I arrived in Rome, this past Friday, August 24, and I was 100% in awe! It was everything I imagined... from the way the city is organized, the character that the buildings portray, the enormity and integrity of these ancient structures, the the countless amounts of buildings in one contextually small area which are older than the United States themselves! On Friday, we got settled into the apartment. It is much bigger than I thought. It has 3 bathrooms, a living area with TV and what seems to be basic cable, a kitchen with all the basics plus 2 refrigerators, 3 bedrooms, a breezeway, and 2 balconies... one exterior and one that is more of an internal airshaft. They supplied us with dishes, cookware, mops, brooms, and anything else to make a shared apartment run smoothly... furnishings too, of course.
On Saturday and Sunday, I was mainly just exploring and taking it all in. I went to the Campo de Fiori fresh marketplace on Saturday, tried to tie up some loose ends with technology (phones, adapters, all that fun stuff), and went out to dinner with a few people. after dinner, we met a couple really cool Italians... Paolo and Leo... they're two very down-to-earth guys who were just looking to make friends. They call us their "English teachers," and naturally, they're our Italian teachers. They are both from Siciliy... near Catania, but are now both working in Rome. We joked around with them for a while in Piazza Navonna, and then retired for the evening.
Sunday hit, and everyone was now at least 3% acclimated with their surroundings, so the excitement of being in Italy and living there for 4 months set in. We went grocery shopping, took walks, and explored more. Then, at night, we thought it would be appropriate to go out and celebrate everyone's arrival in Roma for the Fall 2007 semester! So, we went out to a couple of little places here and there, including the Piazza de Travastere, where we all sat and talked on the fountain for a while... ultimately, we settled in at an Irish Pub/dance club near Piazza Navonna, and had a good time. at about 2 or 2:30 AM, we headed back to the apartment.
This is where the most awful part of the trip will be described. The reason I’m including this is my blog is because I feel like anyone who has the address of this site has every reason to know about this. The description may be somewhat graphic, so if that bothers you, I suggest you click off the page now. I don't know any details about what happened next, because whatever happened, I was not fully conscious for. If I was at all conscious, any and all memories of the "before" are now lost for good reason. If I was not conscious, it was probably due to sleepwalking, which I am not known to do, but have done it five or six times in my lifetime. Anyway, onward and upward. At some point around 5:15 AM, I got out of bed, and walked toward the common area of the house. I won't pretend to know exactly how all this played out, as no one saw it happen, and as I had just explained, I was either unconscious, or have no recollection. What ultimately happened is that I fell from our internal air shaft balcony. It was 4 stories off the ground, and with 12 foot ceiling heights on every floor, that gave me about a 50 ft drop to where I ultimately landed. This is when I woke up/where my first memories start to become clear and though I don't remember every last detail from this point on, I do remember a few. I remember yelling and asking "Is Amy okay?" over and over again... why I would ask this, I don't know, and it scares me to no end to think that that could've been an appropriate question to ask (ie danger in the apartment). I told them that I thought my leg was broken, but I was still discombobulated from the fall (of course), so I didn't know the extent of my injuries. Thanks to the University of Miami students who lived on the first floor for soaking up my blood with their towels, and for being such kind people with great intentions. The ambulance eventually got to the apartment, and took me to the public hospital that borders the Vatican. I'll try to abbreviate the story as much as possible, and I'll list off the things that they did to me at the hospital as well as all of my injuries:
14 X-Rays
MRI
CAT Scan
6 Stitches to a 2 1/4 - 2 1/2" gash in my head
4 Stitches to a 1 3/4" gash just forward of my left elbow on the inside of my arm... cut straight to the bone
Nerve damage/cervical trauma side-effects to my left hand... I can't feel my pinky or my ring finger on my left hand or the parts of the palm that are directly beneath those two fingers. They think this will eventually go away.
Broken Left Pinky Toe - it was not a good sight to look at... didn't really look like one of MY toes
Deep lacerations to the right foot and back
Right elbow and tricep 90% covered in lacerations
Left leg and left arm very limited lateral mobility, and acute joint problems
Smaller lacerations occurring all over body... from back of left knee to back, neck, chest, arms
You'll notice that one of the things on that list wasn't "DEAD." I am thankful to no end for that and I'm sure that powers much higher than myself were watching over me as I went through this truly unfortunate event. It is absolutely a miracle, and the only things doctors could credit to my survival other than a miracle was because of my devotion to athletics, and the fact that I go to the gym all the time. So if you ever have one of those nights where you kind of want to go the gym, but would rather go out and play video games with your buddies, go to the gym first... it could save your life. On a serious note, I don't care if you try to explain it with science or faith... it was a miracle, and I know I should be dead. And thank God I'm not, because there are too many people I care for, and too many who care for me.
