LouAnn:  Well, it was another short night.  I need more sleep.  Got up early, left notes for the kids, and went up to be with Paul around 7:30am.  The kids slept in, ate breakfast around 10 at the B&B, then stayed there and played until I got back.  Sweet Inge, the owner, kept an eye on them for me while I was gone.

When I got to the hospital, Paul told me he had had the worst night of his life.  His pain was so bad that he couldn’t shift positions in the bed, or even raise his arms without excruciating pain.  He had been lying in the same position for 14 hours.   I felt so guilty for not staying with him. 

Dr. Rosenlechner (a wonderful, young doctor, bright blue eyes, thin, long hair in a ponytail) came in and took lots of time talking to us.  His English was perfect and he was concerned and compassionate, and explained the situation so well.  He told us they had ordered an MRI because of the results of the CT scan and the extent of Paul’s pain.  Paul was concerned that he would not be able to hold still in the MRI machine, because of the pain, so they gave him some drowsy medicine.  He still could not move- was still in the same position as the day before.  Not long after the doctor left, they came and wheeled him down to get his test.   I was able to go and wait outside as they took him in.  I heard him scream in pain as they transferred him from his bed to the MRI table.  It’s a helpless feeling to not be able to do anything to help him.

Paul:  I was dreading the MRI.  I knew that the success of an MRI depended on me keeping still, and I knew that if one of my spasms exploded, I would not be able to hold still.  Sweet Dr. Rosenlechner was the first doctor from whom I felt real understanding.  He also subtly expressed an understanding of my distaste with Dr. Lisringhausen (whom we affectionately named Dr. Porcupine), the head of the unit that had come by.  When I had described the spasms and that they shot my pain level to a 10, Dr. Porcupine sneered, “no, it is not a 10.  At a 10, you are dead, so your pain is not at a 10!”  If he were closer to the bed at that point, I would have punched him in the crotch; it would have been worth the resulting seizure.  Dr. Rosenlechner prescribed a powerful pain drip and a relaxant before the MRI, which helped immensely.  I was able to lie still in the MRI coffin. 

LouAnn:  While he was getting his MRI, I was called to the business office to pay for our stay.   I met Sibile, a firecracker of a gal, who was super sweet, very energetic, friendly, laughy and eager to help me.  She walked me through the process, and I got that squared away.

By the time I got back to Paul’s room, he was done, and hurting still, despite heavy pain meds.   I checked on the kids – they were playing cards, soccer, and were occasionally bored, wondering when I was coming back.  Several hours went by, and Dr. Rosenlechner came back in with Dr. Novak, an older, soft-spoken man – his long grey hair also in a ponytail.   He also spoke perfect English, and very thoroughly explained the MRI results.  They confirmed the CT scan… Paul had a very severe prolapse in his L4-5 disk.   A very large part of his disk had come out and was compressing a nerve bundle, causing his pain.   Dr. Novak was very concerned about this, and recommended surgery.  Paul told him that he preferred to try to get to the point where he could travel home to consult for surgery there.  Dr. Novak said that even if he could get his pain level down, that the risk of further damaging his back and permanent neurological damage was far too great to fly home.   He looked at Paul’s chart and decided to make a new IV “cocktail” containing morphine, muscle-relaxers, an anti-inflammatory, and an antibiotic. 

We told him we wanted to think about it before we made a decision, so after at least 20 minutes with us, they left us alone to try to process everything.  

The hospital is calm.  Simple and old-school.  There is no A/C, so we opened the windows, which is wonderful.  There are no screens on the windows, so you feel a bit more connected to the trees outside and birds singing in them.   The nurses, who don’t speak much English, brought in Paul’s new IV, and before long, he was getting some relief.

I headed home around 1:30pm, to get the kids and figure out the rest of the day’s plans.  I assumed the kids had eaten lunch, since Jack had called me at the hospital, asking me if I knew how to make the box of pasta, as the directions were in German.  I arrived home to find them all starving, and learned that Jack had burned the pasta, so he turned on the ventilation fan over the stove, which blew the breaker in our suite.  No lunch and no electricity.   The kids got presentable and we decided to go into the next town to buy Paul a fan to have in his room.  Without A/C at the hospital, his days were getting pretty warm.  Our venture into Grodig proved to be a good one!   We quickly found a fan at a tiny electronics store, where Jack got a pretty good ZAP from a bug zapper racquet.  Don’t ask.  Given our starved condition, we found a nice dinner place while we were there, and enjoyed our late afternoon lunch. 

Paul was thrilled to get his fan!  And I think his roommate, Guenther, was too.  We visited for as long as we could, but it’s hard to have the kids there too late in the evening.  We just couldn’t be quiet enough when Guenther began to doze – especially since there was no privacy curtain.   It was hard to leave at night.  We always wanted to stay late, but couldn’t.   This night was particularly hard for the kids to leave.   They all cried their way down the hospital halls when we left Paul.  It’s hard for them to see him in pain and see him upset too.  Even though he tried to hide it, they knew.

Paul:  I was really struggling against the idea of having surgery in AUSTRIA.  During the 15 years since my back issues began, I had staunchly put off surgery, convinced that such a permanent action was not a good idea.  That 15-year-old record was playing in my head as I lay in the hospital bed.  I thought if I could just get the pain to a point that was manageable, then I could travel home and figure things out there.

This was also the day I met Tasso, my next-door neighbor.  He was an American who’s been living in Salzburg for five years with his Austrian girlfriend.  His back issues had finally escalated to the point where the doctors were recommending a more invasive surgery, where they were planning to essentially fuse two of his vertebrae.  Tasso was really struggling with whether to go through with it.  It was comforting to have an American there, even though it didn’t change my situation or dilemma. 

On Thursday afternoon, my family organized a call for all of us to discuss the recommendations.  I was the lone holdout, with all of them strongly supporting the idea of having the surgery in Salzburg.  The pain improved throughout the day, though I still wasn’t able to sit up or get out of bed.  Did a lot of reading, mainly the Bonheoffer biography.  And my Bible.

The view out my window.

Being rolled in to have my MRI

This is my MRI – note the white blob in the center.   It is half of the nerve bundle – supposed to  have a section of white on the left side too.   It doesn’t show because it is being compressed by the protrusion of the disk.

This is the drawing of what his MRI showed.   Dr. Anton drew it for us to better understand what was happening.   It is the side view.  The green “blob” to the right of the disk is what was outside the disk and compressing the nerve bundle (shown in red.)

Dr. Krombholz – Head of the Spine Unit who likely would do Paul’s surgery.

Leaving the hospital.  I loved seeing the mountains around us!

Our little restaurant in Grodig!  We had the place to ourselves.

“We three kings of leftovers are…..”

 

Fan is delivered.  Spending a few more minutes  with Dad that evening.