This post has a lot going on so, to start off, I thought it fitting to mention how authentically and extremely Italian my family is. My husband is the sweetest because a goal of his was to bring me to Italy for the first time. My family is from Sicily but the flights there were awfully expensive so he planned a trip to Rome. If it's one thing Matt is amazing at it's finding great hotels, good food, and making trips memorable. He flew us in on a Friday night (wanting to wake up in Rome) and booked our hotel right next to the Forum. He also spoke to a friend of ours who used to live in Rome about where great restaurants and gelato were. I felt so lucky! Matt also mentioned to me the legend of the Trevi Fountain. If you stand with your back to the fountain and throw a coin over your left shoulder you're guaranteed to return to Rome. Well this certainly is true for my husband, as he’s visited Rome before, but later in the post you'll understand why this saying turned more literal for us.
The city was breathtaking. We were expecting blazing hot, sunny skies but got rain and thunderstorms instead on our first morning there. The spare umbrella we brought from home was too small to sufficiently cover us from the incredibly heavy rain so we took cover under an awning, along with many other tourists, and waited the storm out. After about fifteen minutes the storm calmed down and we were able to walk again. Knowing Rome’s history of power and brilliance (check out the podcast Hardcore History:Punic Wars) made the menacing booms of thunder less of a backdrop and more of a statement. These beautiful, towering buildings and monuments became more lucid and you felt in your bones the deep, powerful history that occurred. It amazed me how incredibly forward thinking and creative the Roman people were at the time their city was built. Art, in many forms, can posses a motivated function such as communication or making a social statement. The obvious forms to me were paintings, sculptures, music (among others) but in this moment I realized how powerful architecture was in conveying the Roman mindset. Looking at massive building upon massive building with incredible detail, beauty, and character made me realize the Romans didn't think small. They couldn't build this city with mediocre dreams and outlooks. They had to be a people possessed with visions of greatness, a desire to challenge the norm, and the tenacity to actually build what they dreamed of. After all these years the city still feels powerful, sturdy, and authoritative. Every corner we turned there was something iconic, grand and beautiful.
We were able to see quite a bit our first day such as the Pantheon, Forum, St. Paul's Cathedral (Vatican City), and Trevi Fountain (which was closed!). Matt started feeling sick around dinner time so we went back to the hotel and called it a day. Our Roman holiday began to take a twist, though, when my husband's stomach wasn't getting better. He was used to having certain kinds of stomach pains but this time felt different and by 1:00 am he needed to see a doctor. The hotel called a taxi and we began racing to an emergency room. The driver, sensing our urgency, was flying down the old Roman roads and poor Matt was in agony because the cobblestone streets make for a jolting, uncomfortable ride. Once we arrived the doctor did some tests and we had to wait nervously overnight for the results. No one in the hospital spoke English so Matt's brother (who speaks fluent Italian) had to speak to the doctor for us, in the morning, to make sense of the test results. We were told Matt needed emergency surgery for appendicitis and a couple hours later the surgeon came in (who thankfully spoke English extremely well) to explain the situation better.
Our options were: 1) to stay at the hospital for surgery 2) fly back to Zurich and have surgery there or 3) go to a different Roman hospital (we didn’t know how good this one was). Thanks to Matt's wonderful parents, they connected us with the mission president for Rome and the lead medical counsel for Europe. For those who aren't Latter Day Saints: in our church we have missionaries who travel all over the world to spread the gospel of Christ. Each missionary is called to serve in a specific geographical boundary and each boundary has their own mission leaders who oversee the day to day for the missionaries in their particular boundary. Also, we have retired doctors assigned to various areas of the world who oversee the healthcare of missionaries making sure proper procedure and protection is taken. Needless to say they're the kind of people with enough knowledge, resources, and connections to quickly help anyone in need. The area medical advisor called us personally to discuss the research he did on the hospital, saying we couldn’t find a better surgeon in Rome, and advised us to stay. Shortly after, the mission president surprisingly came to the hospital himself to give Matt a blessing of healing. We knew how busy he was so we were expecting him to send missionaries instead. Our hospital room overflowed with the Spirit. For these amazing men to personally and quickly act in our situation spoke volumes not only of their kindness and how wonderful our church is but the power God has to find us and help us. I'm getting emotional typing this but we knew God's influence was over us and He wasn’t going to leave us.
We chose to stay at the hospital and ended up being there for the next four days while Matt recovered. The surgeon told me, after he completed the procedure, Matt’s appendix not only had an infection but was severely swollen. Had we traveled, the situation would’ve turned life threatening. When he left, the nurses had me wait outside the room, a minute later Matt was wheeled back into the hospital room, and I could re-enter when they got him situated. This was probably the toughest moment because anesthesia makes people cold and shiver uncontrollably so it was difficult seeing Matt in this condition and not being able to immediately be with him.
Otherwise, what an adventure those four days were. The nurses would barge in at 6:00 am to poke and prod Matt without warning or explanation, we had to use Google Translate to communicate, and the hospital fed me four course meals (usually provided for their
patients) since Matt was unable to eat real food. Strangely, being there reminded me of my family because the hallways were constantly loud. The nurses didn't speak, they yelled, and there were many dramatic, loud patients too. When Matt could finally eat I did what any amazing wife would do and took a taxi to get gelato. What should've been a 20 minute trip took an hour and half. When I got our ice cream, the taxi driver screamed at me (in Italian) because he didn't want ice cream in his car (although I thought I had them adequately secured) so I paid my fare, slammed the door hard, and asked the gelato shop to help call another taxi. The new taxi took me back to the hospital but didn't have a working credit card machine so we took another 30 minutes to find an ATM. Thankfully the front desk at the hospital took Matt his gelato, while I went to the ATM, so he was able to enjoy it. Whew! On the fourth day, he was fit to travel back to Zurich so we booked flights to Stuttgart, Germany then took a train to our home in Zurich. I couldn't have been happier to be in German territory than after this experience.
Matt and I became even closer and my belief in the involvement of God in our lives and His promise for families to be together forever was strengthened. As for the legend of the Trevi Fountain not only did Matt find his way back to Rome but apparently his appendix wanted to stay there forever. We'll never forget this trip and are glad to be back home in Zurich.
I'm so glad Matt is okay! How scary! But now you know how the two of you will handle those types of situations and obviously you'll handle them well :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Molly! You're so sweet :)
DeleteInteresting blog, it reminds me of Fontana di Trevi . The theme “Taming of the Waters” is presented in grandiose baroque style.
ReplyDeleteIf you like please leave comment and Follow the blog in. I tried to write a blog about it, hope you also like it in https://stenote.blogspot.com/2021/10/rome-at-fontana-di-trevi.html.