Annual ER Visit

Just running through our family highlights from 2019 with this strong need to document and record before we start a new year...

I think almost without fail we have had a minimum of one visit to the emergency room every year since we have moved to Italy. Maybe that is normal just by the fact that we have three children. Luca for sure is our front runner in accidents and visits.

On August 2, just as we were settling in for a relaxing family evening together our plans got derailed. I had sent Luca upstairs to call down Samuel or someone and as he was coming down I heard this huge thud. Moans followed but I did not react until Samuel called me and said "Luca fell down the stairs and I think he's hurt." As I'm walking up the granite stairs Luca starts to warn me "Mamma, don't look at my toe! Just don't look at it." He knows I'm a little squeamish and I appreciate his warning so that when I did take a split second glance I was mentally prepared. Sure enough his pinky toe was at a 45° angle of distortion. Oh, wonderful!

It's disturbing but no blood at least

Jonathan didn't even look at the toe--just turned right back around to his office to change out of his lounge clothes, grab his wallet and medical cards. The unspoken and well known routine of what must be done set us both into action without having to say a word. I grabbed water, snacks, electronic devises and battery charger in preparation for the unpredictable wait time.

To use a hospital wheelchair one must insert a coin just like a shopping cart at the grocery store.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00pm and because it was the summer--especially August--when most Italians are gone vacationing, the waiting room was practically empty. Luca was seen right away and then sent off for X-rays. We came back to the waiting room and waited a tiny bit longer before he was brought back for the orthopedic doctor to reset his toe.

Not happy with his mamma and that I was documenting his visit :)

Luca has such a high pain tolerance but even the resetting made him feel nauseated and light headed. Then it was back to radiology to make sure it was set correctly before he was then released. We were in and out of there in record time of just 1 hour!

The following two weeks Luca could not walk with a shoe and had his toe taped, so he pretty much was camped out on the couch during the stifling summer heat. And that was how we spent our first two weeks in August between visitors.