 Poster: A snowHead
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I’m already getting sores on my elbows & heels
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Oh dear - yes, that doesn't take long to happen. You need proper nursing. It does sound as though your insurance company, however good they were to start with, are failing badly on this one. Good to hear how well the hotel is supporting you, but that's scant comfort in your situation. I feel for your husband too - very hard for him.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Jake43, No idea on airport yet but been told they do the closest to the closest at home. I’m going into the QE Brum so will be landing at BHX. Presuming I’ll go from Turin unless Aosta let them use that.
Sorry to hear your tale of a family death. It’s amazing you went at all after that.
Yes, the food, wine & sun were lovely 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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This just gets worse & worse 
I now must have a PCR test to return. Trouble is, I only had covid last month after my last trip out here so it’s highly likely it’ll come back positive. If it is, they will fly me home in an Isoark (isolation chamber) on the plane.
So got to be ambulanced for a test tomorrow then fingers crossed fly home Saturday.
Well I suppose it’ll be something to tell the great nieces & nephews when they get a bit older. I wonder if they’ll let me take photos………..
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Well at least a trip out, hopefully handled comfortably by experts, will make a change from the four walls of your hotel room. The French ambulance guys who ferried me around after I broke my pelvis were all a good laugh, and thoroughly professional.
Fingers crossed it comes back negative
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Maybe you'll need to change your Forum name - something like Grimaces.... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@pam w, Love it. Yes, a day trip out, can’t wait  Regardless of result, I’m coming home so I don’t care now.
As for my user name, it’s my hubby’s nickname for me as I’m usually chuckling away at something. I refuse to submit to misery. The extra large g&t they poured tonight is definitely helping!
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@Snow&skifan, @Skimum1, @moosepig, @jedster, @Frosty the Snowman, @olderscot, @geoffknight, @valais2, @under a new name, @Nemisis, @T Bar, @Mike Pow, @Hurtle, @ElzP, @NickyJ,
Thank you all for your kind words. It’s incredibly lovely of you & is def keeping me going at the moment.
Apologies if I’ve missed anyone.
Another G&T & I’ll be threatening to go skiing again next year 
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I find it bizarre that a hospital has no facility for Covid testing of outgoing patients but maybe it's a matter of computer says no. Best of luck.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, The hospital chucked me out the same day. Did the same to a snowboarder with a fractured pelvis who just beat me in on Thurs
Thank you! 
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I wasn't detained at all with my fractured pelvis - but it was a stable fracture, nothing to be done except give me crutches and anti-thrombosis injections. But I could move around with crutches OK, and my apartment was all on the same level, things easily reachable, and I had help near at hand. I didn't want to go home at that point - the apartment was much easier than my house at home, on three levels, would have been and I had everything I needed, including friends within the apartment complex, who were great. I was hopeless on crutches on the stairs and afraid to go out, with heaps of snow and ice everywhere. Most of the time I wasn't in pain after the initial sickening impact - only when a crutch slipped, or I accidentally put weight on the wrong foot. I didn't need the strong painkillers I was given. My insurance would have medi-vacced me, but agreed that I could wait and they paid for my sister and brother in law to come out and drive me, and my car, home. Mine was a very simple injury - I was lucky. And Covid hadn't been invented.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Chuckles3, Fingers crossed the pcr test and then flight go smoothly. Good luck.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@pam w, I’m presuming & hoping mine is similar. I’ve got a screen shot of my CT scan and a corner of my left anterior acetabulum has cracked off in two pieces. Looks a fairly clean break. I can’t do a lot but can make it to the loo on crutches now which is an improvement. I’ve been told to avoid any weight bearing so shower sat in a wheelchair. I’ve even managed a hair wash now which was so good. I only get pain when trying to move my leg but oh my god, my ar@e is sore. I hate sleeping on my back - takes me back to my breast cancer op last year. Yes, covid, that’s the thing that’s stuffed everything up but as I told my travelling companions, I accepted the risk of covid & injury so we are where we are.
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I only get pain when trying to move my leg
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My fracture meant no weight bearing on my left leg. I could sleep on my right side, which fortunately was the side I had to get out of the bed, and had crutches propped within reach (it was a tiny room with a super king bed). To get out and go to the loo was a mission. Had to use my good leg to lift the bad one, being sure NOT to engage the muscles in my left leg, which took some practice. Then sit up with legs over the edge of the bed, and reach out and grab the crutches (once knocked them over and rude words ensued). Then make sure I was properly awake before hobbling off. I was alone at night after my brother and sister in law went home on the Saturday, taken to Geneva by a good friend in a neighbouring apartment (whilst his wife brought me a delicious dinner). I could get in and out of the bath to shower after a few days but it was precarious and I was very careful indeed. Had to think things through. I had a neat crack in the upper and lower pubic rami - which healed up beautifully. Those places are probably now the strongest part of my pelvis. I'd never broken a bone before - or since (touch wood). I was skiing again three months later, but not going daft. Shall probably never go daft again....
