Frankenankle

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We had a quarter end, a bicycle trip in Rome with students and a visit from the President of the organization. Couple that with an impending 10 day trip to Southern Italy and there hasn’t been much time to do anything beyond work and sleep.

Well, that isn’t exactly true. We did have time for Amy to sample the Italian medical system up close and personal last Sunday morning.

In Amy’s words, “My left foot rolled off the sidewalk this morning and I sprained my ankle while walking to the car to go to the hotsprings. Luckily, a posse of polizia heard my screams and called an ambulance. Warren followed the ambulance to the ER. A bike race was going through town, so the ambulance had to race the wrong way up one way streets. Very Italian and Formula 1-ish. Got to the ER and was transferred to one of the hospital's gurneys and left in the hall. Was occasionally wheeled to different areas of the hall. After about an hour, got 2 x-rays. About 1/2 hour after that was told no break, only sprain. Ice, elevation and ibuprofen. Didn't pay a cent. No English was spoken by any of the medical staff. Ankle is "caviglia". Sprained ankle is "distorsione alla caviglia". Hurt like hell when it happened. Now, there is no pain. Due to the 4 ibuprofen tablets I took?”

In fact, she was incapacitated for two days although never in any serious pain after the initial stumble. She held her classes in our living room and greatly enjoyed the attention, coffee and goodies that the students showered her with. We got her the world’s most expensive Ace bandage (18 euros which is around $25) so that she could wander around more easily. She has now entirely abandoned the crutches we found in the apartment and has switched to a foot brace she can wear in a close-toed shoe, assuming she can get her foot into a shoe without any pain. She is good-to-go for our trip next week.