Sarah and Mark....(Sarah, my best friend for over 20 years now and Mark her husband and my friend since they got hitched a while back now in the British Virgin Islands...Our first out of USA trip together.) came to visit Andrew and I in Florence a little over a week ago. We began or journey through the Tuscan hill towns of Cortona and Perugia.
Cortona is a lovely Etruscan hill town under the Tuscan sun. We stayed at a cozy renovated convent, Casa Betania, with incredibly gracious hosts. The above photos are from the convent and it's mystical views. All was well until Sunday afternoon in Perugia. We all climbed into our small yellow Fiat rental
when I began to get the chills. Covered in everyone's coats and scarves I began to resemble..well...
see the photo. I came down with a fever and flu like symptoms. I missed work on Monday and pushed through the remaining days of the week while Sarah and Mark visited many of our lovely Florentine sites.
See their blog... Adventures with Sarah and Mark
On Thursday I began channeling Kathleen Turner and my voice continued to get deeper and huskier until my voice went completely away. Sarah and Mark's friends from the States
arrived and joined in on our travel adventures. We all already had tickets and hotel reservations to go to Venice for the weekend. This was not the weekend to be sick. I tried to take it easy and skip most of the sight seeing for the comforts of the hotel bed. (Thanks Sarah and Mark for getting our Hilton hotel room with your points!!!) I pushed myself through it using interpretative dance instead of words.
Finally Sunday morning we had to go to the hospital in Venice. The city hospital - Ospedale Civile di Venezia – is situated in a Castello between the embankment Fondamenta Nove and the square Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Now, I am enrolled in the Italian Health care program but I was a bit worried about how to deal with the paperwork. However, there was no need to worry. According to Italian legislature you must to be rendered emergency aid regardless of your having insurance policy on hand or not. In case of a illness, there’s no necessity in rushing to to find your insurance-papers. It is just enough to go to ER, pronto soccorso, and get all fixed up.
The Ospedale Civile di Venezia is in an old church...see photos.
Andrew came with me to the hospital while the others continued their sight seeing tour of Venezia. It was a trip walking through these old structures and than into a nice hospital inside the ornate church. The initial wait to see a doctor wasn't long but it did take a long time to get all my tests and the results. I did see 3 doctors. A radiologist, an ear nose throat doctor and a general medical doctor that was in charge of coordinating all of my results and write up my treatment. Very few people spoke English and I had to struggle to squeak out Italian through my whispery, raspy voice. It all worked out. I was given prescriptions and a written treatment that says that I should no speak much for 20 days! Oh and it was all FREE!!!!!! No copay, no notheing...FREEE!!!!!! Well, I will have to work on the no talking part once I get my voice back. That should be interesting and challenging...since I am a teacher and all.
This is an old photo that I found online of the hospital. Nella foto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, detto il Canaletto: La Chiesa dei SS.Giovanni e Paolo con la Scuola di S.Marco (particolare). 1725 Dresda, Gemaldegalerie.
I am now back in Florence resting my voice and body and following the doctors orders. I have missed a couple days of work but I have no voice...and hence no choice.
Sarah and Mark, Kim and Long are now off to the Florence airport onward and upward to Amsterdam. Wish we could have had some more time together...time not sick and time without me sounding like I just smoked a carton of cigarettes for breakfast. I miss them...Come back....
Oh well, at least they learned a bit more about Socialized Medicine during their visit. I will upload photos soon. I promise.
