First trip to the Emergency Room

Little did i know that when i woke up on Sunday morning after our trip to the Matterhorn, I would be feeling so much worse. One of my worst fears of being over seas is having to go to the doctor or emergency room. It's just scary. You don't feel at home, there is a language barrier, things are lost in translation, etc. But by the afternoon my back was hurting so bad that I couldn't sit, stand, or lay. We realized it was time to go to the E.R. My sweet husband called our friends to find out a hospital that they could recommend. Even though they had company in town they ran over and picked us up which was so nice. If we would have had to walk to the bus stops and take the bus, David probably would have had to carry me so it was so nice of them to come and get us. I'm sitting in their car crying and miserable in front of people i had just met the day before but everyone was so nice. I felt like a big baby for falling to pieces in front of people i didn't know, but they were all so sympathetic and it wasn't like I could help it. The pain in my back was the worst pain I have ever been in.

We got to the E.R. and checked in with Reception. The receptionist was very nice and he spoke some English which helped. The whole process seemed like it took forever, but i think in reality it maybe only took 15 to 20 minutes. When i'm in pain things tend to get on my nerves really easily. So i'm sitting there not able to get comfortable and i focus my attention on my husbands shirt!! If you know me at all you know i'm a neat freak!! Well, bless his heart, he was trying to get me out of the house so fast he had a little bit of dog hair on his shirt and i'm sitting there rocking back and forth in pain and trying to pick the dog hair off of his shirt. I think i was trying to focus my attention on something else but then he starts laughing . I'm trying to figure out why he is laughing this is my nightmare coming true?! He says" Are you seriously in the hospital and picking dog hair off of me?"....why "yes, yes i am." Ummm......does that mean i'm totally OCD, i guess so. I didn't even realize I was doing it.

Anyway, they call me back and we explain to the doctor, who spoke pretty good English, what was going on. They brought in a nurse who did not speak English to take some blood. I have been cursed with the smallest veins on the planet. So when people have to get blood it's the worst. I'm always stuck multiple times and my veins are always blown. It's never a fun experience. I told the doctor they needed to use a butterfly needle or they wouldn't get anything from me so she translated that to the nurse. The nurse looked at me and shrugged and proceeded to stick me anyway. I was right and she was wrong. I could feel my vein blowing and her moving the needle around in my arm. She kept squeezing my arm to get blood out but she couldn't. It wasn't that much fun. She leaves and brings in another nurse who spoke a little English. She brought the butterfly needle and was able to getting everything she needed and then hook me up to some IV's. Communication with her went really smoothly except for the fact that she told me to slow down when i talk because my accent was unlike anything she had learned in school. I mean seriously...don't they teach southern belle drawl in English classes around the world - ha! After they hooked me up to some pain meds, i started feeling better quickly. They decided I had an infection in my kidneys and that hopefully i would be better soon.

I have to say it wasn't that bad of an experience besides the being sick part. You hear about horror stories in doctors offices and ER's all the time, so i really never wanted to experience this in another country. Everyone was nice for the most part and hopefully in the next couple of days i will start feeling better. Everything in Geneve, except some restaurants, are closed on Sundays so we had to wait unitl Monday morning to get my medicine. I have heard that pharmacies rotate some Sunday's to stay open for people in desperate need. However, you never know how far away the pharmacy is and how far you would have to travel to go and get your prescription. Thankfully what they gave me lasted me till the next day except the pain meds, which they gave me a couple to take home. Also, because our fridge/kitchen is so small we go to the grocery almost every day here. Except on Sunday's when it is closed. So when you get sick it makes it hard to find things to eat. I always keep a little stock on hand. It's not like here you can run and pick up fast food except for McDonalds which is what we did on the way home from the hospital on Sunday. Last night it was BLT's complimentary of my hubby. Tonight bless his heart i have no idea haha!! He can make anything but the groceries close at 7 and he isn't usually off work by then so who knows what we will come up with. That is one thing i miss about home is things being open late.

I'm not actually asleep in this picture. I think i was just looking down at the IV. I can't believe i'm actually even posting it where people can see it since i look so terrible. However, this is just life these days :)!