The Women of Yap’s Outer Islands: Weaving Their Cultural Identity

October 26.

I have been in Manila for more than a week. Saw a retina specialist, an ear doctor, and had my hearing tested. The good news -- my hearing is perfect and the middle ear is still a little red from the hematoma that occurred in-flight in August due to bronchial congestion...otherwise it's fine.

The not so good news -- vitreous hemorrhage in the left eye confirmed. Second time around since I was sent to Bangkok in mid-August when it happened the first time. That time it cleared up within a week; this time (nearly four weeks ago since it "exploded") it hasn't. I'm blind in the left eye...can see light, vague shapes, some movement...but it's completely blurred and there's no peripheral vision. Plus my depth perception is nil.

I'm being sent to Los Angeles tomorrow for a second opinion, further treatment and surgery. The best case scenario is having the blood surgically drained from the eye; the worst case scenario is, after the blood is drained, having a bubble of gas or oil inserted to heal any tear from whence the blood is coming. If that happens, I'll be face down and prone 24/7 for a week or two. I've heard from three friends who know, or are married to, people who have had that procedure. All have recovered well.

I'm being taken in by my good friend, Sandi, who has a lovely house in a Malibu canyon where I have stayed many times before. She also has a malamute, Otis, who will undoubtedly take on nursing and security patrol duties in between his normal daily practice of long walks to check on the neighbors (which include Miley Cyrus, her boyfriend and other assorted celebrities), eating and napping. Sandi will ferry me around and has done the necessary work to get an appointment with a topflight retina specialist who came highly recommended via a three-degrees-of-separation connection with my other great friend, Kathy. The appointment is on Nov 4th. She has also researched renting a massage-type table or bed with a face hole so I can lie in the proper position if needed. I will be able to get up and move around now and then as long as I keep my face parallel to the floor.

The upside is that I will be able to watch the election results with Sandi while texting with John and Donna, eat good food again (fresh veggies! juicy burgers! green salads! good white wine! oh joy!), get caught up on Ray Donovan, Madame Secretary, and the other shows I've missed, see lots of friends, share Thanksgiving with my diva pals, and enjoy the milder weather.

After that? Don't yet know. I will be medically separated from the Peace Corps so my service will be over. But I may return to Yap on my own and continue working with the Visitors Bureau and the marketing committee of the 2018 Micronesian Games as a freelance consultant. The local Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Development Center and the community college also want to work with me. So I may go back until the end of 2017 or thereabouts. My apartment in Yap is being packed up and everything stored in a friend's second bedroom until I decide. If not, the Peace Corps will ship my belongings to LA. When a volunteer is medically separated, they can ask to be reinstated once the condition is healed. However, there is no ophthalmology support in Micronesia so I would not be able to return there as a volunteer. I should not have been sent there in the first place but I "slipped through the cracks" according to the medical team in Wash DC. If there is an opening in another country that has eye care available, I could apply and, all things being equal, be accepted for another tour of duty. Those options will be explored after the eye is back to normal.

In the meantime, I'm very happy to leave Manila behind. If it's been on your bucket list...take it off. There is nothing at all to recommend it in my opinion. Other than a very supportive group of people in the Peace Corps office and Ulle Drame, the Regional Medical Officer in Bangkok, for which I am very grateful.