I told Nick that I was going to find out about Italian healthcare while I was here, but this certainly isn’t the way I had hoped to experience it. On Friday morning Nick and I got up for another beautiful run through Genova, and unfortunately Nick had an accident while we were out. Luckily though we were just finished up our run and were a road below the villa, so I ran (I believe the fastest I ever have) up the steps back to the villa for help.
Lucia thankfully had arrived and when I finally got out the words that Nick needed help she called her husband to bring his car by. I originally though that her husband Fabrizio was coming to take Nick to the hospital, but we ended up going by ambulance Mama Mia!
When we arrived he was triaged and then went for X-rays, which confirmed he dislocated his ankle and broke his tib-fib, I believe in two places – I need to get my hands on the report so I can translate!!
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| The first of many x-rays begin… |
Afterwards he saw the Ortho MD who did a maneuver (this is what they kept telling Nick they were going to do), I’m not sure if they felt this was better then saying they were going to relocate his ankle, or maybe they don’t have that word in their vocabulary 🙂
Then he went for a TAC scan (CAT scan) and more X-rays to confirm positioning after they relocated his ankle. After more time in post triage he was transferred to his room, where his will stay until he has surgery on his leg on Tuesday morning.
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| Nick knew that I was missing work, but really?!?!? 😉 |
Needless to say he is a lot if pain and devastated, as we will likely miss the first long trip… But I just keep reminding him that it could have been way worse. I’m just thankful if it was going to happen that we were here in Genova, not in Venice or elsewhere where we would have had no one to translate for us! Thank goodness for Silvia and Barbara or we would be completely lost as to what was going on.
I have been able to come to the hospital everyday to spend time with him, their visiting hours are odd, and I have been obeying them, but I am going to try to break the rules the next couple of days and try to get here earlier. Noon is just not soon enough for my patient, he is getting a little antsy.
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| When all else fails just write in Sharpie? |
There are a lot of questions that we have that have yet to be answered, such as – when will he get sprung from here? – how long will recovery be? -where exactly is the break? – will he be on crutches, or maybe a walking boot? – where do we rent/buy a wheelchair? -can we go to Vienna Friday?!?!? 🙂 and many more! But we are told the physician (dottore) will be in Monday between 1230 and 1330 and hopefully we will get all of these questions answered, as Silvia or Barbara will be here to assist us with translation.
The healthcare in Italy is much different then in the US – they use no gloves when dealing with bodily fluids – eek! and there is no patient identification! I sure hope they are giving Nick HIS medicine and not the meds of his 90 yo neighbor – who appears to have had shoulder surgery!
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| Someone is desperately missing Cristina’s cooking 🙂 |
I will post another blog entry as I know more information, which will likely be after Tuesday. Thank you to everyone that has sent well wishes, they are greatly appreciated. Please send positive thoughts to the physicians on Tuesday – it is pretty frustrating not knowing their experience, but I trust that Silvia and Barbara are ensuring that he receives the best care!
Ciao!