The One Where My Worker Got Fractured

Hi!

My worker, who is my responsibility, fell off this huge water tank. Half an hour later, he comes into the office, moaning and groaning. He doesn't speak Urdu or English. The only languages he could speak was Bengali or Arabic. How I wished my driver was here! He showed me his right foot, and I could have sworn the bone was extending out. Is it fractured? Is it just a sprain? I did not touch his feet to find out!

The main office took a while to fill out all the necessary papers. Meanwhile my worker was sitting in the lobby, holding his right foot in his hand, still making painful expressions. Great, can you please hurry up with the papers? I volunteered to take my worker to the hospital, despite the main office saying that they will arrange for transportation. I could not leave my worker with them. I wanted to take him, to make it easier for him!

I quickly drove to the hospital, and I was so amazed at my worker's strength. He was in deep pain, but he was not really showing it anymore on his face. I told him that he is very brave! He gave me a smile and relaxed a little. Inside the hospital, he was made to rest on the stretcher while the doctor was paged. The doctor came, took some more time filling out papers, and then took my worker to the x-ray room. I followed him. It took another 30 minutes for the x-ray procedure to be done. I watched a movie called Road Trip while he was being x-rayed. (don't bother watching the movie...What I saw of it, was not so nice)

The x-ray revealed that my worker had a fractured right foot. Oh gosh! I saw the x-ray and almost the entire right side of his foot was pushed inwards. The doctor said that the foots needs to be operated on, and then will be put in plaster. I did not know what to say, because my worker was supposed to go on his annual vacation next week. I told my worker everything that the doctor told me, and he was very scared. I could have imagined his feelings. He is alone here. His family is back in Bangladesh. His best friend was working on site. I made sure everything was arranged for him. He got the bed, drip inserted in the upper part of the hand, blood drawn and lots of gel rubbed on his foot. He asked if he can go home. I had to tell him that he had to stay in, and get his foot operated on.

Everything happened rather quick. My boss was at the other site, and so I had to do all that I could. I never imagined that I, as an architect, would also have to do this well! Another learning experience for me. The one thing I learned for sure today is to "never jump off a 5 meters high water tank in sandals-- that's a sure way to fracture your foot (or feet)!"

Yours from-smelling-like-antiseptic,

Mansur