I was astonished how painless the fracture was provided I did no weight bearing. Sitting on the snow, after the crash, was fine - until my brother in law and the nice Frenchman who'd knocked me over tried to stand me up - there was no way. I never went to hospital - treated in the resort medical centre.
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You know it makes sense.
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@pam w, That’s all really interesting. I’m keen to see what the hospital say I should or shouldn’t actually be doing & whether I’ve been steered incorrectly by the hospital here in Italy. Everyone seems to agree I can’t be brought home sitting which is the main cause of the delays. A fractured arm or lower leg would have been so much easier.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Chuckles3,
Obviously, I don't know how you will be in the ambulance (in the context of wheelchair or stretcher), but ask the crew if they would like to visit a bar on the way back from the test - that way you can have a G & T in the outside world! Better still, if the test is in a pharmacy there might be a bar next door!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Nemisis, That sounds like my kind of ambulance ride! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Chuckles3,
Fingers crossed for your PCR but I don't think it's that likely that you will test positive if it's a month since you had it.
Pretty sure that most turn negative sooner than that just not everyone so if it is positive it's not likely to be new.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Chuckles3 wrote: |
| Another G&T & I’ll be threatening to go skiing again next year |
I like that attitude. You should!
I have no idea whether your acetabulum injury has a chance of resolving on its own (like @pam w's pelvis) but QE Hospital certainly will, they have a good reputation for orthopaedics as a major military hospital. At worst you will need an artificial hip which is a well established procedure.
I wouldn't get too worked up about hypothetical osteoporosis, just make sure you are checked regularly and take the recommended bone strengthening drugs. It is something to worry about when you are in your eighties* (and I comment as one who also faces various side effects from treatment). Much more important to enjoy the things that matter to you.
[*I am of course making the assumption you are currently well under 80].
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I had bone density tests following my (relatively low trauma) injury and was told I had osteopenia, which is some degree of bone thinning, but less than osteoporosis. I was prescribed the first-line drug of alendronic acid but reacted very badly to it, with major swelling of joints in my fingers (I couldn't take the lid off my shampoo). It's not a common reaction and as I'd never ever reacted to anything, any medicine, no allergies of any kind, I'd not anticipated that. Was taken off it, and given vitamin C&D pills which I confess I'm not good at taking (have a whole heap of drugs for heart failure, which I take with religious fervour). Had another DEXA scan last year, which found no change - no further measurable bone thinning. And I'm now 75. I was advised to take weight bearing exercise and not to lose any weight and am not bothered about my bones. They can take their chance, and I skied a fair bit after the pelvic fracture. I was much more concerned about more knee twisting/ligament injuries (had a few of them).
I was very fortunate with my fracture. The pain on impact was sickening, but fleeting. It hurt a lot less, and healed far quicker, than a series of soft tissue injuries I inflicted on myself just before lockdown when I stupidly dived for a ball, playing table tennis, that I had no better than 1% chance of hitting, let alone getting back on the table. I spent weeks after that in a great deal of pain, sitting up at 4 am with icepacks against my back, almost yelling when my bike went over a slight bump in the road. It took months to get better. My worst sporting injury ever. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Chuckles3, commiserations - not what you went on holiday for. Best wishes for as comfortable as possible flight home soon.
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Well talk about doing the insurance company’s job for them.
We left it last night that someone was going to come up today to do a supervised antigen test, organised by my hotel. This morning they say they can’t come & my only option is ambulance/PCR. It’s fair to say I’ve had enough of this now.
I suggested just doing a lat flow & getting me the Isoark anyway so avoiding moving me more than necessary. I’m genuinely worried about doing extra damage until I get to see a doctor I can trust. They weren’t hopeful but went away to ring the travel centre.
In the meantime, I had a lovely chat with the British Consulate General in Milan. They don’t normally get involved with insurance companies, but were so horrified I wasn’t in hospital, made an exception to intervene.
The upshot. I’ve just done a neg lat flow in the hotel, they’ll do another on me before flying & one way or another, I’m going on Saturday, either in or out of the Isoark.
The Consulate have spoken with my insurance company (they were rather shocked when I told them to expect a call), & also given me details to make a formal complaint against the hospital in Aosta regarding my lack of care. Had I been taking up a hospital bed, I bet I’d be home already.
I’ve got the Consulate's direct line/email & any issues, they are ready to fire rockets as required.
So, fingers crossed, we’re both flying home separately Saturday.
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@Chuckles3, So glad you are actually getting help - when I tried the Consulate in Vancouver for Covid help they were useless.
When we had the guy with broken Tibia on Pila trip, few years back now, we too have huge battles with Insurance for 3 days until the eventually pulled finger out and sorted an ambulance from Pila to Geneva lying flat. He was worried like you about the movement not doing it any good.
He got 3 seats on the plane to half sit lie the relevant leg. With your injury I guess fully flat would be needed so fingers crossed.
When we got to hospital in UK the plaster had been put on all wrong as it was not immobilising the ankle. Mind it was done 3 times in UK too before they were happy with it. So you are right to be worried about the Pila capability in their medical centre.
