Navigating Injury Abroad (Part 1)
Getting seen at the hospital is only the beginning
We’ve navigated a number of reactive health issues around the world, most of them relatively minor in the grand scheme of things:
Dental issues in Argentina and Albania
Skin and topical issues in Japan, Albania, and Norway
An ongoing sinus issue for which we consulted doctors in Albania and Austria
And, of course, we’ve had bouts of regular colds and viruses that have just had to run their course. But now we’re dealing with a bigger issue—an injury—and it’s been challenging.
S injured her knee and can’t walk. She was playing volleyball in PE/gym, stepped wrong, and her knee went out on her. It’s akin to what happened to her in September 2022 when we were living in California. That knee injury, also sustained during PE/gym, ended up being a partially broken knee cap and a torn ligament (not ACL or MCL, fortunately). It took months for her to fully recover, with lots of physical therapy. It was difficult, but she was able to be weight bearing, with a brace, relatively soon after the injury happened. And she had the loveliest friends who dropped by the house in the early days before she could go back to school, which raised her spirits.
This time it’s similar, but different because we’re outside of our home country. And nothing is easy when you have to navigate a system you don’t understand.
Here’s what happened (you can watch the video and/or read below):
C messaged me while I was at the gym to say school had called: S hurt her knee badly in gym/PE, couldn’t walk, and was crying. Shit. It was déjà vu. I didn’t panic, but I did have some immediate concerns: First, we didn’t have a car to go get her and second, we didn’t know where to take her to be evaluated. There are a number of private hospitals in Tirana, none of which are spectacular, but all of which are fine (as far as we know). Which should we choose? We assumed the injury was similar to last time and so wasn’t an emergency as such, but it was definitely urgent. Without our prior experience, I might’ve started panicking.
Since I was at the gym, I asked for a recommendation for where to take S and decided on one of the American hospitals (it’s mostly that in name only). I ordered C a taxi. He said the driver sped like a bat out of hell to school when C told him his daughter was injured and then drove super gingerly once he picked her up, trying to minimize the bumps.
I walked home as fast as I could (on sore legs that I had just obliterated working out), showered quickly, grabbed a bite to eat, and ordered myself a taxi to go meet them. S was getting an x-ray when I arrived. While that part was fairly quick, we had to wait an age for a consult with the orthopedic doctor. It was a bit frustrating because S had to be in a room by herself; they wouldn’t let us in, I think because it wasn’t a private room and other patients came in and out while she waited. But we were right outside in the hall (on the floor because there was no waiting area) and she could yell if she needed anything, plus she had her phone. Fortunately, nearly everyone who helped her spoke English.
The doctor finally arrived and consulted with her first, then came out and shared the same news with us: No break (good) but she’d need an MRI in 7-10 days once the swelling went down. In the meantime, she needed to stay off her leg, ice her knee, put some topical gel on it, and take ibuprofen to help with the pain and inflammation.
That’s basically what we expected and we were glad to hear nothing was broken. What was different was having to head off to the pharmacy on our own to get crutches; they weren’t provided by the hospital. So if you arrive alone with a leg injury, I’m not sure how you’d navigate that. I headed off to buy the crutches (€30) while C payed for the x-ray and consult (€64); S waited in the reception area in a wheelchair.
We ordered another taxi home and S had a really difficult time getting in and out of the car. She couldn’t bend or unbend her knee and any time she bumped it even slightly the pain was excruciating. But the hardest part was getting her into the villa. The house in California was a ranch—all one level. The villa in Tirana is two floors and to reach the first floor you have to go up a flight of stairs. Oy.
She ended up butt scooting one stair at a time and it was agony. She had to rely entirely on her arms to push herself up, while trying to keep her knee steady, and her entire leg was like dead weight. We offered to help, but she didn’t want it. She needed the satisfaction (if you want to call it that) of doing something independently. It was really hard to watch her be so stubborn and bear so much pain.
Fortunately, her bedroom is on the first floor, but for the next handful of days she was relegated to either her room or the kitchen. The living room wasn’t an option because the heater in there was broken (story for another day), so life was very limited. And she needed help doing nearly everything the first few days, including getting into bed.
She sat at the kitchen table with her knee propped up on an ottoman and a package of frozen vegetables balanced on top. She couldn’t go to school and couldn’t take a shower. The outlook was pretty grim from a mental health perspective. Whereas in California she’d had friends come see her, here she didn’t have that. It could’ve made a huge difference, but we don’t know people as well and none of her friends live near us, so it was rough.
We also had to figure out how we were going to get her to school once the swelling went down and she could navigate a bit better on crutches. The way she had been getting to school wasn’t going to be possible…