I was skiing last week in Italy but sadly a good friend of mine crashed on her skis on day two of the week and broke her fibula and tibia (shinbone); for anatomy of the leg go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/8844.htm. She was taken down the mountain in what I like to call a 'body bag' which is, for those who haven't skied, a one man sledge on skis with someone skiing at the front (check out my facebook photos since I have had the experience of being in one!). She was then admitted to the medical centre in Sauze D'Oulx (the town we were staying at) and then moved to a hospital 40km away at the base of the mountain range in Susa.
In that holiday I learnt so much that I can't actually put it into one post. Firstly it's usually me who is the one breaking bones; having broken both my wrists (one of them twice and having an operation to put pins in), and my right collar bone a couple of times (one of which was whilst on a skiing trip with the same friends)... so usually I am used to being carted into hospital and dealing with the situation in my own way...but this time it was someone else and I had to take up a different position. I felt that I needed to care for them and help them having been in the situation before and did my best by making her comfortable on the slopes for the hour that we waited for medical attention.
Once she was out of sight down the slope (in the blood wagon) it didn't feel like it was over because the rest of us (6 left) had to get down the mountain safely and back to the chalet to get items for her to take to hospital if need be...she did need the things and ended up staying in hospital for a full week, entering on Sunday, operation on Wednesday and leaving the following Sunday.
In her operation she had a rod/nail put in place down the inside of her tibia... "Intramedullary (IM) rods are used to align and stabilize fractures. IM rods are inserted into the bone marrow canal in the centre of the long bones of the extremities (e.g. femur or tibia)" (http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/brokenbones/g/imrod.htm). There is a video that I found of surgery where this happens at (http://tinyurl.com/7p4ajq7), not for the feint hearted!
On the day after the operation I went down to see her for the first time since the accident and it was really nice to see her in a lot less pain than she had been before the operation, because I had been told that she had been uncomfortable due to the lack of movement she had and the caring she had received. In European hospitals there isn't the care that we get in the UK. They don't have nursing staff going around and washing everybody (or even simple things like brushing teeth) and making them comfortable. They come, do what they have too i.e. change a drip, and go away again. What I really noticed was the lack of what's called 'bedside manner' that the staff had, to them it was a job and that's it, there was no attempt at co-operation at all, or even trying to get over the language barrier by using hand signals.
The final point I will make is how I felt in the hospital. When I was there I was so glad to see her and to see that she looked so much more comfortable compared to being on the slopes and being taken down the mountain in a sledge. But something came over me as I stood there looking at her and all the drips and the flasks around her as if I had lots of thoughts and they all came out at once. It was as if I had held something inside me for a whole week...but I still can't explain it! Maybe it was the stress of the week, trying to keep everyone happy and laughing and it all caught up with me?!
But she is home now and in the best of care from her family. For those interested I also found a clip of an amputation (once again, not for the feint hearted) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmlj8OafOwc.
In that holiday I learnt so much that I can't actually put it into one post. Firstly it's usually me who is the one breaking bones; having broken both my wrists (one of them twice and having an operation to put pins in), and my right collar bone a couple of times (one of which was whilst on a skiing trip with the same friends)... so usually I am used to being carted into hospital and dealing with the situation in my own way...but this time it was someone else and I had to take up a different position. I felt that I needed to care for them and help them having been in the situation before and did my best by making her comfortable on the slopes for the hour that we waited for medical attention.
Once she was out of sight down the slope (in the blood wagon) it didn't feel like it was over because the rest of us (6 left) had to get down the mountain safely and back to the chalet to get items for her to take to hospital if need be...she did need the things and ended up staying in hospital for a full week, entering on Sunday, operation on Wednesday and leaving the following Sunday.
In her operation she had a rod/nail put in place down the inside of her tibia... "Intramedullary (IM) rods are used to align and stabilize fractures. IM rods are inserted into the bone marrow canal in the centre of the long bones of the extremities (e.g. femur or tibia)" (http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/brokenbones/g/imrod.htm). There is a video that I found of surgery where this happens at (http://tinyurl.com/7p4ajq7), not for the feint hearted!
On the day after the operation I went down to see her for the first time since the accident and it was really nice to see her in a lot less pain than she had been before the operation, because I had been told that she had been uncomfortable due to the lack of movement she had and the caring she had received. In European hospitals there isn't the care that we get in the UK. They don't have nursing staff going around and washing everybody (or even simple things like brushing teeth) and making them comfortable. They come, do what they have too i.e. change a drip, and go away again. What I really noticed was the lack of what's called 'bedside manner' that the staff had, to them it was a job and that's it, there was no attempt at co-operation at all, or even trying to get over the language barrier by using hand signals.
The final point I will make is how I felt in the hospital. When I was there I was so glad to see her and to see that she looked so much more comfortable compared to being on the slopes and being taken down the mountain in a sledge. But something came over me as I stood there looking at her and all the drips and the flasks around her as if I had lots of thoughts and they all came out at once. It was as if I had held something inside me for a whole week...but I still can't explain it! Maybe it was the stress of the week, trying to keep everyone happy and laughing and it all caught up with me?!
But she is home now and in the best of care from her family. For those interested I also found a clip of an amputation (once again, not for the feint hearted) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmlj8OafOwc.
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