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.

This was D-Day.  I’ve alternated LouAnn’s and my perspectives here as we describe the events of the day that landed me in the hospital!

LouAnn:  Well, we had quite a sleepless night!  By 2am, Paul had not slept and couldn’t take the pain anymore.  He gave in and asked to go to a hospital.  We searched Salzburg hospitals online and found one that we thought would work.  I got dressed and helped get Paul dressed.  We slowly shuffled to the car and took awhile to get into it.  Paul was sweating profusely and nearly passed out from the pain just getting to the car.  We drove 20 minutes to a private hospital that was recommended online.   CLOSED.   So we searched online, and drove to another hospital and rang the bell. (it looked closed too – no glaring signs signaling “EMERGENCY” like they have in the states.) They came to the car with a wheelchair and took him in.  After about 20 min and much questioning, the doctor said that they do not treat back problems there, so we’d have to go to the hospital that specializes in neurological issues.  So….back into car and after 15 more min., found my way to the 3^rd hospital – the Christian Dopplar Klinik.  This one looked closed too.  Rang the night bell and they came with wheelchair and took him in.  It was now 4:00am.  I had to leave and the park car far away in a pay lot, and by the time I came back, Paul was in a triage room with 2 IV’s dripping.  Both the nurse and doctor were really sweet.  The “emergency” room was deserted other than us.  Dr. Ildiko Deak was her name.

The IV’s were a pain reliever and a muscle relaxer.  An hour later, his pain was only down to an 8-9, so they gave him an injection of stronger pain meds in his stomach.  Morphine.

A bit later, Dr. Deak came and drew blood to run a complete workup and said they’d keep him another hour.  She stated she would not send him home until his pain level was down.  Said she only gave ½ dose of Morphine, and if his pain isn’t better in an hour, she’ll give the other half.   If it’s not better after that, she’ll order a CT scan.

The chronicle of the rest of the morning: 

5:17am – Paul’s been sleeping since 5.  Finally. 

5:30am- Pain still at a 6-7, so they gave the other dose.  At least he is able to stay in one position and sleep.  Only hurts to move now.

6:15am – Doc back in and has Paul stand and walk in the hall a bit.   He says pain is at a 7- not as low as they would like.  Still really hurting.   In hallway he was waiting at door, sipping some water and passed out, falling to the floor.  They ordered a CT scan and got him back in bed.

6:50am – Took Paul for his scan.   He is still in a lot of pain.

7:30am – Dr. Deak back in to say his scan looked bad.  “Lesion” at L4-L5.  This is the same problem spot previous scans have shown and without comparing films, it’s hard to say if he’s worsened.   She wants to admit him so they can monitor him and keep him on strong meds to get his pain level down.  It’s ok when he’s still, but any movement, and the pain is back to at least a 7.  It will be better to have him in the hospital so he can get better under supervision.   It’s too scary for him to be home alone with us running around and no one there to help him.   I hate to leave him though.  She left to give us time to think about it.  He has been in excruciating pain that two rounds of morphine did not help.

8:00am – Doc back in to check.   They will admit him for a day or two.  Paul asked to look at the CT films to see if he can tell any change.   We’ll try to have Maria find his old films and notes at home and to try and send over for comparison.   Poor Paulie.

8:15am- Got to see his new CT scan and Paul can tell L4-L5 is worse.  Much more bulged down than what it had been.  

9:15am- In a room now.  Rm 218.  Shared of course.  Paul is resting.  They just came in to draw blood.  Went home and got the kids ready and got Paul some books and other stuff.  

Paul:  LouAnn had not slept the entire night at this point.  While I was in and out of sleep in the ER, she stayed up, sitting next to me.

LouAnn:  Noon –  I went home and slept for 30 min, got kids cleaned up and headed back to hospital.  Paul is not good.  Really cannot move anything without excruciating pain.  The kids were glad to see him.   Sad, though.    We didn’t stay long, as his roomie was asleep, and there are no privacy curtains.   The kids and I left ate in a little café on the hospital grounds.  As we were leaving, we noticed Dad’s roommate on a bench, visiting with his wife, so we booked it back up to Paul’s room to visit again without disturbing anyone.  

