As a tour guide, I found this latest experience to me more than instructive, humbling, and critical... turns out one has not traveled until one has a significant injury and is left alone in a hospital with no means of communication. German hospitals are incredibly efficient, though stubborn in policies and somewhat frustrating (a mild understatement). I was blown away by the kindness of some incredible nurses and doctors, as well as my staunch, upbeat, plucky old German roommate, who kept my chin up and let me use his cell phone to call my mother. I am in a great deal of pain, but I am free to complain again, now that I am safe in the home of two very dear friends and first rate tour guides, David Harper and Christine Christine Dundas-Harper. And as ALWAYS, a giant thank you to my dear brother Christian Stangl and sister Sylvia Jansen for coming to see me and dropping off a PC laptop which I could use to call home via Skype. The hospitals wireless network didnt have an updated security certificate, which my Apple computer recognized and blocked, and thus I was blocked from Facebook. I have holes drilled into my clavicle and another bone I dont remember, with wires now holding my shoulder together. I face a lengthy recovery, but it sure was a test on the subject of home. It took everything in me not to crumble into tears at one point, laying on a bed in an empty room for my night before surgery, and I was unable to take much comfort from my history readings of wounded men in battle and so much that has been worse. It is fascinating how we humans can oscillate from the objective, cerebral experience of life to the gut-wrenching, emotion-filled immediacy of pain and loneliness. However, as is always the case, people made the difference. I was blown away by the German precision and technical superiority of my surgery and treatment, and yet there were several nurses who were, simply put, STUDS. Two of them I would take a bullet for, such was their devotion, calm demeanor, upbeat attitudes, and attention to detail. And this older man who shared the room with me works for the Red Cross. We took a lap around the hospital yesterday, in our shorts, our shoulder operated arms covered in pink from iodine, stopping to see his colleagues in the Red Cross/ambulance station on the hospital grounds. If I had to pick any country to be stuck in a hospital, it would indeed be Germany. I am grateful to be on the mend, though I am in a great deal of pain. I am fortunate indeed, and I continue to waver between crying tears of joy/laughter at the whole experience - and tears of sadness at the little boy who was very far from home and all alone through a most trying experience. It certainly gave me MUCH more respect for the American military/medical crews who have received countless wounded warriors and brought them back from the edge of death. Of all of the words of encouragement, none hit home deeper than Luke Murphys, who lost a leg in Iraq and went through a MUCH fiercer experience. It is good to be reconnected... and I am, above any other emotion, deeply humbled by the outpouring of support, cheer, and solidarity given by so many of you. Thanks Lee Farrar Bailey, Anki Leopold, and Karin Leopold for reaching out and posting updates in my stead. The greatest thing youll ever learn... is just to love, and be loved in return.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:27:16 +0000
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