Part 4

Robby's story ends with this...

"I need to do more homework and less blogging. Katie is home. That makes me happy and sad. Happy, because she is safe. Sad, because she added so much to our group and had a passion to do the work with a good attitude."

It can be found here.


I guess I will sum up the rest of the Adventures since Robby had homework.

I ended up having to stay in the Bucharest hospital for 3 days. I was blessed to have visitors with me for most of my time in the hospital. It was either President and Sora Lundberg, Robby, Dr. Hansen, or Dr. Brady. The insurance people kept telling me that they were going to fly me out that night, and that night came and they were going to fly me out the next morning. That morning came and they were going to fly me out that afternoon. It wasn't very fun. While I was in the hospital the Romanian nurses told me that I didn't need to take the shots that Dr. Brady prescribed me, but Dr. Brady told me I still needed to use them. Every morning and every night I would have to limp to the bathroom, dragging my IV pole behind me, hide in there and give myself a shot in my stomach of anticoagulant. Those hurt. My first day in the hospital, after my night of practically no sleep, was the Saturday of the October General Conference. I was missing it! Luckily, I got a weak internet connection and with Robby's help we were able to download a talk or two. One of the talks we downlaoded was "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Wirthlin. If any of you thought that talk was written for you, I'm sorry, but that talk was written for me. It was just what I needed to renew my faith and hope. It was powerful! After Robby and I were uplifted, we noticed a professional socer game going on outside my hospital window. Robby watched, described it to me, and took pictures so I could see what I was missing. I thought it was pretty cool. My second day I was in the hospital, I finally saw a doctor. He looked at my leg, gave me some compression socks (I really hate compression socks!), and asked if I wanted to go to Vienna. I told him yes and he said he would tell the insurance and hopefully get me flown out of there soon. (It was a very legit procedure.) I was sure that I was going to be leaving that day, but they couldn't fly me out right away. We had to wait for a doctor to come from London and then he would check my records, my leg, my blood, and listen my story and then he would fly with me to Vienna. But he didn't come until the next day. When I came to understand that I would not get to see those kids in the orphanage or hospital again... my heart just broke. I felt like I had just gotten there. Four weeks of my internship in Iasi, Romania was just not enough. Since we knew I wasn't going to back to Iasi, two students from my group, Rhett and Rachel, packed up all of my stuff and took the 5 hour train ride to bring it to me. It was so nice to see more familar faces that morning. I also got a surprise call from Jeremy while I was staring at my breakfast food! He called Robby's cell phone and I got to finally talk to my fiance! It was so nice to hear his voice. I didn't get to talk to Jeremy for very long because some nurses came in and started yelling at me and rearranging the way my leg was propped up, so I told Jeremy that I had to go. I was so mad at that point. I was "eating" breakfast and I was on the phone and the nurses just didn't care. The nurses also kicked out my friends because there were too many people in the room. It was sad. I had to say good-bye to them and tell them to take good care of the kids that I had grown to love. Hugs were shared, tears were shed, and they were on their way back to Iasi. I think it was around noon when the doctor from London showed up. When he checked my blood he said that I had too much anticoagulant in my system and that I would have to wait another day to fly if the levels didn't come down that afternoon. I prayed so hard that my next blood tests would come back with the results I needed. Luckily, the next PTINR test was just under the number the doctor had said. YES! I was going to Vienna. But not right away because we had to make special travel arrangements for me to fly. My mom at this point had already arrived in Vienna and was waiting for me there. I had been laying in a bed for three days in the same clothes and I was determined to get up and shower before I flew. Robby told the nurses that I wanted to shower, I just wasn't that fluent in Romanian. After trying to tell the nurses over and over that I could shower by myself, I just gave up. There was a nurse about my age that helped me shower. That was super awkward. I swear the last time that I was naked in front of someone was when I was like 5. She held the water above my head while I lathered and rinsed my hair and body. I was grateful to be clean at the end of it all. I worked slowly on packing up my stuff to prepare to go to Vienna. I wasn't very mobile, but I wanted to organize my things. President and Sora Lundberg and their son came to visit me and say good-bye. They were such an incredible positive influence. Eventually the time came when the London doctor came back and assured me we were really going to leave and that the travel plans were all set. I couldn't believe it! The nurses wheeled me down the hall, into the scary elevator, and out to the ambulance. They even left the needle in my hand (ouch) for the IV- thanks guys. The next I know I am strapped on the stretcher in the ambulance and had to just grab Robby's hand and tell him good-bye. It all went by too quick. I didn't feel like I got to express how grateful I was for everything he did for me. So here you go Robby!

To Robby-

Thank you for helping through, hands down, one of the toughest times in my life. Thank you for humoring me by taking pictures of every thing that happened. Thank you for letting me talk to my family and fiance on your cell phone. Thank you for eating my gross hospital food so the nurses would think that I was eating. Thank you for telling the nurses that I wanted to take a shower after being in bed for three days. Thank you for letting me cry when I just couldn't take it anymore. Thank you for telling me that everything was going to be ok.

I was in need and you were willing to serve. I will be forever grateful to you!


-Katie

After we got to the airport, the London doctor took care of everything and just wheeled me around in my wheelchair. We were lucky enough to be given access to the business lounge! It was abounding in goodies- chocolate, chips, soda, pretzels, all sorts of stuff. Here is my post from the lounge. The plane ride luckily was uneventful. I sat at the back and used an empty chair to prop my leg up on. All the passengers watched me as I limped to the back of the plane with the help of an attendant and an big needle in the back of my hand. They were probably so curious. The doctor sat next to me and took my vitals every once in a while during the flight to make sure I wasn't about to keel over. We made it to Vienna and a stretcher and ambulance was waiting for me when I arrived. Great. haha! Well we made it to the hospital quick because they had the lights going. I had gone from everybody speaking Romanian around me, which I kind of knew, to having everybody speaking German! All I knew in German was thank you. Haha. I made it to the hospital and was so happy to see my mom. It was so wonderful! The London doctor gave my Vienna doctor the records and they talked for a bit and then he took of (back to London I assumed). We pretty much blogged religiously from there on out because we had continuous internet connection and not much to do since the nurses wouldn't allow me to leave my bed. So you can read about our time in Vienna by looking through these posts.

Well thanks for reading about my Blood Clot Adventures. I think this was more for me so I could make sure the experience was down in writing.

Have a wonderful day and continue to be grateful for all you and I have been blessed with!


P.S. Wasn't General Conference just great!