4:00ish – The kids really want to ride horses, so we went our way to find horses to ride.  Checked with Inge – the owner at Bloberger Hof – and she suggested some down the street.  Nope.  THEY suggested another house down the street.  Walked 600m to see?  Nope.  We did have a pretty, cool and sprinkly walk, though. 

Paul:  That first day in the hospital was agonizing and scary.  I really struggled with the idea of being in a foreign hospital and not being sure of the type of care I would receive.  But I also knew that it would be very difficult to manage the pain I was having at Bloberger Hof.  At least in the hospital they could monitor me and give me additional medicine as I needed it.  Plus LouAnn felt much better having me there instead of leaving me at the hotel.  The room was stark, basic, yet peaceful.  Lying in bed I could see pretty trees out the window and the birds were singing.  The nurses were sweet and helpful, but with the language/culture barrier, there’s always that feeling that they don’t really understand what I’m going through.  I knew that this pain was unprecedented.  I also knew, looking at the CT scan results, that the degree of disc herniation was much more extreme than my films from several years before. 

LouAnn:  After our walk, we quickly went back to Bloberger Hof and changed into our dressier clothes.  We had a night out on the town, as we had booked tickets when we arrived, to see Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre!  Bad timing, as it turned out, as Paul couldn’t go with us, but the kids and I had a great evening together.  It was cool and rainy, making it fun to walk the streets to the theatre.  The performance was astounding!   The artistry involved in making the marionettes come to life takes 10-15 years to master.  The kids were on the edge of their seats-totally caught up in the story and the beauty of it all.   The marionettes  are controlled so perfectly.  Their motions, gestures, choreography, interactions are so realistic that you almost forget you’re not watching real people acting out the story.  Seriously.  It’s THAT good!

Afterwards it was too late to visit Paul again.  It was so hard to not be with him.   I desperately wanted to be at the hospital 24/7, but had to take care of the kids too.  Hard.

 I stayed up really late corresponding with family and getting things ready for the next day.

Paul:  This night, my first full night in the hospital, was quite possibly the worst night of my life.  The pain was unmanageable.  I lay on my back with my legs raised, but any movement – even to a slightly different position – would trigger spasms in my lower back during which I was sure I would pass out.  The spasms made my entire body tense up, I would stop breathing, and it would reach the level where I’d think to myself, “there is no possible way I can stand the pain if it gets 1 degree worse…”  But somehow the body and mind endure, and after about 20-30 seconds, the spasms would subside.  But I would then lie there in fear, still as I could manage, anticipating the next spasm.  And I could tell when it was coming; it was as if my back would give me three build-up contractions before the tsunami-of-pain hit.   I called the nurses in for more medicine several times during the night, but the morphine-blend capsules never touched the pain.  At last, morning came.  The sunlight gave me hope and made me feel better.  And LouAnn walked in around 7:30.

About 3:00am.  Waiting to see a doctor at the second hospital we tried.  He kindly redirected me to Christian Doppler Klinik, our THIRD hospital.

In the ER at CDK.

About 6:00am.  Pain still not under control.  Lots of praying going on.

Riding up in the elevator after they admitted me.  Look at the goofy tech photobombing us!

Finally resting a bit.

Sweet kids coming to visit.  It was the first time they’d seen me.

Worried…

This is a schematic of the hospital grounds.  I was in building #2.

They found a small café at the hospital….

…then came running back up to see me one more time!

Taking a walk to find horses to ride.

Never found any, but enjoyed our cool walk by the mountain.

At the Salzburg Marionette Theatre to see Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”

Beautiful marionettes.

Ready for the show!

Walking home… selfie in the store window!  Love the reflection.

Missing Dad.

