Thursday Through The Next Week Saturday - France/Switzerland

Yes, you are going to get this from the horse's mouth. Today is Saturday, and at the time of this posting I am in the lovely home of my friend Silvia Pflueger (aka Silvia Steiner) who was at Coastlands for an internship and she also was the internship director for a while back in 2002 or so. Silvia is now married to James and they live in a nice apartment in the town of Altendorf, which is about a 45-minute drive from Zurich, Switzerland. But let me tell you how I got here...

After I posted my last French blog a week and a half ago, my sister insisted that I rest for at least two days and if I did not get better, she would take me to the doctor. So, after throwing a fit, I came to the conclusion that she was right and I was wrong. I should rest and see what happened. When I woke up on Friday morning, I knew that something definetely was not right. The pain in my back was moving around from left to right and back, there were certain points in my shoulders that were very sore, I could harldy lie down on my back, I was short of breath because of the pain in my back, and we agreed that we should go see a doctor. Hannie got on the phone and made an appointment for Saturday morning at 8:30. In the mean time, I had called Cathy and Martin Jacobi in Geneva that I was sick and was not able to come as planned on Saturday, but hopefully I could make it on Monday depending on what the doctor said.

Saturday morning Hijmen drove Hannie and I to the third village down the river from Le Coulet, it's called Saint Saveur de Montagut, and it has everything you think a French village should have: a bakery, a bar, a church and a grocery store (of course there are a few more things, but you get my drift). We went into the doctor's office and waited a few minutes, until the doctor himself came to get us. No fuss with assistants weighing you, taking your blood pressure and asking why you're there. He sat behind a large dark wooden desk and Hannie and I in nice chairs in front of the desk; behind him was a very large and tall, dark wooden cabinet that divided the room into two: office in front and examination room behind the wooden "wall". Hannie is a very smart woman who knows the language much better than I do, and so she and I had sat down the evening before and she had written down what was wrong with me, where the pain was, how long I had had it (actually that was since I first got to the Netherlands), and that I thought I was all muscle-related due to a messenger bag that I carried with me during my travels and that I hung cross-wise over my head and on my right shoulder. So, the doctor looks at me, raises his eyebrows, says something to the effect of yes, that could be, but is not convinced. Then he calls me back to the examination room where he checks if all my ribs are still attached to my spine, and sure enough they are. No pain there. Then he listens to my breathing, he gets concerned and has me lie down and points a fever pistol at me. Bingo. Fever. Then he takes my blood pressure. Too high. Then he examines the organs in my abdomen and starts making very concerning noises. He thinks I have a kidney infection, with the way my shoulder tendons are hurting and how that is connected to the muscles that are hurting me on the side of my ribcage just below my armpit. Definetely the kidneys. More traveling? CRAZYTALK! He throws his hands up in the air, shakes his head, and tells me: 4 days of bedrest, here and no talking back. He says: you seem very calm, but you are very, very sick! Then I tell him about my other kidney infections and what kind of antibiotic my American doctor prescribes. He writes a list of four medications to take to the pharmacy across the street. He writes referrals for bloodwork and for X-rays of my lungs and abdomen. And while he talks to Hannie, I sort of doze of into lalaland while I realize: I am sick and I better listen.
I pay Monsieur le Docteur 20 euro for his services, and we go to the pharmacy where I get a candybag full of boxes with pills and I pay them 40 euro for the whole kit'nkaboodle. Then we went home and I took the prescribed pills and a long nap. That was pretty much Saturday and Sunday: take the pills and take naps on the couch which was also my bed. And of course I called Geneva again to call off my visit. On Sunday evening I also called Ruth and Volker Heitz in Basel where I was planning to be from Thursday through Sunday morning, and told Ruth about the current events.

