That Time I Dislocated My Shoulder in a Foreign Country

Coming on the World Race, people would ask me what I was scared of. One of my fears was getting sick abroad. I hate being sick, and being sick away from home is the worst. In addition to getting sick, I always had the thought in the back of my mind – what if I dislocated my shoulder?

For those of you that don’t know, I have dislocated my shoulder 4 times – twice in high school, once my freshman year of college, and once my senior year of college. Even though it has been 5 years, I have played volleyball and other sports since then, and my shoulder felt strong, I knew it was a possibility. But surely if I give God my yes, and spend an entire year serving him around the world, he will protect my shoulder, right!?

Let me set the scene – I am in Sofia, Bulgaria, with Team Summit. We are at a very nice AirBnB in the city. It is about 11pm. We have just finished team time. I am about to go into our bedroom to FaceTime with my mom. I am standing by the counter in the kitchen, when I stretch my arms over my head. And it HAPPENS…my worst nightmare. My shoulder popped out of place. All I could think of in the moment was..OWWW (lol), and why is this happening to me? Why God?!?!?!

However, looking back now, I can see how God was present, in the midst of my worst nightmare:

• Sofia has a taxi app. Within 5 minutes of my shoulder popping out, someone had called a taxi and Edna was carefully escorting me downstairs.

• The building we were in had an elevator. This is pretty rare in other countries, especially in an apartment building. We were on the 4th floor, so that would have been a VERY long walk down the stairs.

• We were only 6 minutes from a major hospital. We could have been in a small village or town. Our taxi driver was so concerned about me, and tried really hard not to hit bumps.

• We were with Team Summit. The whole team immediately jumped into action the second it happened – praying, calling the taxi, packing a bag for me, etc. Vivi Oliveira is THE person you want to have with you in a crisis. She jumped into the taxi with RJ and I, and prayed with us and kept us calm throughout the whole ordeal at the hospital.

• An orthopedic doctor came from his house at midnight to reset my arm. The nurses were about to send me to a different hospital, which would have taken an hour or more to get to (I was not happy about that at all), but they were able to call the doctor and he offered to come in just for me! He spoke very good English and had my arm back in place within 20 minutes of arriving.

• I am one of two married women on our squad. I am not allowed to carry more than 10 pounds for 12 weeks…which is basically until the end of the Race. However, my lovely husband is happy to carry all of my bags for me 🙂

I’m not going to lie, it was excruciating and exhausting and not an experience I would want to live through again. However, God is so good, and I was able to recognize it even that night.

Upon arrival back in the States in October, I will be seeing an orthopedic doctor, and shoulder surgery is likely in my future. My shoulder has healed pretty well – my muscles are sore occasionally and sleeping on the floor is not as comfortable as it was at the beginning of the Race – but I am managing. Thank you for all the prayers!

All smiles again after a long night in the hospital

RJ made me breakfast and a latte the morning after