In one piece...
I was hoping for a crush with a nice guy but the universe has certainly hearing problems because I ended up crashing with a bus. It was a nice bus, don't get me wrong, but still not what I wished for.
Can you count the coincidences? Maybe it does not matter. Maybe if nothing happened, I would not even think of the coincidences...
So just take the story as it is.
On my way to buy a helmet and enjoy my maiden bicycle ride, I crashed with a bus that was not the kindest. The bus was fast and violated the driving regulation, so I ended up like a cartoon on the side of the bus, unable to brake in time. I hit the bus with my head, nose and upper body. The result of the crash was a broken nose and an injured shoulder. Everything went so fast. I could not really remember how I fell, if I fell. The only thing I remember was that I was trying to stop the bleeding of my nose and that I worried that I wanted to take the bike home. The bus never stopped after the crash, and you can't claim that I don't have a good-to-make-noise mass. People helped immediately of course. They gave me a lot of paper for the blood, they called the police, the called the ambulance, maybe they called their friends to laugh at the sound I made it crashing the bus.
I was worried about my nose, and suddenly, I felt an intense, not to say excruciating, pain on my shoulder. I realised it could be dislocated. I tried to sit down until the ambulance arrived, but I could not really move due to the pain. Long story short, the ambulance came, the people helped me to lock the bike on the side of the street, and then after talking to the police I had to spend some time in the ambulance to discuss and call the hospitals. They needed to make sure they take care of the incoming logistics of the General hospital, so they were thinking of addressing my shoulder before my head trauma. (!)
Luckily, the doctor of the orthopedic hospital did not want to take the responsibility, so I ended up at the General hospital to check my head trauma and make sure I had no internal bleeding.
And then, the ambulance drove me to what could easily be the Grey's anatomy studio with all the cute doctors starring. The trauma room was excellent and the doctors there were fast and efficient. I cannot be more grateful. Yes, I got extra charge for it. They took all the right decisions and they checked that everything was ok with me when it comes to internal bleeding, moving my arms and legs, neurological damage, breathing and being conscious and able to communicate. So they ordered tests, and they wished me good luck, but I did not know why I needed extra luck after what I had already survived.
In a while, I understood what they meant. I was abandoned in a corridor, on a bed, with not much battery on my phone, no painkillers, no water, no attention and no idea what I was waiting for and at what time they are going to check me and perform the scans. No hope. Time passed by, I tried to listen to the rest of the patients, but of course, in order to do that, I had to practise my Swedish at the same time, and believe I was not in the position to do so.
There was a little girl there, her mum was hurt, she was sitting with her grandmother and she was looking at me and asking her grandmother "Why is this girl crying?" and the grandmother responded that I had hurt my head and face, that was why I had blood on me and I was crying. The dialogue was in swedish but it was a kid, so I could follow the vocabulary.
A series of unfortunate events followed, I do not wish to get into the details, I will only tell you that while they were trying (awkwardly hard I must admit) to X-Ray my shoulder, they hit me with the X-Ray machine on the head... It could be a movie, just like my whole life. Oh well, I survived the 8 hours in the hospital, I cannot say that I valued the health care system much after this experience, nor the driving conditions in Sweden of course.
Nothing looked like internal bleeding (yes of course morons, I would have been dead while waiting for you to examine me if I had internal bleeding). The external bleeding was something obvious and this is the reason why no one cared when I was choking with my own blood and I did not even have a tissue to wipe the blood from my face. The shoulder did not seem broken (let's laugh at this), because they were not exactly sure- I had to be taken to the X-Ray for a third time- and yet no conclusion. So they said that I should move it if it is not broken because my shoulder will block otherwise. But if it was broken, I was not supposed to move it and I should be careful because you cannot cast the collar bone. Then I was discharged. And Odyssey number two started for me. The nurse had to remove the needle from my arm, she broke my vein, more blood in the picture, so I had to squeeze for the bleeding to stop on my left arm, I could not move my right arm from the crash, and the nurse was clever enough to put my shoes on the floor and tell me goodnight. It was the first time in my life that I felt so desperate. I looked at the shoes and wondered how I can manage to wear them. I struggled and put on my shoes and my jacket. And then I had to go out and find a taxi. I walked like I was raped.
Once you go out of the emergency, there is no way in again. You have to wait. So I could not get a taxi and I had to figure out a way to leave but by being unable to ask how to do that. What a lovely experience. I was lucky again, found a taxi and went home.
A huge shout out to the taxi driver who offered to carry my bike with his hands since he did not have the space to take it in the taxi.
Funny detail: I went into my apartment, took off all the clothes and shoes that were full of blood and I tried to charge my phone. For seconds, my fingers were accidentally into the socket. Such a typical Marilena.
But I am here. Three months later. Happy, in one piece, full of experiences and personal opinions when it comes to the health care in Sweden, extremely grateful to my friends who acted exactly like family (love you guys) and utterly scared of buses, bikes, traffic in general.
