A Youthful Mistake, A Trip to the Hospital

So partly to quell worries of people, and partly because it is an unusual story, I thought I would post a little information about my "adventure" yesterday...

For those who don't know, yesterday was an interesting day for me. Some friends and I were attempting to play ultimate frisbee on our school's athletic fields, but the entrance was locked so we were scaling a 15 foot fence in order to enter. I know that's a terrible idea, but just bear with me on the story. On the top of the fence are rather sharp beams that protrude about 6 inches off the top of the fence to prevent people from scaling it. To make a long and graphic story short, the beams are rather effective. I ended up slipping on the top of the fence while trying to readjust my leg, and I sliced open both my hands on the metal beams.

Thanks to the calm reactions and quick thinking of my friends, I got an ambulance and made it to the hospital quickly. The injury is not terribly serious, but it required stitches in both hands and my left hand, which had the largest gash, is basically unusable for right now. Tomorrow I have to go get the bandages replaced, and I need to have the stitches in for at least a week.

One activity I participated in yesterday was not one that was on my to-do list: navigating the health care system in a country where you don't speak the language. A friend who's conversational in French came with me to the hospital, but there was little effective communication between me and the staff, which was slightly disconcerting. Basically picture being stitched up but not being able to talk to any of the people performing the procedure. That's what I did yesterday afternoon.

And trust me, I learned my lesson. The thing that makes me most upset is that I made the stupid decision in the first place to even climb the fence, since it was not only against the rules but also dangerous. I guess you live and learn, but for the hassle that this preventable accident is creating, I am frustrated with myself.

My hands should be ok...the right one only received two stitches, but my left one received 10. I will definitely keep everyone updated as the situation progresses, but I'm not in too much pain and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet since it happened. I was able to make a closed fist with my left hand, so the doctor did not seem concerned about structural damage, but once again, he also didn't speak English, so my diagnosis was a little unclear.

Moral of the story is that it that I made a bad decision, cut my hands, got to ride in a Belgian ambulance (pretty much the only part of the story that is cool) and now have the inability to get either of my hands wet (I showered with plastic bags on my hands) and a huge insurance hassle. I guess I'm coming home with plenty of interesting stories!