A Not so Free Free Freezer

We have a little catching up to do on our blog. I will make a few short blog posts over the next couple days. Two Thursdays ago, Torrey picked up a small freezer from a coworkers who was moving. I didn't go with him because I had already made plans to check out a running group. When I arrived home he was putting away the hand cart.  With a big smile he says "Don't worry but I think I need to go to the hospital...".  As he had been pulling the freezer onto the bus, he scraped the metal part which is on the back of the freezer on his shin.  It bled profusely, to the alarm of the other passengers on the bus who provided him with paper-towels and a scarf to stop the bleeding. After he got home and he realized how deep and long it was.  (We have pictures for those that are not faint of heart!)  So off to Notfall (emergency was the new word for the day) at Stadtspital Triemli.  To make a long story short, after 5 hours (mostly waiting) at the hospital, he had a tetanus shot, X-ray, 7 or 8 stitches, a cast, crutches, and prescriptions for painkillers and heparin!  They insisted he needed the cast because the cut was on the front of the shin and walking might prevent it from healing properly.  The heparin was to prevent deep vein thrombosis.  Torrey was not happy about the cast and thought it was overly pre cautious (which it probably was).  Fortunately is was a 1/2 cast, around the back of his foot and leg so he could take it off. They let him ditch the crutches and cast four days later, after two check-ups.  The crutches made is injury seem significantly worse than it was. I am thankful that he is OK and all he will end up with is a scar.

Torrey getting the cast put on his leg.

The hospital seemed like any other hospital, a bit nicer than a Canadian hospital and but not as fancy as Evergreen or Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.  We still hadn't gotten around to getting medical insurance.  In Switzerland, everyone is required to get basic medical (private insurance), but you have 3 months to do so.  When you get insurance it is supposed to be back dated to the time you arrive in Switzerland, so theoretically we will be able to get back what we had to pay for. The trip to the Notall was covered under Torrey's work emergency insurance, so we didn't pay anything for that. All we paid for was his prescriptions, which weren't very expensive. As Torrey couldn't do much physcical activity he spent the following weekend sorting through the medical insurance options. We now are in the process of getting insurance.

Waiting for the taxi home at 2:30am.