Back in the hospital

Anne is back in the ICU. She has post surgery meningitis and is being treated with antibiotics. The symptoms started developing last night. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

Anne is out of the ICU!

Hello family and friends,

Anne was released from intensive care today, and we're happy to report that she's out of the hospital! She is comfortable and resting in Buenos Aires. She is sleeping a lot and I'm tending to all of her wounds. She is not quite ready to jump on her computer yet to start communicating with everyone. She turned on her phone for a second and was overwhelmed by the number of messages.  I really hope that she feels good enough to start talking to y'all real soon.

We will stay here in Buenos Aires for a few more hospital visits next week. Another MRI for her abdomen, and then consultations with surgeons about her arm and head. She might upgrade to a titanium mesh brain wrap in a month. That should keep her brain nice and safe. The good news here is that the surgery would be in about 1 month. She was really happy to learn that she doesn't need to wear a helmet for 3 to 6 months.

The kids flew back to Puerto Madryn with our friend Mariana today. They are happy to be back down there and with their friends. Thanks for all of the messages over the past few days. The photos of your Thanksgiving dinners were amazing! Nice work everyone.

Love,
Adam and the kids

Update on Anne

Hello family and friends,

Anne is doing a great job recovering from her accident. She transferred to the ICU of a new hospital yesterday, and she is now in surgery for her broken shoulder. Her humerus is fractured at the shoulder in about four places. You might be able to tell from the photo below that her left shoulder is looking HUGE. The bruise on the back of her shoulder is really gnarly, but of course we're not worried about bruises at this point. We expect her to get out of surgery sometime soon. She will gain yet another new scar.

There is still concern about her abdomen, and they will continue with more tests and scans tomorrow to be 100% positive that she is fully healed. Worst case scenario is that she gets her spleen removed, but the probability of that happening has steadily dropped every day. We would prefer it if Anne could keep her spleen and avoid another new scar.

Her brain is healing really well too, and the doctors are impressed with her progress. When you see her again, you can expect the same energetic, outgoing, and determined Anne that you know and love. She does have one more surgery to deal with in about 3 to 6 months. They have to open up her head and insert a metal plate to cover the hole in her skull. Until then, she will need to wear a helmet to protect her beautiful brain. She wasn't too thrilled to hear about this, but if anyone can rock a helmet it is Anne.
Rumor has it that you can reach me at this number when dialing from a cell phone in the US:

011-54-9-11-7030-8850.

The kids got to see her briefly after her hospital transfer last night. SoJo was lucky and got to see her again this morning. ALL of us will be there to celebrate Thanksgiving with her when she's out of surgery. Anne is starving and thirsty (no food or drink pre-surgery), and she is ready to upgrade from jello. Whatever they give her to eat, I'm sure that she'll enjoy it as much as you are all enjoying your wonderful Thanksgiving dinners today.

SoJo finally got to hug Anne!

Thank you all so much for the support on the youcaring site. Anne will be really surprised to see it when she is out of the ICU.

Happy Thanksgiving! I really hope that our turkey frier is being put to good use in Seattle.

Love,
Adam and the kids

Anne's accident

Apologies if this is the first news that you’re hearing about this. Anne was in a very serious accident in Buenos Aires on Saturday morning. She came to visit her parents for a vacation. She was out for her morning run and was hit by a car. She is currently in the ICU and is recovering. The best news is that her brain injuries are stable and have been healing for several days. Anne still needs surgery on her shoulder, and if all goes well she will transfer to a world-class hospital tomorrow here in Buenos Aires. She should spend the rest of her time in ICU and recovery (and surgery) at this next hospital. I’ll send out the contact information there once she’s transferred, since that might be a place where you could send mail and probably even call.

Anne is on a lot of drugs for the pain, and sleeping is her main interest. She was more alert today than yesterday. She remembers yesterday pretty well, but nothing from the the accident Saturday morning, or Sunday. Her memories pick up again on Monday. Although, she does remember seeing the kids Sunday night. Anne is still herself - she just wants to leave the hospital and get back to Puerto Madryn to recover. She is strong and a fighter and will pull through. Her transfer is exciting for the kids, because they’ll likely get to start seeing her starting tomorrow. They were only allowed to see her for a few minutes Sunday night. This has been a real tragedy - the kids being here but not getting so see their mom:(

Thanks to all of you for the support! It is impossible to keep up with all of your messages individually. It would require a personal assistant or something, and Carmela just can’t type that fast yet. I just got a new phone (yes, I now have an iPhone) and the thing is blowing up with messages that must have been building up over the past several decades. My number is +54 117 030 8850. 

