nacken

This is what kept me entertained most of the time while enjoying 27/4 bed rest

I know that I owe you readers and all you many well wishers a much broader explanation as to what got me into experiencing the wonders of the Italian hospital system. But besides 10 loaned minutes on a windows computer with a wifi-USB stick, which I used for the last update, I had no internet connection. (I actually had my dad read some of the comments over the phone)

So, anyways, semi-chronological (and looooong):

Last Saturday started already as a mixed bag as Julius had been puking that night and Ritsu was not feeling that well either, so we cancelled Japanese school. But as usual with these things, they pass quickly and we made plans to make the best out of the weekend, especially since we had promised Julius to go sledding for a while now.

I had found a place for fancy dinner and overnight stay (they will get their own blog post later) and next morning it was me who had been revisited by the tummy bug and I had been sleeping like crap. The weather was cold and wet and Julius was coughing pretty much. All good indicators to go home, right? Wrong! We toughened up and headed towards the mountains.

The higher we climbed, the bluer the sky actually got and the more snow we found. It got very pretty. Finally we reached Pragelato (which was recommended as a sledding place) when suddenly I hear a funky noise from the engine and the power steering does not really have power anymore (note, we took the small car, because the tank was full, our ‘just-repaired’ bigger car was pretty empty).

Gladly I had noticed a sign for a garage and followed that. The reason they were actually open on a Sunday was that there was some ice racing going on, which was kinda cool to look at. The friendly people at the garage quickly figured out that the belt was torn, which meant the battery does not get juice back and all power appliances are without power … And sure enough, they did not have that part.

I called ACI, but their best offer on a Sunday was to have us (and the car) moved to the next bigger city, which is even further away from Turin. So, the chances for us to get back home that day looked grim.

We weighed our options and the best was to stay right where we are and make the best out of it. The garage promised to have the car done first thing Monday and they got us a nice deal at a local hotel. They even offered us a ride to that hotel.

Now it is getting hairy. We hopped in the car, me at the front passenger seat, I buckled up, we started driving and I asked if this hotel is far away … “No, no, within walking distance”

The next thing I remember is that I come to, being moved out of this car into a wheelchair / on a gurney with my back on fire (in terms of pain, no actual flames) and then moved inside what looks like an emergency response station. Obviously I am very confused and one thing I recall is that I am telling Ritsu that I can’t remember what we had for dinner last night (apparently I am running some memory self-check) …

Then again, last night’s dinner was not THAT memorable … I can barely move, this station does not have the right equipment, so off we go with another ambulance to Pinerolo (Where our friends Patrizia & Malcolm were already waiting offering moral and language support), which has a fully equipped hospital and I undergo ECG, EEG, CT scans, several x-rays and the result is that I have fractures in vertebrae #10,11+12. Now, the big question: HOW did that happen?

I try to summarize what Ritsu told me: She says that all of a sudden I screamed, raised my arms, eyes wide open, arched into the buckled seatbelt as if someone gave me a hefty kick from the back (which might explain the fractures). Then my eyes rolled back and liquid stuff started coming out of my nose and mouth as I started to faint and tumble towards the driver, who at this time, naturally, was equally freaked out.

WHY did this happen is still a matter of debate. Many loaded, medical terms are thrown around like ‘seizure’, ‘stand-alone epileptic episode’, ‘stress attack’ and ‘maybe it was that ONE bottle of Roero Arneîs that 2 adults shared over dinner together with 2 liters of water’. When doctors asked if I slept well that night and I tell them I slept like crap, there was always a big ‘Ahhhhhh’ kind of nod.

The cream de la test, the MRI, was done last Friday at a hospital in Turin and I am now waiting for the doctors here to interpret the results and at least let me go home.

I am under complete 100% bed rest, which might sound comfy at first, but I have to ask for help for every little thing, e.g. things like going to the bathroom.

The whole hospital experience probably deserves its own blog post as well. Needless to say that it has been an adventure (I am writing this in past tense, knowing I can only post this once I am back home, but I am typing from my hospital bed now)

Ritsu has been great and mobilized a friend or colleague pretty much every day to bring her out here (40 minutes from Moncalieri) and she must have missed a lot of work (and an important workshop in Liberia). For Julius it must have been quite strange as well, as last Monday was the first full day in his life without Papa (followed by a few more, until Sunday, when he came to visit.)

That should be enough for now, thanks for all the well wishing comments, emails, text messages, phone calls … And let’s see if I get an answer as to WHAT the heck happened there…

[update]: I have been released from prison hospital and am back home now. The big question remains as to WHAT happened and it seems that in cases like this, when there is gladly no dark cloud showing on any of the MRI results and none of the other tests show any conclusive (and potentially more scary) results, the MDs file it under one of the 40+ possible definitions of ‘epileptic fit’ that you can read up on on wikipedia.

One definition I found elsewhere: “Epilepsy is best regarded as the symptoms of some underlying brain dysfunction, which causes gross misbehaviour of brain cells, either at a specific place (focal epilepsy), or more widely (generalised epilepsy). This misbehaviour causes physical consequences, like the loss of consciousness, or loss of muscle control. These physical consequences are called epileptic fits (aka seizures or convulsions).”

I am still not ruling out voodoo. So, whoever is holding a grudge against me and kicked a Peter shaped doll in the back, please step forward.

Sorry I did not get that out earlier, but there is no internet in this hospital and I am somewhat tied to the bed anyways.

When I get a longer online chance, I might tell things in more detail. Just so much about what happened: while it happened in the mountains, it was no winter sports related accident & while it happened in a car (me being the passenger), it was no car accident (Rest of the family is ok)

The doctors are still puzzled how I managed to break the 3 lower dorsals of the vertebra, and so am I, as it appears I am missing those 5 minutes when it happened.

Let’s see how much longer I have to stay here … so, don’t expect many updates anytime soon.