I was in the hospital from 6 AM on August 26 until 1 PM August 28, and it was miserable. I don't mind the pain.. I never have. I just can't stand being immobile, whether it is for good reason or not. The language barrier was tough, but I got a lot better at my Italian while I was there. The doctors and nurses are not as nice as doctors and nurses in the states, which was disappointing but copable. It made me feel bad for all the unfortunate souls who have to be in the hospital or convalescent home for days, weeks, or years on end. I have a new understanding and appreciation for people who can undergo that while still keeping their spirits up.
On August 28, I was informed that I was to leave the Rome Study Abroad program. I'm too much of a liability for the program, and they want me to be checked out by American doctors. It sucks. Plain and simple. People assume things before anyone gets the facts straight. I may have gone over the balcony ledge under my own power while in a sleepwalking unconscious state, but I'll always wonder what really happened... why was I asking if my girlfriend was okay? It could've been countless things that happened, and that block in my head will most likely never come back. What I do know is that I have an unbelievable family who would do anything for me. They've received calls for the past 4 days non-stop, and they've worked so hard for me from an administrative perspective, from a health perspective, a support perspective, a love perspective, and an open-minded perspective. They've used all their resources, from the US embassy, to brothers of fiances and fiances, to aunts, uncles, friends, relatives... you name it... and all who helped are now family to me. My tattoo was unscathed.... yet my entire right upper arm is destroyed with cuts... my tattoo is a family-themed tattoo.... go figure.
No internal bleeding, no internal damage, no damage to my face, nothing other than a deep surface cut to my head... no spine problems, no neck problems... no life-threatening problems. Thankful is not the word. 50 feet through pipes, poles, sharp edges, and ultimately hitting a hard tile floor backed by 500 year old concrete. The space where my body landed must have measured 2 ft x 3 ft... the balcony opening from our floor was about 5 ft x 5 ft. I can't begin to imagine the forces which were acting on me to bring me to the absolute "safest" landing a human can endure upon meeting such a horrible fate.
Don't get me wrong... it all hurts. Physically, mentally, everything... It hurts to know I won't get a chance to study abroad in a place that means this much to me, but I'll be back.... count on it... one way or another, I'll be back. I love my life. I'm lucky, I'm loved, I'm constantly monitored by something higher than myself.. and for those reasons, and all the others I've said to this point, nothing else matters.
I will eventually post pictures of the accident site, the aftermath, etc, but I need to share those images with my parents and family first before I'd feel comfortable showing them to everyone else. Until then, you can enjoy these pictures below of the "pre-August 26th evening" Rome experience.
By the way, since I've been out of the hospital, my cousin Johanna came up from vacationing in the south of Italy to help me get through this. She got me so many things, from canes to help me walk, to bus tickets, and medicines, slings, bandages, food, and so much more in moral support. She was a great liaison between myself and all Italian speakers. My Italian is fair, but in the realm of hospitals and specific life-or-death kind of things, I'd trust her first. Her friend, Ari, also came up for the day, and again, was an amazing help in the same way. So if either of you read through this, than please know your help was not, nor will it ever go unnoticed.
Today, I got some Birkenstocks to keep my feet comfortable, and they help me walk 10 fold. I also went out to lunch, and got the tail end of my Visa processed, so as to avoid any improperly-filed paperwork. I also walked from the lunch place all the way back to my hotel, which took me about an hour, but to be fair, it was a decent distance. Progress every day. I'll be back in the states on Saturday, and then back to Rome and Italy at large for more of a vacation sometime in October until the beginning of November. I will not be attending RPI this Fall... I'll hopefully be taking some night classes at home, and I'll have to take a summer course or two or three at RPI, but I'm determined to graduate on time. Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm in a hotel now, thanks to Johanna and Ari. Hotel Ara Pacis right near the Vatican and about a half mile or so to Campo de Fiori (my old home). The web site is http://www.hotelarapacis.com/. It has A/C and free wi-fi in the lobby of the hotel (where I am now).
I've written my brain away, and I'm sure your eyes are tired by now. I'll be blogging again tomorrow when I get back from my Rome sightseeing bus tour and a museum visit with the other students whom I'm meeting at 7 PM tomorrow.
Thanks again to all who have helped. You'll always be in my thoughts and prayers, and I'm glad to be surrounded by company such as yourselves. La seconda vita รจ la dolce vita. Run it through a translator. Ciao!
