Medical Adventures in Europe Part II

 *Please read Part I before proceeding*

 Following our return from our failed medical trip to Vienna, Ben went about his daily life with his heavy uncomfortable, plastered cast.  He went to work, embassy events, school events, church, etc. all while in a lot of pain.  In the meantime, he emailed his x-rays to his cousin Jimmy, who was previously stationed at Landstuhl, Germany as an orthopedic surgeon for the Army, to get a second opinion. Upon reviewing his x-rays, Jimmy recommended he go to Landstuhl to get it treated where he could get more aggressive treatment like surgery that would help his ankle heal more correctly and quickly. 

               

When Ben first proposed a doctor's visit to Landstuhl I thought he was out of his mind.  How would he even get there?  He couldn't drive the nine hours. He'd have to fly. And how would that even be possible given how immobile he was?  But Ben pursued this course undeterred.  He coordinated with the medical center in Landstuhl and made arrangements to stay with his brother who is stationed there.  He bought a ticket for early Monday morning, the Monday before Christmas.  Knowing there was a good chance he would be getting surgery and with his ability to be home in time for Christmas in question, I was feeling quite overwhelmed by the whole ordeal, but these feelings were mitigated by the assurance that he was going to finally get proper medical care. We got up at 4:30 Monday morning and I drove him to the airport.  We were met by a medical attendant at check-in who put him in a wheel chair, and I was able to accompany him as far as security.  Then it was adios, amigo!  

Going through security with his "medical attendant"

On the drive home on that dark December morning I was able to call Ben's parents as well as my mom.  They had all shown so much concern since the whole ordeal started, so it was nice to receive a much needed moral boost from them.  

The silver lining to this whole experience was that his brother Joe and wife Bethany were able to be there  from start to finish while he was in Germany.  After landing in Frankfurt, he took a 1.5 hour shuttle to Landstuhl Medical Center, where he was greeted by Bethany.  She helped him navigate the huge facility thanks to her firsthand knowledge of its layout.  Her son Ryan had several visits to the orthopedist for a broken arm, so she definitely knew where to go!  His appointment was at 9:00 and they did a CT scan on his ankle and leg.  The results revealed a much more complicated injury than initially thought.  First off, he had three different breaks in his ankle, all concentrated in the same area.  He also had a piece of loose bone floating around.  Then the real kicker was that he had a break in both his tibia and fibula in his leg!  The Slovenian doctors did not catch this at all.  They didn't even bother to x-ray his leg.  No wonder he was in so much pain! And how you get such an injury from slipping on ice is beyond me!

Plaster cast comes off, yay!

It was decided he would have surgery first thing Tuesday morning.  He was able to go home with Joe and Bethany and spend the night with their family.  They only live about ten minutes from Landstuhl!  What a huge blessing this was.  I can't imagine how this would have all worked out otherwise.  

I anxiously waited the next morning to hear the results of the surgery and was relieved to hear it was a success later in the afternoon! He got four screws and a plate inserted.  I was able to talk to him before and after the surgery.

Pre-surgery.  He looks totally normal, right?

  On the phone he sounded quite loopy with all the medication and everything.  He was discharged late in the day and was able to go home with Joe and Bethany to recuperate.

He was so happy with his new flexi cast... His leg could breathe. 
And don't you just love his t-shirt??

His surgery took place on Tuesday the 21st, and they would have preferred for him to stick around for another week to make sure there was no infection or complication. But the doctor felt confident enough to let him go on Thursday the 23rd so he could be home in time for Christmas.  What a relief!  

Frankfurt airport, humming "I'll be Home for Christmas."

Two days post-surgery, waiting to board his flight.  

Christmas was great.  Here's a few pics:

 

We even had company both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Don't ask me how we pulled that off.  Christmas Eve Phaedra, her mother, and her four year old daughter Marielle came.  We had our traditional simple meal of bread, cheese, hot chocolate, fruit, and nuts. Then we performed the nativity.  The Gywn family seemed to really like it.  Phaedra said it reminded her of sweet memories when her dad used to read to them from the Bible.  And Marielle LOVED being cast as Mary.  We also sang and played carols on the piano, violin, and guitar.  Phaedra loves the violin so it was fun to listen to all the great music.

Unfortunately this was the only photo we took, but isn't it precious??

Christmas Day we had four elders over and Alejandra, a new sister in our branch who is from Dominican Republic and is training for the paralympics!  She has a brittle bone disorder and competes in swimming.  She's a ray of sunshine! I'm lame and don't have any photos from our Christmas meal, which was crock-pot carnitas.  Had to keep it simple, no turkey this year!  We did have pumpkin pie, though, my first stab at making it.  It turned out amazing!

The plan for Ben's post-op care was that he would go to the airbase at Aviano, Italy and be seen by the Orthopedic PA to get stitches removed and transition into a fiberglass cast. Aviano is only a two hour drive as opposed to the nine hour drive to Landstuhl.  But, ironically the orthopedic PA was TDY to Landstuhl for medical training during two weeks following Christmas!  

We tried to figure out if we could get him in before she left, or if there was someone else who could see him, but it became increasingly clear that this wasn't going to be possible.  It was so frustrating!  Friday, New Year's Eve day, I woke up and said, "Well, I guess let's just drive up to Landstuhl with the whole family, make a holiday weekend out of it with Joe and Bethany, and get you seen first thing Monday morning."  We didn't really have other options.  So, that's exactly what we did!  
 
I called Bethany and of course she said, "Sure!  Come on up!"  We spent the morning scrambling and packing and left by 1:45. The kids were sooo excited! The trip was smooth sailing, I was driving and getting us there REALLY fast... at the border of Austria in 50 minutes and at the German border in three hours. We were scheduled to get there around 10:00 but then we hit a snag about two-thirds of the way there when we came upon a really bad accident.  We were at a standstill for over an hour.  

A helicopter even flew right over our van and landed in front of us on the freeway.  Both directions were completely shut down.  It looked like someone careened off the freeway going one direction, flipped their car and landed upside down going in the other direction.  The chances for survival did not look good, which really puts your problems into perspective. 

We finally arrived at 11:30 pm, just in time to ring in the new year.  J&B's kids were all totally surprised because they hadn't told them we were coming.  The kids ran down the street to join neighbors in setting off fireworks.  

We had a wonderful weekend with their family.  The kids just played and played in their gargantuan house.  They even had some rare sunshine and I enjoyed a walk in the fields with Bethany and baby Evan behind their house.  We went to the PX and did some shopping and bowling. I even bought a Persian rug on a whim!  We attended church with them on Sunday. Bethany fed us well through the whole weekend. Then Monday morning Ben had his appointment to get his stitches removed and his new cast put on!

And I got to meet the orthopedist who performed the surgery. 

We had to drive home that day to get the kids back in time for school on Tuesday.  They had already missed Monday!  

J&B's kids pushing off on our car as we say good-bye.  Ryan chased us all the way down the street!

    I'm so glad my kids got to spend the weekend with them.  You just need family during the holidays. We've spent way too many holidays without them so this was a special treat this year!

 This whole thing was such an ordeal.  Ben did eventually get to Aviano to get his cast removed and transitioned to a boot.  And he's currently doing physical therapy here in Slovenia.  So, all told, he's had a trip to the ER in Slovenia, two trips to Germany, a trip to Italy with another pending, and PT here in Slovenia.  It's been a wild ride and we both agree we can't wait to get back to the states to get more accessible healthcare!  It's been a grueling process for this injury.  Let's just hope we all stay healthy and safe the next 18 months until we're out of here!  You can't tell I'm excited, can you??