We have new information on the accident - Anne was out on her morning run when a driver ran a red light. The car is in police impound and legal actions are being taken. I do not know specifics about the situation yet, but the information will begin to arrive soon. Lots of people have asked about this, so hopefully this is enough information for now.

There is a youcaring site, https://www.youcaring.com/annebutoleache-1017078, thanks to the Seattle crew for setting that up. I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to look at it yet. I’ll do that with Anne when she gets out of the ICU.

I'll try to keep everyone updated here until Anne is able to take over again and write one hell of a blog. Maybe she will even post a picture of her scar - it's F&*^@%# AWESOME!

J - e - l - l - o

Lost in Carpool Translation - Oh the HORROR!!!

Thank GOD for girlfriends.  Seriously.  They bailed me out.  I got myself into a disaster of a mess trying to arrange carpools in group chats on WhatsApp.

Stella and Mony having fun fixing my mess.

I have only been using a cell phone for two months.  I am a late conformer, and I just may go back to my old ways as soon as I get back to the States, but here, it is imperative.  EVERYTHING happens on the cell phone.  I think it is like that in the US too, but Adam and I live in our happy little bubble and ignore it all.  It is lovely.  If I did that in Puerto Madryn, we would have NO social life, we would miss school assignments, we would never attend a birthday party...  Everything comes via WhatsApp.

Saving the day...

That is great - if you speak the Spanish perfectly.  One or two little tiny letters at the end of a verb change the whole meaning of what is being said.   For example, las llevo and las llevas - I take them versus you take them.  That is a pretty huge difference when you don't want to leave kids stranded!!

Also the word traer had me all jacked up for a month.  Traer in English is "to bring."  In English we use "to bring" for two directions, i.e.,  I will bring the kids to the party.  I will bring the kids home from the party.

I HAD NO IDEA WHICH DIRECTION I WAS GOING WHEN PEOPLE TOLD ME TO TRAER the children!!  BRING THEM WHERE???  To the party?  Home from the party? I was totally LOCA!!

Finally I learned that in Spanish, thanks to my dear sweet friend Mony, "traer" is only one direction - it is HOME from the party or school or wherever, but it is to bring HOME.

Wednesday I got myself into a GIANT carpooling mess with a mountain of people.  I tucked my tail between my legs and begged my girlfriends to help me during our afternoon mate session.  They were more than happy to oblige.  Within a few minutes, Mony and Stella had all my problems worked out, and they taught me a great lesson:

Do not set up carpools in group chats when you don't know what you are saying.  Message people privately.

I hope one day I look back on this post and laugh, but right now I am so thankful to have these joyful women in my life.  They are a gift from God.  I truly love them and am so thankful for their friendship!

Ratoncito Perez

Ainara 

Caleb lost a tooth at school today and on the way home, Ainara told us about Ratoncito Perez - AKA the Tooth Rat.  Ratoncito Perez is a small mouse that collects very clean teeth to build an enormous castle in an unknown and magical place.  Ratoncito Perez has an army of magical mice that search under pillows at night looking for teeth and leaving money.

According to Ainara, the tooth rat pays 500 ARS - about $30 per tooth.  Ainara must have extremely clean teeth.  She said that if there is any blood left on the tooth, Ratoncito Perez can not use it for the castle, so he pays less.  With the help of her mother, Ainara is able to get her teeth beautifully clean and receive her 500 ARS.

As soon as we got in the house, Caleb ran to the bathroom with his fallen tooth, scrubbed it shiny with toothpaste, washed it brilliantly with soap, and left it soaking in a glass of detergent in the kitchen for the afternoon.  

I am on my way to Buenos Aires for the week, so I am curious to hear how all of this works out.  My guess is that there is not enough tooth polish in the house to satisfy the Ratoncito Perez.  

Good luck Caleb!

This story has NOT been fact-checked by Mony, Ainara's mom.  This is Ainara's version!

Part II Caca in las Bombachas - Lomadas y Badens

Lomadas y Badens

Puerto Madryn may not have any stop signs, but it does have Lomadas and Badens.  Lomadas are speed bumps, and badens are dips.  Sometimes they are marked with lovely signs, and sometimes they aren't, and sometimes they sneak up on you just when you least expect it.

Shortly after we got our car, I offered to drive our friends, Clyde and Luis, to the airport.  They are in their mid 70's and absolutely darling.  I love them both (see blog).  I mentally planned to drive very carefully.  My parents are of a similar age, and I know my driving can sometimes freak them out.

