Horseplay Leads to Sick Bay

That's a popular expression around US Naval ships as a warning to sailors about horsing around on the boat. And as it turns out, there is some truth to that statement as I learned last night. Although a more fitting expression for me would be "Dogplay leads to the Sindelfingen Hospital".

Last night we were just hanging out when I decided to play a game I like to call Dog Catcher with Toby (it's actually not so much of a game as it is me just picking him up in this funny position that he seems to enjoy because he doesn't fight it...but I digress). I quickly bent over (to pick him up) and smacked my brow bone/upper eye area on the corner of our desk chair and then the next thing I knew I was on all fours clutching at my eye. Brian was at my side in an instant confirming that I was indeed bleeding. Needless to say I was a little shaken up at smacking my head so hard and so out of the blue. After applying some pressure to the cut the bleeding slowed and Brian was able to figure out which ER we needed to go to.

My cute paramedic (Brian) quickly drove me over to the Sindelfingen Hospital in our ambulance (Mercedes station wagon). I do have to say the people of Sindelfingen did a wonderful job at hiding their hospital down a dark street in the middle of a residential area. We sure did miss the hard-to-miss, lit-up-like-Christmas typical American hospital last night. Once we got to the hospital and found the ER Brian had to ring a buzzer to actually get someone out front to the ER desk...weird, right? That's when it dawned on us that the ER, and really the entire hospital, was eerily quiet. We got registered and then waited in my examine room for about 40 minutes before my little German doctor came in to check me out. Here I am waiting patiently:

After an approximately three minute once-over he decided I needed two stitches and a tetnus shot. Having wagered with Brian earlier that I would NOT need stitches I was a little disappointed to hear that. Although I think my disappointment stemmed from the whole getting a shot of local anesthesia in my eye socket idea as opposed to the whole fixing my cut idea. Immediately after my diagnosis I walked across the hall in to the procedure room and the fun started! The shot of anesthesia was the worst part and luckily that was done and out of the way first. The two little stitches didn't really hurt and five minutes later I was all sewn up and heading home with instructions to get my stitches removed in 10 days at the Patch Barracks Clinic.

We got home, got ready for bed and then immortalized my wounds with a photo:

Overall the German hospital experience was a positive one. We were physically in the hospital for about an hour and 10 minutes. This morning my eye is a little swollen and bruising slightly, but not too bad. All in all, considering how hard I hit my head, I was pretty lucky to walk away with just two stitches and a new appreciation for that old Naval expression.

**Belgium posts to follow**