After all this time, I managed to buy a helmet yesterday, and I am super proud of it. Of course it is winter soon and I am not able to ride the bike, but I can definitely find a helmet useful inside the apartment... it is me, and you all know by now that this is dangerous by itself. :)
Be careful people. And do not trust other people's driving skills. Do not trust that they will follow the rules...
(That was longer than I imagined and I did not give you the detailed version. This is why I must start vlogging instead. Soon.)
I was worried about my nose, and suddenly, I felt an intense, not to say excruciating, pain on my shoulder. I realised it could be dislocated. I tried to sit down until the ambulance arrived, but I could not really move due to the pain. Long story short, the ambulance came, the people helped me to lock the bike on the side of the street, and then after talking to the police I had to spend some time in the ambulance to discuss and call the hospitals. They needed to make sure they take care of the incoming logistics of the General hospital, so they were thinking of addressing my shoulder before my head trauma. (!)
Luckily, the doctor of the orthopedic hospital did not want to take the responsibility, so I ended up at the General hospital to check my head trauma and make sure I had no internal bleeding.
And then, the ambulance drove me to what could easily be the Grey's anatomy studio with all the cute doctors starring. The trauma room was excellent and the doctors there were fast and efficient. I cannot be more grateful. Yes, I got extra charge for it. They took all the right decisions and they checked that everything was ok with me when it comes to internal bleeding, moving my arms and legs, neurological damage, breathing and being conscious and able to communicate. So they ordered tests, and they wished me good luck, but I did not know why I needed extra luck after what I had already survived.
In a while, I understood what they meant. I was abandoned in a corridor, on a bed, with not much battery on my phone, no painkillers, no water, no attention and no idea what I was waiting for and at what time they are going to check me and perform the scans. No hope. Time passed by, I tried to listen to the rest of the patients, but of course, in order to do that, I had to practise my Swedish at the same time, and believe I was not in the position to do so.
There was a little girl there, her mum was hurt, she was sitting with her grandmother and she was looking at me and asking her grandmother "Why is this girl crying?" and the grandmother responded that I had hurt my head and face, that was why I had blood on me and I was crying. The dialogue was in swedish but it was a kid, so I could follow the vocabulary.
A series of unfortunate events followed, I do not wish to get into the details, I will only tell you that while they were trying (awkwardly hard I must admit) to X-Ray my shoulder, they hit me with the X-Ray machine on the head... It could be a movie, just like my whole life. Oh well, I survived the 8 hours in the hospital, I cannot say that I valued the health care system much after this experience, nor the driving conditions in Sweden of course.
Nothing looked like internal bleeding (yes of course morons, I would have been dead while waiting for you to examine me if I had internal bleeding). The external bleeding was something obvious and this is the reason why no one cared when I was choking with my own blood and I did not even have a tissue to wipe the blood from my face. The shoulder did not seem broken (let's laugh at this), because they were not exactly sure- I had to be taken to the X-Ray for a third time- and yet no conclusion. So they said that I should move it if it is not broken because my shoulder will block otherwise. But if it was broken, I was not supposed to move it and I should be careful because you cannot cast the collar bone. Then I was discharged. And Odyssey number two started for me. The nurse had to remove the needle from my arm, she broke my vein, more blood in the picture, so I had to squeeze for the bleeding to stop on my left arm, I could not move my right arm from the crash, and the nurse was clever enough to put my shoes on the floor and tell me goodnight. It was the first time in my life that I felt so desperate. I looked at the shoes and wondered how I can manage to wear them. I struggled and put on my shoes and my jacket. And then I had to go out and find a taxi. I walked like I was raped.
Once you go out of the emergency, there is no way in again. You have to wait. So I could not get a taxi and I had to figure out a way to leave but by being unable to ask how to do that. What a lovely experience. I was lucky again, found a taxi and went home.
A huge shout out to the taxi driver who offered to carry my bike with his hands since he did not have the space to take it in the taxi.
Funny detail: I went into my apartment, took off all the clothes and shoes that were full of blood and I tried to charge my phone. For seconds, my fingers were accidentally into the socket. Such a typical Marilena.
But I am here. Three months later. Happy, in one piece, full of experiences and personal opinions when it comes to the health care in Sweden, extremely grateful to my friends who acted exactly like family (love you guys) and utterly scared of buses, bikes, traffic in general.
After all this time, I managed to buy a helmet yesterday, and I am super proud of it. Of course it is winter soon and I am not able to ride the bike, but I can definitely find a helmet useful inside the apartment... it is me, and you all know by now that this is dangerous by itself. :)
Be careful people. And do not trust other people's driving skills. Do not trust that they will follow the rules...
(That was longer than I imagined and I did not give you the detailed version. This is why I must start vlogging instead. Soon.)
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