As soon as I turned from Clyde and Luis's residential street and onto the main road, I accelerated while reminding myself not to drive too fast.  I was cruising along at 50-55 km/hour, and we were having a conversation about how to get to the airport, which was absolutely hilarious, because none of us knew where we were going.

As we were discussing our options for discerning directions - BLAM!  We hit a double baden.  That is two huge dips in a row.  They were unmarked, and they sent us flying.  Luis was bouncing around the back seat like a ping-pong ball; the luggage nearly hit the ceiling in the hatch, and Clyde was hanging on for dear life in the front seat.  We had only been in the car three minutes, and I already put caca in las bomachas of my passengers.  Oh-my-goodness.

I apologized profusely, slowed down, and focused on crawling over every bump and dip in the road.  It was too late.  The damage had already been done.  For the duration of the ride to the airport, Luis and Clyde kindly reminded me to slow down each time a lomada or baden loomed in the distance.

I broke a few other laws in the process of finding our way...  I double parked twice while Luis jumped out to ask for directions.  I didn't have my lights on in the middle of the day on the Routa; I missed the turnout for the airport and made a left from the wrong lane thoroughly pissing off the guy behind me, and I had no idea what to do when I came to two flashing yellow lights in the middle of the national highway with people waiting to cross from the aluminum factory.  I slowed down, and prepared to stop - clearly this was before I knew NOT to stop for pedestrians.

Eventually I got Clyde and Luis to the airport - alive.  Clyde texted me an hour later that their plane was late and that they were enjoying a coffee.  I hope they had a shot of brandy in that coffee and a new pair of bombachas.

Ascorositis aka Cooties by Sofia Leache

At our school when a boy touches a girl, the girls think it is gross. It is called ascorositis - aka cooties. Whenever a boy touches a girl, the girl wipes it off of her and puts it on another girl next to her.  Then she yells, "Ascorositis de (a boy’s name)."  

Whenever a girl wipes ascorositis on me, I just ignore it, because when a boy touches my arm, I am not grossed out.  Sometimes it depends on the boy, if the girl will be grossed out or not.  If the boy picks his nose a lot, then he probably has more ascorositis.  Maybe the ascorositis live inside the nose. 

Sometimes the boys go around touching the girls just to freak them out!!!!!!

Who knows the Pledge of Allegiance?

Every day at school the kids line up in the morning and say "La Salud a la Bandera."  I don't know what it says or what it means, but after two months, the Carmela, SoJo, and Caleb have it down.  Check it out...

Next I asked them to say the Pledge of Allegiance.  Caleb had no idea what I was talking about; Sofia started crying and demand that I delete the video I was taking, and Carmela... you can listen for yourself.  

She almost made it...  Well.  Two months in Argentina, and they have it down.  11 years in the USA, and we are still working on it.  

Halloween

For the last week and a half, the kids have been counting down to Halloween.  I don't know why?!?!  I have dissuaded them from any ideas about celebrating Halloween every time it is mentioned, explaining over and over that Halloween is not celebrated on this continent, but all to no avail.

 They woke up on October 31st, ready to party.  They were all eating candy (thanks to Carmela's never-ending secret stash) before 7:00 in the morning.

And the hounding continued.  "What are we going to do Mom?"

"Do you have a surprise party planned for us?"

"Will you go to every room of the house with a bowl of candy, and we can come to each room and trick-or-treat?"

 



"Nothing. No. No. You all are crazy. No. Nothing."

That was my mantra.  The last thing they needed was more sugar.  

It didn't work.  Carmela was going to a birthday party that night, so it was just SoJo, Caleb, and me.  I was at the produce market that afternoon when I saw some gorgeous green apples, and I hoped I could get away with a healthy Halloween snack.  SoJo is crazy for green apples.

I bought two bags of red and green apples, and shazam, we had a party!  Bobbing for apples!  It was a hoot and delicious.

The kids had a blast, and when we were done, we cut them up and dipped them in dulce de leche, which is just about the greatest, creamiest, caramel sauce in the world and absolutely perfect for apples.  Fantastic.

Then we needed more sugar, so we even got crazier and roasted marshmallows over the stove and made smores!  Whoot!!  The day was saved.

The best part was the next morning when we searched Facebook and enjoyed all of the pictures of our friends from home!  Lucy and Jennifer on a horse riding around Wallingford!!!  Incredible!!!  We couldn't believe it!  Sos lo mas!!  The costumes were fantastic, and we are already looking forward to joining the festivities next year!!