WorldTravelReynolds

Early morning sunrise.

Its been an interesting adventure so far. What we thought was just a bad case of jet lag turned in to us both being sick with fever and sneezing, coughing and headache. We are slowing getting over that but still feeling pretty bad. Taking alka-seltzer plus has helped. We tried to at least get out of the apartment yesterday and decided to stop by the recycling box to drop off some water bottles. 

First to set the stage, this is called cardiac hill because its so steep and hilly and second, this apartment has steps to get everywhere but it does have an elevator to the apartments, thank goodness. Now, we decided to go the short distance to the recycling boxes which is an easy trip, all down hill steps. The problem is the steps in and out of some areas such as the pool are not a normal distance in steps. So, I stepped out and my ankle twisted. With a loud pop, I went sailing to the concrete. My ankle was swelling immediately and hurting like crazy! Chuck got me back into the front of the apartments and we called the owners of the apartment to get a local hospital. We called a cab and off we went. It was about a 10 minute ride. The hospital staff immediately stated, we need your credit card and passport and explained we had to pay for it up front, which we knew already. They had a system where I was called back 5 times from the waiting area. 1st for triage so they could place the band on my arm and determine I had a legit problem. Then back to the waiting room. Next to see the doctor, whose English was marginal. She determined I needed an X-ray. Back to the waiting room. Next to get the X-ray, which was great because they brought the X-ray down to my foot. I didn’t have to get up on a table. Back to the waiting room. Doctor called, wheeled back in to see her. She said, not broken! Just sprain. Her and Chuck had a small battle over the shot she wanted to give me for DVT prevention. Deep Vein Thrombosis. We told her we were not traveling on a plane for the next 3 weeks but she insisted.

Kept saying as long as I was “relaxing” I needed them. What we finally figured out was “relaxing” in spanish conversion is “immobile” in english. She wanted me to have these injections, in my stomach, every day. Thank goodness Chuck said I don’t need them. Once we got that communication calmed down, we went back to the waiting room and then was called to have my ankle wrapped. I sure am glad I was in a wheelchair the whole time. At first I declined to have one. After a little over an hour I was out of there and in a cab back to our apartment home. The ER visit was 362 Euros which is around $400 USD. The drugs are for inflammation and pain but it’s the strength of Tylenol. They are afraid of addictions over here.  So, I’m back with my foot propped up and my sweet dear husband waiting on me. He’s a true blessing! While we are waiting to get my ankle wrapped he said, good thing you painted your toenails. I said, no, good think I shaved my legs. The tapes going to hurt enough coming off in two weeks.

Crutches for two weeks and wrapped my ankle. It wont move!

So, we’ll rest another couple of days, maybe I can get accustomed to these crutches and less pain and both of our colds will be over with. Chuck will probably rent a car and we can go to see some low impact adventures. 

We still enjoy the view. The colorful houses and clean air. It’s supposed to get cool next week. In the 60’s but with the sun, it will feel hotter. 

I now have that time I needed to catch up on the other two locations we visited so stay tuned.

May God bless you always and stay safe!

Chuck & Lea Ann