Shaky start

Seth's folks have finally come out to visit us in Florence! This is their first time out of the country so it was very exciting for them to get a taste of Italy. They arrived Friday, which was a day late because their original flight was canceled. They made it over to our apartment nonetheless, and dropped their bags and grabbed a quick lunch with us at the Trattoria Da Rocco inside Sant'Ambrogio market. This was about as far as we got, because as soon as we left to go see David Seth's poor mom slipped off the very uneven sidewalk and landed hard on her knees. She could barely move and was in a lot of pain so we shuffled over to the hospital that was luckily only two blocks away. We checked her into the ER and waited about 6 hours before she was helped. Though it wasn't exacly David, waiting in the hospital was at least an interesting lesson on Italian culture.

Poor Linda had broken her right kneecap and was placed in a very heavy full-leg cast. Of course the hospital didn't loan crutches--in fact, they didn't even have any in supply to sell--so we had to buy a set from a medical supply store downtown the next day after a consultation with an orthopedic doctor. Though at times dealing with the hospital seemed haphazard (in the typical Italian sense), we do have to hand it to them--after a CAT scan (she hit her head hard), two x-rays, the cast, and doctor visit, they were only billed 300euro (about $420), and the crutches were only 40 euro. This all probably would have cost thousands in the US.

Upon getting home we didn't think Linda would be able to make it up the three flights of very narrow stairs to our apartment, but she did, but she hasn't been able to leave since then. Seth went with his dad to Rome yesterday for two nights since we couldn't cancel the B&B they had booked (the Domus Livia -- this was an issue in itself that involved them lying to us about their inability to cancel or change the booking despite the emergency and over 40 hours notice), and I have been hanging out with Linda. At least I don't have school today so I can spend time at home with her and prepare for Aunt Dee and Eileen's arrival tonight. It is funny Seth's parents and my aunt and cousin's visit will overlap by several days, but we are just happy that everyone could come out. Poor Linda, though--I hope we can think of a way to get her out to see a few sights, at least the Duomo!