So then we arrive at Monday, the day of the hospital visit! My sister's friend Muriel who also lives in Le Coulet (see my earlier posts) had been so kind to make the appointments at the hospital in Valence (closest hospital - 1 hour drive) and she would also come with us because she speaks excellent French. We left Le Coulet at 9:30 in the morning, we stopped at the bank so I could get some more euros (no idea how much that would cost me), and were at the hospital before 10:45 where I first had the bloodwork done by a grandfatherly man with gray hair who was an excellent bloodworker: he got it right in the first try in a rather odd place (inside of my right wrist)... He was obviously glad that Muriel was present, because he did not speak any English. I paid the administrative assistant 32 euro for the bloodwork to check the kidney function. After a cup of coffee and a "pain de chocolat" we go to Radiology, sign up and in for my 11:30 appointment. The lady who takes the X-rays is very concerned because she sees I have trouble breathing deeply, questions about smoking, pneumonia, bronchitis etc etc. Then she sets me up in another examination room where the radiologist himself will do an ultra-sound of my abdomen. Muriel is here also present to great relief of the docteur; he talks, she asks questions and translates. Wonderful arrangment! No kidney stones, all organs look good, just some scar tissue from other infections, no blockages, everything is fine. He dicated a report, I paid 117 euros and within 45 minutes we were done and on our way. The results of the bloodwork would be in the mail on Wednesday. We were back at Le Coulet around 1:30 in the afternoon and after I ate a little bit I slept for two and a half hours. My days consisted of sleeping, resting, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the kitchen table if I felt I could. That was really it. I read a few books and we did crossword puzzles with the three of us, which was really an awful lot of fun. On the second day since I had started taking the antibiotics, we could see some improvement in my condition, and slowly but surely things started clearing up in my head and my body. The results of the bloodwork were indeed in the mail on Wednesday and Hannie made a follow up appointment with the doctor for Thursday. I had already talked to Katthrin in Basel to let her know about my decision to not go to Basel although it was with pain in my heart, because my visit would be at the same time when mission team from Coastlands would be arriving there on Friday for a Fathers-Daughters Camp. It would have been so great to see my friends there!

But I had not listened to my body and I had let this infection go on for a very long time, in my determination to do what I had planned to do: I could not get sick! I remember talking with Lorraine before I left if I should take a supply of antibiotics with me, just in case, and I decided not to because "I am not going to get sick". Haha. It's on my list of necessary items now, believe me. And it also makes me think about why I kept going. Of course there are all kinds of considerations: there was no fever like all the other times, I honestly thought it was just muscle pain and spasms, so I took some pain meds to relieve the muscle pain. But those pain meds must have also reduced the fever I was having, and so I did not feel bad enough (I thought) to stop and have a doctor look at it until my big sister took the fire and laid down the law. I am really very grateful that she did. And I also would like to go back to her beautiful little Le Coulet to enjoy it the way it should be enjoyed: walking, eating and drinking, building a decent fire in Jotuul and hanging your laundry on the line to dry. It is truly a beautiful place! www.lecoulet.nl

Anyhow, on Thursday we went back to the doctor and when we walked into the waiting room, he was already there to welcome the patient scheduled to see him before us. He looked at me and said: Oh, you are much better! Which I confirmed gladly! We were called into his office a few minutes later, he looked over the results of the tests and said: You are healed! You can travel all you want now! He shook my hand and shoved us out of his office without wanting any payment at all. Funny people those French men. He did have some interesting things to say about the American health care system though...

So having all things considered, I did not want to catch up with Basel or anything like that, I just wanted to catch up with myself. And knowing that my (long) plane ride from Zurich to Philadelphia was scheduled for Monday, May 24, I figured that if I spread the travel a little bit then I could rest in between. I called Silvia and asked if she could find me a hotel in Zurich for a few nights so I could travel first to Switzerland and rest a few days before getting on the plane. We decided that I would take the train on Friday from Valence to Zurich on Friday, I would stay one night in Zurich and then Saturday morning Silvia would pick me up and bring me to her home in Altendorf where I would be until Monday morning when she will bring me to the Zurich Airport. I thought that was a lovely arrangment and so it happened. H&H brought me to Valence and put me on the right train a little bit after 12 noon, I changed trains in Geneva around 3:30 and got off in Zurich at about 6:40 in the evening or so.

Today is Saturday, May 21, eight o'clock in the evening. The church bells have rung many times this afternoon and evening. This weekend is a holiday weekend in Europe: Pentacost! The promise of Jesus was fulfilled that the Comforter would come after He had left this earth. I need that comfort every minute of every day.

I have just exhausted myself and the battery on my little computer. I will be quiet again on Sunday and traveling on Monday. I hope to post again on Tuesday! I am grateful for your support and prayers, my friends!