I have hesitated to post anything about this for some time because I was not quite sure just how to deal with it, but I think that the time has come. At least we seem to finally have received some good news.

Back in January, Pam was leaving the visitor center and rushed to prevent some visitors approaching an alligator too closely and in doing so she twisted her ankle and fell. A few days later, when it was not getting better she visited a doctor, using "Workman's Comp" since it was an on the job injury. The doctor at the emergency center (actually a PA) put her on crutches for a time, then after two follow-up visits she was released for limited walking on it. But after only a few days the ankle became worse so it was back to the doctor. His response was to say that she must see a specialist and to do that with government paying for it, she had to get a particular form for them. She was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, but the time passed and we had to delay that visit, because the NPS did not have the proper paper work done to get her in. This continued for a total of four weeks, with the person who had to do the work to get it, Veronica Mullins, never taking our calls, never returning calls and generally avoiding us. After threatening to leave at the end of the week, our supervising ranger finally went around this human roadblock and got some help at the regional office. Of course it then took several weeks to get an appointment to see the doctor she was referred to! So at long last, on March 23, Pam actually got to see the doctor that she had been referred to, back on Jan. 28! Your government employees may actually do some work, eventually, or some of them do.

 The good new is that Pam's injury is a reinjury of a very old break that was never treated and that she probably will not need surgery and that the doctor she saw is very cooperative and should she need further care after two weeks has passed, he will transfer her care to a doctor in Texas! We were scheduled to leave this week, but will delay for the two weeks to follow-up with this doctor.  And the boot? Pam is now off of crutches but in an immobilization boot that does allow her to do limited walking, and it does not hurt like it had with the previous brace, even when she was on crutches. 

 So you see, there are times that getting "the boot" is a good thing!