Sun still setting.  Time?  10:35PM!!!!!!

Breakfast downstairs again – kids are getting better at not wasting food.   It was a rainy, cool day – 58 degrees- yay!  We get to wear our new raincoats again!  Today we planned to head into old town Salzburg to tour the Fortress.  We bought tickets to the funicular, which took us straight up the mountain to the foreboding Fortress.

As usual, we got the audio tour  – of the inner rooms, king’s residence, torture chamber, etc.   The fortress was begun in the early Roman times, then in the 1100’s the early structure was built and improved upon throughout the next few centuries.  The last fortification was in the 1500’s.  We walked to the highest tower & had a beautiful 360-degree view of Salzburg.  The kids were wide-eyed in the torture chamber, which, Mr. Audioguide told us, was NOT the torture chamber after all, just a holding room for prisoners.  For now, it just HELD the torture devices they used.   Still pretty neat.   Paul made us take the obligatory “arms-in-chains-like-a-prisoner” picture before we left.  We wandered the grounds and stumbled upon a Marionette Museum – many of which had been used in the Saltzburg Marionette Theatre.  Saw lots of original marionettes from the early century.  Beautifully crafted characters from operas, mostly.  Videos about how they made them, demonstrations, and even one you could play with and dance around.  Perfect to see since we are going to see Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Marionette Theatre tomorrow night!

Before we left the fortress, we looked all around in the Fortress Museum – furniture from the 1400’s, beds, stoves typical of life in the middle ages.  They also had a nice (nice?) collection of torture instruments – seats covered in spikes, caged head masks, thumb-screws, chastity belts, etc.  You know……the norm.   You could see the kids’ imaginations running wild.   It finally stopped raining –so we decided to take the funicular back into town and eat lunch.   We discovered the same fish place as the one at which we ate in the Zurich train station, but much cheaper this time!  The streets are very crowded with tour groups, beggars and, ah-ha! , pesky street vendors.  Very different from the night before.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, in an apartment on the third floor of a building in the center of old town.  We toured Mozart’s birthplace – listened to and read about HOW he wrote his music.  His sister, Maria, was also an amazingly accomplished pianist.  When they were young, she and Mozart gave joint concerts all over Europe.  However, living in the shadow of Mozart, she never received the fame he did.   The kids were really interested in it.

We walked around and window-shopped more.  Georgia tried on a traditional dirndl dress and wanted one SO BAD!

On the way home we stopped at Billa for dinner fixin’s – Georgia helped mom shop and we decided to do Mexican night again.

And then….. the fateful SNEEZE.   [We’re switching to LouAnn’s perspective at this point….]  Paul’s back had been hurting all afternoon long, most likely from the long car-ride the day before, and lots of carrying bags.  Around 8:30, Paul had a sneezure (what we call one of his big sneezes), and his back seized up.  He lay down until dinner to try to get it to calm down.  GT & I fixed dinner- yum!  Taco salad and sad little pita tacos, but it tasted soooo good!

Paul’s back was no better, so back to bed after dinner.   He tried to find a comfortable position during the evening and night, but the pain was excruciating, and he could never get it to calm down. Much worse than it has ever been.  He couldn’t even get in/out of bed, turn over, or walk by himself.  We all turned in, hoping that it would calm down.

From the Salzburg Fortress – the executioner’s house.  No one wanted to live next door to him!

 

Doesn’t this chair look comfortable?

A door just for GT!

The others actually found a place to SHOP inside the Fortress.

Jack trying a LITTLE too hard.

This captures what happens when we’re posing for the 63rd photo and LouAnn discovers she actually has the camera on “video”.  You have to watch it four times to see each person’s reaction.

There!  Got it!

The marionette museum.  Papageno!

Beautiful set piece depicting Hellbrunn Palace

With their newly-acquired souvenir weapons.

LOVE this one.

Isn’t she ADORABLE?

At Mozart’s birthplace – learning about how he wrote his music.

Buying groceries for Mexican Night!