haven't seen the neighbor that got dog-bit. Other neighbor says after her 3rd surgery she is feeling better.