Sorry Sir ………

Sorry Sir ....  Sorry…. Since half of September this is the opening sentence of every Nigerian I encounter for the first time. It is spoken with such a sincerity and such (almost) guilt that it makes me feel special.

The reason for this sorry is that I got injured whilst playing tennis. I was doing great and looking forward every time to playing tennis with Kenny, our coach. There is continuous improvement and it is really nice to play with somebody that is better and bring back all the balls. As you might recall in our previous update we had planned to go to Vienna to see our orthopaedic doctor the main reason was that I already had pain in my ankle every time I went down the stairs. X-rays were taken but nothing was found then. But while playing I moved forward towards a ball, I ended up on the floor after I felt something tear above my ankle. It turned out to be a torn tendon (peroneus) which starts somewhere on your lower right leg on the outside and goes under your ankle bone to the front of your foot. The tendon is torn for something like 2.5 cm. Viv got crutches from our apartment and we contacted the company doctors. They told us to go to the emergency ward of the Lagoon hospital. Then we called Sil to take care of Ayo and he also brought us to the hospital (Thanks Sil!!) When we arrived at the hospital we went to the emergency ward and xrays were taken. I was still in huge pain. When the doctor came back with the xrays, he had good news. Nothing was wrong and I could go home…… Viv and I did not agree, although I am a man and as everybody is always claiming that we men have a very low pain barrier, I was really in a bad shape. I also felt a tear or crack when it happened so I knew something was wrong. We insisted on making a MRI scan. By that time our own doctor from Nigerian Breweries had arrived and both doctors went outside to discuss where an MRI could be done. Final conclusion was that it was not possible anymore that Sunday. It was too late already, but they would like me to stay for the night. This I refused and we agreed to go the next morning to another hospital for the MRI. The next day we literally drove into the parking lot of this hospital when we received a call that the MRI machine was broken and that we should go to the hospital number 3, which we did. The MRI scan was made and with the CD Rom we went back to the Lagoon Hospital. By that time they knew who we were so the General Manager, the Orthopaedic Surgeon and some other people were waiting for us at the entrance. After consultation of my foot (this lasted at least 15 seconds) the doctor went to his radiologist to look at the MRI. They came back with good news… nothing was wrong! I could come back in three weeks. When I objected that I could not believe the findings due to the pain I ended up with a better offer….

I could come back already next week. So we left with mixed feelings and decided to have the information send to the Netherlands for a second opinion via the Heineken Medical Services. This process started the next morning but due to the size of the file and the strict IT rules we have in the company (sometimes you are confronted with your own rules J), this sounded easy but took almost the whole day to get it send. We also visited Isabelle, she is a Heineken Partner (‘retired’ general doctor) who had offered to look at my ankle. She did all kind of tests without MRI, no Xray pictures and she concluded that something was wrong with my Peroneus Tendon. At the end of the day the NB Doctor called and told me that they had received a report from the radiologist of the hospital where the MRI was made and he came with the same conclusion. After this was cleared I got in the evening a visit and received an aircast. This is a balloon in the shape of your leg and foot and it is put around your leg and filled with air. I was not a big fan of it. A few days later I got another ‘aircast’. It looks like a snowboard boot made of hard plastic, it is open at the top and the inside has some airpockets to immobilise your foot. With this I could walk away immediately. What a progress! After four weeks I started Physiotherapy in a beautiful practice on Victoria Island, Physio Centers of Africa. But during the third practice, which was walking on my forefoot in a bridge to support me from both sides I ended up with the same experience as how it has started. It felt like being back at square one. This made us decide to go to the Netherlands. Via Sil we ended up in a orthopaedic clinic in the Netherlands.

Conclusion is indeed it is a torn tendon, but the tendon is too loose and moves from behind my ankle bone over it which causes the pain. Conclusion 2 is that it needs surgery, which will take place on November 18th in Amstelveen. I (we) are very happy that I have now clarity.

I am also very happy that being Dutch allows me to go to my home country for medical support, which in this case made the difference. We are both not so happy that our holiday plans are now falling apart. We had planned a week in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and while being there we wanted to visit the Formula 1 Grand Prix. However after the surgery I am not allowed to travel for almost 3 weeks for thrombosis and wound hygiene.

With Christmas we are going skiing with Ard and Louise in Kirchberg/Kitzbuhl but I am not able to this. But as Viv says next year will be a new round and then we are going to make up for all of this.

So a long story to explain why everybody is starting the conversation with sorry sir, so sorry J

As a closing note, today I am travelling to Johannesburg in South Africa. I was driven to the airport with our LC (armoured car) and suddenly the road was blocked. A car has given up and was blocking the whole road. No issue for my driver, he decided like several other cars to go over the pavement. While doing this a yellow taxi bus was fed up with waiting behind the broken down car. His solution was simple, he drove his car against the back of the broken car and pushed it forward!! This made the driver of the other car very upset, because nobody was sitting in the car and it ended up skirting off the road. So they started a very loud discussion by that time we had past them. Continuing our travel to the airport things were not spectacular, you get used to it. Next sight was a truck with a crane on the back that had managed to get stuck under a fly-over. Shouting and pushing people everywhere around it. As I said you might get used to it. But I try every day when I am driven by our great drivers to look outside and see the world of Nigeria. It is a fantastic world, a great experience. We are so happy to be here and to be part of it. Nigeria is special, it is a unique place with never a dull moment. And the best thing you can do about all of it is that you keep on smiling.