Long road of hassle coming but at least you can feel it is moving in right direction now.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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All the extra anxiety about potential further damage must be a real worry - on top of what sounds like hopeless efforts by your insurance company. So glad (and pleasantly surprised) that the Consulate is helping.
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| Chuckles3 wrote: |
Well talk about doing the insurance company’s job for them.
We left it last night that someone was going to come up today to do a supervised antigen test, organised by my hotel. This morning they say they can’t come & my only option is ambulance/PCR. It’s fair to say I’ve had enough of this now.
I suggested just doing a lat flow & getting me the Isoark anyway so avoiding moving me more than necessary. I’m genuinely worried about doing extra damage until I get to see a doctor I can trust. They weren’t hopeful but went away to ring the travel centre.
In the meantime, I had a lovely chat with the British Consulate General in Milan. They don’t normally get involved with insurance companies, but were so horrified I wasn’t in hospital, made an exception to intervene.
The upshot. I’ve just done a neg lat flow in the hotel, they’ll do another on me before flying & one way or another, I’m going on Saturday, either in or out of the Isoark.
The Consulate have spoken with my insurance company (they were rather shocked when I told them to expect a call), & also given me details to make a formal complaint against the hospital in Aosta regarding my lack of care. Had I been taking up a hospital bed, I bet I’d be home already.
I’ve got the Consulate's direct line/email & any issues, they are ready to fire rockets as required.
So, fingers crossed, we’re both flying home separately Saturday. |
Well done for getting the consulate fired up. My limited experience is that our consulates (and the Foreign Office helpline) are pretty good.
I was reading from a couple of days back in the thread and even just as a reader I was getting properly steamed up about the kafkaesque nonsense about covid testing. You and your husband must have run out of things to throw around the hotel room!
Hopefully swift progress form here
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| pam w wrote: |
| All the extra anxiety about potential further damage must be a real worry - on top of what sounds like hopeless efforts by your insurance company. So glad (and pleasantly surprised) that the Consulate is helping. |
+1. You must be climbing up the walls. Oh wait...  Seriously, I hope that no more hassle ensues and that you are safely back in the UK on Saturday.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Chuckles3, well done!
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@Chuckles3, hope the flight goes OK and I'm sorry for you about the whole incident.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Chuckles3, yay
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hope the flight/transfer goes well
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This thread’s been a reminder to me to make sure that I choose highly regarded/recommended travel insurers, perhaps checking such discussions on snowheads. There’s a temptation to always find the cheapest premium.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Snow&skifan, Amen to that. Even this afternoon they initially booked MrChuckles3 on a flight back tonight, rather than tomorrow. After a major panic, all was sorted in the end. I fly at 1205 now & can’t believe I’m actually looking forward to getting settled in a hospital at home
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Sorry to hear this and I wish you a speedy recovery. I was skiing in Grindelwald in January with a group of friend's and came a accross a young guy who'd had an awkward fall and was in a position were he could have fallen into a brook. One of his ski's had not released and he was in some pain. We stopped to help him and we realised that although not badly injured he was in shock and had got quite cold. We released his ski and helped him back up to the piste and skied with him back down the mountain where he managed to contact his friend from whom he had got seperated . I always think if you come across any situation like this you should stop and do the honourable thing and help. You never know when you might need help yourself. There are far to many selfish people around these days and don't want to be inconvenienced by such situations. There's still plenty of good people out there however, don't loose your faith. Take care and get well soon.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Snowbandit56, you are so right there.
Best of luck to @Chuckles3, hope you have as comfortable journey back as possible tomorrow.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I once rescued an Italian lad who had got himself hung upside down in a bush. He and a mate had been hooning down a red run on blades. Mucking about really. There's a famous bit where it's a fairly steady gradient for a bit, then goes over an edge and is quite steep. Often misjudged - a pisteur I did a "morning patrol" with one day told me it was the place where they most often pick up crashes. They come over there, he said, "puis ils volent". Anyway, this Italian had flown alright - right into some bushes at the side of the piste. Blades don't release (or those ones didn't, anyway, more modern ones do) and one of his blades had caught in the branches, with him on his back and utterly unable to reach the thing and unhook himself. He wasn't hurt, but shaken up and his pride rather dented - Italians like to look cool on the piste. And he didn't. I quite enjoyed helping him out.
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@Pamski, Thank you!
@pam w, I bet you’ve got loads of stories to tell. It’s nice to hear occasionally it’s not just me that gets into a pickle.
@Snowbandit56, Cheers, much appreciated. Good to hear of your good deeds on snow. I do know last week was an exception.
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Bon voyage, @Chuckles3. We look forward to the next instalment of your saga. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I’m pleased to say I’m typing from the back of an ambulance, whizzing my way to Turin. After yet another cock up with hubby’s flights yesterday, I’m pretty amazed I’m on the move!
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Excellent. Hope you have a smooth flight home
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FAQ
' (He was a doctor and he occasionally used this phrase to stop people describing the details of their ailments in social settings.) 