Day 8 - Sunday, May 7, 2017 - Ambulance to Wels, Austria hospital
Standing up in the bathroom around 7am, I felt excruciating pain in my groin and broke out in a heavy sweat. I managed to make it to the bed but the pain did not ease. Joann, one of our tour companions and a nurse checked me out and said I should see a doctor. The cruise director made the announcement one sees in movies - "If there is a doctor on the ship, please come to the main desk". An orthopedic surgeon on the cruise came to the room, probed a bit and suggested going to the hospital, the concern being appendicitis. In a few minutes, an ambulance arrived with EMTs and another car with a doctor. The doctor put in an IV and started doses of morphine. I was put in a wheelchair and carted to the waiting ambulance. Carmen was able to ride with me in the ambulance.
The ambulance took off through the countryside with the blue lights flashing and sirens going as they passed slower traffic and went through intersections. They brought me to the Klinikum Hospital in Wels, a city of 60,000 about 30 minutes away.
The rest isn't very exciting. An ultrasound was done to check I didn't have appendicitis and the guess was that I had kidney stones, a painful experience I had once before in Kingston about 25 years before which also entailed an ambulance ride. I was scheduled for a CT scan the next morning.
Why am I smiling? It is amazing what a great job morphine does of killing pain and inducing a state of warm fuzziness. The nurses were very good at providing more doses when the pain returned. The doctors assured me that the doses were very small and I didn't need to be concerned about any negative consequences.
Carmen asked if she could spend the night but they said only new mothers are allowed to stay. She asked about hotels but was told there weren't any. (This may have been a communication problem - most of the doctors and staff spoke relatively little English although I'm thankful that it was better than my negligible German). Fortunately, we could text on our phone and Ginny, our tour leader back on the ship was able to reserve a very nice small hotel near the train station and 15 minutes walk from the hospital.
The ambulance took off through the countryside with the blue lights flashing and sirens going as they passed slower traffic and went through intersections. They brought me to the Klinikum Hospital in Wels, a city of 60,000 about 30 minutes away.
The rest isn't very exciting. An ultrasound was done to check I didn't have appendicitis and the guess was that I had kidney stones, a painful experience I had once before in Kingston about 25 years before which also entailed an ambulance ride. I was scheduled for a CT scan the next morning.
Why am I smiling? It is amazing what a great job morphine does of killing pain and inducing a state of warm fuzziness. The nurses were very good at providing more doses when the pain returned. The doctors assured me that the doses were very small and I didn't need to be concerned about any negative consequences.
Carmen asked if she could spend the night but they said only new mothers are allowed to stay. She asked about hotels but was told there weren't any. (This may have been a communication problem - most of the doctors and staff spoke relatively little English although I'm thankful that it was better than my negligible German). Fortunately, we could text on our phone and Ginny, our tour leader back on the ship was able to reserve a very nice small hotel near the train station and 15 minutes walk from the hospital.
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