English, Surgery and learning how to point!

As most of you know there are always a series of things that happen when I set out on a journey. Does not matter what the journey may be, things just happen. The past 5 days were filled with several emotions. Frustration, tears, fear, happiness, pure exhaustion, and freedom!

Wednesday we were told that we were to take Allison to the hospital to meet with the Anesthesiologist and have Allison admitted to the hospital for her surgery the next day. This is the first in a series of events that made this a learning experience. Due to the small post we are stationed at and since we are not located near a large Military Hospital. We are sent to German doctors and are taken care of at German hospitals. NOTE to self- LEARN GERMAN!
We arrived on time only to ask (as we were told) the information desk where we needed to go?? Ask in German "do you speak English" (I will spare you my broken attempt at writing German) however, I can ask that very well! The answer to the question was NO. I pull out my Germany book and the information that we were given from the doctor. He pointed (pointing is the universal way to communicate) down a long hall and to the left so we walk, walk and walk some more only to come to a nice nurse who of course when we ask "Do you speak English?" she says the UNIVERSAL GERMAN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION if they speak English "a little bit" all while making the little bit sign with your thumb and index finger... she looked over the paper work and walked us to the Anesthesiologist office. We had to fill out more paperwork and wait for 1.5 hours to see the doctor to answer questions about Allison and go over her entire history she also knew "a little bit of English" and would GOOGLE the words to communicate with us... Very interesting and all I have to say is thank goodness for google.de! She then pointed us in the direction of station 22 down another long hall and to the right to the left and to the right again (not kidding) we get to ward 22 only to be told that we have to do more paper work (right down the hall from the original place we were) then come back to station 22 to be taken to station 4, because they did not have room for us in station 22 so we were going to be in station 4. (we ended up getting moved back to station 22 on Friday afternoon) I can not make this up and it took 4 hours of pointing, broken German and going back and forth down the same hallway 5 times to get admitted. I learned if all else fails find a doctor, they know more than "a little" English and are VERY helpful!!! We had a wonderful room with 2 beds, one for me and of course Allison. That was the first night, of course there were no meds or anything scary for Allison, so she thought we were in a hotel with a really cool bed!!

Day 2 - Surgery day.. NOT a good day! They had given Allison "something" to calm her and make her sleepy before they took her to surgery in order to get the IV started. They waited too long to give it to her, so she was still awake when I had to leave her, she was kind of loopy however, still understood that I was not going with her. Big tears and reaching for me is not a good way to watch your baby going to surgery. We really at this point had no idea where we were supposed to go, this was the first time that language became an issue for me. I cried for 45 minutes. We were originally told that the surgery would last 45 minutes, so you can imagine my fear at the 2 hour mark. I was just about at the panic mark when they come to get me, Mike had gone back to station 4 (we had no idea what to do at this point) they wanted me in the recovery room when she woke up. I was not prepared to see her head completely bandaged and blood coming out of her nose. They allow you to wake up on your own instead of waking you up in recovery like they do in the States. 45 minutes later she started waking up. The first thing she said was "what did you give me?" she was funny but it was sad, kind of like she had been on a 2 day drunk. This begin a very LONG 24 hours. My sweet, cute red head was not so sweet under the influence. She was not happy and told us so. She was MAD at the doctors and would NOT talk to him or even look at him. She slept most of the day however, as she started to wake up later that night the nurses gave her some yogurt. Thinking that it was great she was eating I let her have it... BIG MISTAKE! The throwing up started.. my friend who is 8 months pregnant was there bringing us dinner (Mike had to leave early in the afternoon to deal with an crisis at work) so it was me and Candice and 2 nurses that spoke less than a little English. This is when I learned that anyone can understand when you point to your mouth and say vomit. My friend was so good to say Kinder and do the motion of vomit. It was a mess for a few minutes but like I said pointing and acting works wonders. I requested a doctor who also "spoke a little bit of English" (I might add it was perfect) he gave her some meds and even came back in the middle of the night to check on her. He also wanted to practice English, so at 2AM I am trying to teach him words in English plus talk about being American, again more pointing and acting which I realized was stupid since he spoke really good English.

The next days were just filled with her getting the meds out of her system and recovery. Her doctor is a Professor who went to Duke. He is very good and I am so impressed with German Medicine. He was explaining to us everything he did and at one point he said and I quote "I started on the left ear and I had to consult with myself" as to replace the tube or leave it out I think he was trying to say, I had to decide what to do but it came out that he had to consult with himself. It was very funny and he had no idea what he had said. Picture it OR doctor saying self do you think I need to replace the tube? ha ha It is amazing the care you receive. The nurses are so caring and the doctors listen to EVERYTHING you say and it seems to me that you get amazing care.. the only issue was language and at times that was a challenge however, there was always someone that could communicate with. Trust me when your child needs something you will do whatever it takes to make someone understand... I am sure they have had a good laugh at me!! :)

What I took away from my latest journey:

1. If German's know English they know "a little bit"
2. Pointing is the universal language (acting helps)
3. Everywhere I go New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Germany... everyone wants to know about America and Do you know anyone famous?? I am not sure as to why I always get this question but I have been asked this in every Country I have been too.
4. You can buy beer in a vending machine at a German hospital
5. Watching your 4 year old be taken to surgery reaching for you will break your heart
6. I made it through 5 days without hearing about Tiger Woods.
7. German hospital food... not so good..... "just order schnitzel"
8. How wonderful it is walking through the front door and hearing my daughter say to her babies.. mommy is home!

Frustration - the language
Tears - watching my baby go to surgery and watching her recover
Fear - surgery
Happiness -successful surgery
Freedom - today 5PM walking out the hospital door going home!

Many thanks to all for your concern and prayers

Laurie