September 1st

Limes: 1    Elder Smith: 0

Hello Everyone!

What a crazy week.  Buckle your seat belts!

During last week’s P-day on Monday, we had a churrasco (barbecue) on the roof of our apartment building with some of the other missionaries in the area.  It was a lot of fun.  It was super overcast and we had to dodge rain at times, but we had a good time.  I didn’t wear sunscreen because it was so overcast.  My arms got a bit toasted, but it really wasn’t bad.  

On Tuesday, we had companionship exchanges. I went to a different area with elder Almeida. He’s a really cool guy from Angola, but he only speaks Portuguese (they speak Portuguese in Angola) and so it was fun trying to speak with him.  His Portuguese accent is very different from what I’m used to, so it was tough.  We had a really cool teaching opportunity. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to a really cool, old guy.  He’s a factory worker, and he made his house with just flashing and wooden pallets with a dirt floor. It actually looked pretty cool. He was very humble and I loved talking with him.  It was very difficult to understand because old people are difficult to understand here. There were a few points in the lesson where I was able to provide some input which was great.

The rest of the day, my hands started to really hurt.  We went to a local pharmacy and I bought some aloe vera because I assumed it was a sunburn issue.  When I got back to the apartment that evening after exchanges, I looked at my hands and realized they were starting to blister! That was strange, because it was the day after the sunburn.  That normally doesn’t happen.  I was concerned, but it didn’t look super bad. I just went to bed. The next day (Wednesday), I woke up and I had a pretty big blister on the back of my right hand and lots of blisters everywhere else on my hands.  Again, I still thought it was just a regular sunburn.  

We tried to contact Sister Hanks (the mission president’s wife) who is in charge of medical care for the mission.  She was out of the country so it took a while for us to hear back from her.  My hands were really starting to hurt a lot and the blisters were getting huge. I didn’t know what to do and was getting pretty concerned.  

Our zone leaders wanted to go on exchanges with us on Wednesday. I told them I wasn’t comfortable going outside with my hands blistering up, so one of them stayed with me in the apartment.  I ended up taking a fat nap just because I was in a lot of pain and didn’t know what else to do. I was able to contact my parents that night to explain what I was going through.  Parents are great.  While my mom was thinking about my hands, she said the Spirit brought the word “citrus” to her mind.  

Citrus.  

She remembered watching one of those old medical-mystery dramas (probably Dr. House or something like that) where a lady made herself some lemonade and then went out to do some gardening.  She got horrible blisters on her hands that took a long time to heal.  That pattern repeated itself several times until she decided to get some answers.  

The answer was a chemical burn that occurred when the UV from the sun reacted with the citrus juice on her hands!  

My mom asked me if I had come into contact with any citrus juice on Monday.  Yes.  I helped make a salad by cutting and squeezing five limes and mixing the juice with the salad.  I didn’t wash my hands (‘cause lime juice smells great) and didn’t think anything of it.  

In the U.S., this kind of chemical burn is called a margarita burn.  Apparently people make margarita’s with fresh citrus, don’t wash their hands, and then get burned like crazy when the UV and citrus react on their skin!  Who knew?! 

We provided this information to Sister Hanks and were also in touch with a local doctor who is a member of our church.  Previously that doctor gave me some Advil-like medicine and told me to put some lotion on my hands (B-vitamin lotion) to help my hands heal.  

Sister Hanks told me she thought the approach suggested by the local doctor would be fine.  She even showed pictures of my hands to her sister who is an RN.  She agreed.  

That night, I was only able to get about two hours of sleep.  My hands were unbelievably painful and I was shaking like crazy.  It was probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been.  Just a terrible night.

Sister Hanks contacted us the following day and she had run everything by the church’s doctor who consults on cases like this for the Brazil area.  That doctor stopped the presses and told me to get to a hospital.  He felt it was urgent.  

We went to a private hospital called Sáo Lucas. (Brazil has socialized medicine but they still have private hospitals.  It was a good hospital, but we still had to wait a super-long time.)  After a brief eternity, we talked to a doctor.  I was clueless because everything was in Portuguese.  My good companion, Elder Hibbert had to translate everything.  

They had me sit down on the table, and Elder Hibbert said, “hey, they’re gonna have you stay the night and they’re gonna chop off all your your your blisters.” And I was just like, yeah, that’s funny, Elder. Good joke. And then, the nurse came in with these big forceps and big scissors and scalpels. My companion was like “No joke. They want you to stay the night and they’re cutting your blisters off.”  

I’m guessing my eyes got pretty wide.  The doctor didn’t prepare me much and proceeded to perform the procedure.  They tried to give me local anesthesia. (Like they barely tried.) The doctor barely pricked my skin and barely put any of the numbing medicine in me. He gave it a whole 1/2 second to marinate, and just went straight in with the scissors. He apparently said, “oh, it shouldn’t hurt because the skin’s dead,” but some of that skin was definitely alive. I definitely felt my skin being cut by scissors. That was fun. Quite possibly the worst pain I’ve ever felt . . . until a little later.  

When he examined the big-blister area, he found that a blister under the big one had an infection. It was really, really good that we went to the ER.  I think the worst part was when they scrubbed my skin with gauze.  When they put antiseptic and gauze on the raw skin underneath the blisters, it hurt so bad. The pain was definitely an 8.5 or 9 out of 10.  

We sat in a waiting room for hours after the procedure.  The nurses loved us because me and my companion were just laughing and making jokes. My hands hurt a lot, but I was just trying to think of something other than the pain.  After several hours, we got to a room and they put an I.V. in me. It was cool. My first time having an I.V. that I can remember.  They gave me some pain meds, not super strong ones. Maybe buff ibuprofen?  

