Bouncing back and getting restless: Garmisch Partenkirchen Hospital Day 6

September 21, 2016

What a difference a few days make. I am feeling much more myself, although I like to think I have looked better.

Keith took this picture the morning after the splat. Believe it or not, the bruising just keeps spreading. Both up and down. How is that even possible? I am sure my face would scare small children, but I don't have to look at it, and it doesn't hurt, so I am okay with it.

That face is a great advertisement for helmets I think as I have quite a contusion just above my eyebrow. I am pretty sure things would have been much worse without my helmet. Even so there was certainly concern about concussion when I arrived at emergency. It is hard for me to remember everything that took place in emergency...I was getting loopy from pain killers and starting to shake very hard. I do remember wondering how on earth you could manage an X-ray on a patient that was shaking like a leaf, but the wonderful folks in emerg just kept plying me with warm blankets and reassuring me.

So here I sit. The first day post surgery was much more difficult than I had imagined and I was pretty miserable. Okay, I will be honest, I was extremely miserable. I was nauseous on top of everything else and it took a bit to get it under control. I guess it was from the anesthesia, but don't really know.

So, the shoulder. My son has welcomed me to cyborg life. The ball of the humerus was out 30 degrees and the vertical part of the bone was broken in two places...I think! Some stuff is just hard to remember when you are on pain killers. I will ask again tomorrow.

I am spending as much time as possible in what I call the Marquise de Sade chair, a nifty piece of German engineering that takes my arm gently through a small range of motion. That old song with the line "hurts so good" runs through my mind. I am sure it is helping. They have been keeping me in compression stockings (not sexy folks) and on blood thinners because of concerns about thrombosis. I think that is why, honestly sometimes the whole German English thing has me sagely nodding my head when I really don't have a clue.

Here is the easy way to put on compression stockings. Put them on a bright pink frame, put leg in frame and shazam, you look like a dork.

So the only thing I have to complain about is the food. How I wish I had a picture of the night dinner consisted of bits of ham suspended in a quivering gelatinous mass and a piece of bread. I couldn't look at it, let alone eat it. Last night was that very strange sliced meat with randomly coloured bits in it and bread. We are not talking prosciutto.

How about this dinner? I don't even know what this is. Breakfast is also, you guessed it, meat and bread. Lunch is, well, meat and bread. Where is the beer I say? I will forgive this hospital anything though, because they are taking such good care of me.

Meanwhile, in downtown Garmisch Partenkirchen Keith took a picture of his dinner. Sigh. Fortunately he couldn't eat it all, so brought me the leftovers.

The best part of today was a visit from Jurgen and Marion who rescued us on the trail. They are simply the most wonderful folks you could meet and I sincerely hope we meet again. It was the best thing ever to be able to thank them in person. When it was all going sideways they made me feel safe and looked after. Turns out Marion is a nurse. How lucky was I. They even brought me flowers, and best gift ever, a little jar of the offending gravel!

I must get back in the Marquise de Sade chair so I will close. We still don't have a Plan B, and please spare a thought for the poor chief navigator who is trying to figure out the best plan for my bike as well as deal with the insurance. He is having his own adventures, so when he has a break from his administrative duties I will get him to guest blog again. All the emails and guestbook messages have been so encouraging and appreciated. A special thanks to Neil Gunton for this website and a personal message. Onwards and upwards I say!

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