So we just sat there and played some chess, talked, and then I had to use the restroom.  Uh oh.  My hands were wrapped up in what looked like boxing gloves or big mittens.  I couldn’t use the restroom by myself.  I’ll spare you the gory details, but I had to have some assistance.  🙁     I’ve never been more humbled in my life.  I was so sad. Like, I didn’t have a single ounce of pride left in me.  During the night, some nurses came to change my I.V. and stuff like that.  They changed my bandages in the morning and were happy with what they saw.  

Before they changed my bandages, I had to take a shower and that also sucked.  My companion had to help me and I just really didn’t want my companion to see me like that, but he insisted that it wouldn’t be a problem.  It was a cold shower and I pretty much hated the experience.  

After teaching my companion how to change my bandages, and after another short eternity of waiting around, they finally let us leave and go back to the apartment.  They’re having me use special gauze that is infused with flecks of silver which kills bacteria.  Pretty neat, but also pretty expensive.  

Since Friday, I haven’t been able to use my hands much. I don’t have much to say about the rest of the week because I can’t go outside.  (They said that any sun exposure on any part of my skin [face, arms, etc.] will drastically slow down my skin’s ability to heal.)  It will probably take two or three weeks or more to recover from the 2nd degree chemical burns.  

Because I can’t go outside during the day, we’re trying to contact people in the area who have expressed interest in learning more about our church.  Some of them have requested a copy of the Book of Mormon, some want to just talk and have a prayer with us.  It’s a bit difficult for me since talking on the phone in a different language is super challenging.  

I’ve really come to appreciate my hands.  Hands are amazing.  Thumbs are truly great, too!  You don’t realize how important hands are until you can’t have them.  We do everything with our hands!  

My companion has had to take care of me a lot and help me get dressed & ready for brief lunch appointments, etc.  He’s been really great about it.  I can’t say enough good about Elder Hibbert.  Sister Hanks said it was very fortunate that I’m with Elder Hibbert because he genuinely cares about others and is kind and patient.  He really is a terrific guy.  

I’ve gotten really, really good at explaining what happened to me in Portuguese.  I know how to say limes, chemical burns, etc.  It’s important to me that the people I’m talking to know that this isn’t a sunburn.  I’m super white, but I’m not so white that I blister when exposed to cloudy skies for a few hours.  

I’ve taken lots of naps every day. I really need my sleep. It feels like I’m exhausted for no reason. I have the strength to do something for a brief while and then have to come back and sleep.  We’ve been taking Ubers to lunch appointments during the day.  I can really only do visits with families at night after the sun sets.  

On Sunday, when we went to church, everyone wanted to know what was going on with my hands.  Some people asked me if I was a boxer.  Again, I got very good at explaining everything.  Apparently everyone secretly asked my companion if I was able to wipe my own butt.  The answer is yes.  I have a long and technical process I follow to make sure my hands stay clean, but yes, I’m fine, thank you.  

I still don’t understand a lot at church, but it was a good church vibe.  

After church we went to this wealthy family’s home for lunch. They regularly invite several members to their home every week, and it was really good food. The father of that family is really good at cooking steaks. He’s got it down to a science!  They served good fruit, rice and beans, and a few other things. It was great to be there with about 20 people.  Everyone was talking and having a good time. I really wish I spoke more Portuguese, because it was a lot of fun being there. I just couldn’t understand everything. I understood a good bit, but by the time I processed what everyone was talking about, and then took the time to figure out how to say what I wanted to say in Portuguese, they had moved on to the next subject.  Very frustrating.  But, I’ll get there!  

We were able to teach a lesson and I was able to to contribute to the discussion.  That was great.  Everyone’s very nice and they are impressed how well I speak.  I’m really trying to get down the listening/understanding part.  Our lesson was talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We discussed His trials and afflictions and everything the Savior went through in the Garden of Gethsemane and again as He suffered for us on the cross.  Because He went through that for us, He can “succor” or help us to heal and find peace.  When He says “Come follow me,” we can confidently follow Him because He knows us so well and knows exactly how to help us.  Here’s the verse of scripture we discussed:

Alma 7:12

“And he (Jesus Christ) will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”  

It’s humbling to know that our Savior has taken upon him my pains and my infirmities just so he can know how to help me.  

I also wanted to add that my companion, Elder Hibbert, has been truly Christ-like this whole week. He’s taken care of me and helped me when I need help.  I know he doesn’t like being stuck in the apartment most of the day, but he hasn’t even once complained or anything. He’s been super nice about it.  The dude’s just a great guy. I feel like he has been Christ-like even when it’s difficult.  What a great example.  

Today (Monday) my hands are feeling a little bit better.  My companion figured out how to wrap my fingers individually on my left hand! I actually have a hand today!  What a great feeling!  I can do so many more things. Fingers and thumbs are amazing.  

Today we had two other Elders come over to the apartment for P-day.  One of the guys bought a guitar, and I think I’d like to get a guitar when my hands are healed.  Guitars are impressively cheap here.  We also had Burger King. Burger King is, like, really fancy over here.  Brazilians love it, and it’s seen as a high quality place here. 

It’s been nice talking with my family this week.  It was good stuff to be able to have them help me out and be there for me.  Thanks for reading such a long letter.  How did I type it?  I didn’t.  I had some transcribing help from my family.  🙂   I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for your continued love and prayers!

Elder Ty Smith