Fractured Knee Saga – Part 1 (What Happened?)

As a moderately active gal and a snow and mountain lover, I absolutely love skiing. I am not exactly Lindsey Vonn, but I am trying to keep up with this hobby at least once a year. There is something so freeing about skiing downhill on the fluffy snow in peace and quiet (just remember to avoid school holidays and weekends!).

Flims, Switzerland

While skiing down on one of the intermediate slopes in Flims, Switzerland in February this year, I suddenly heard somebody breathing behind me and the next thing I knew was somebody crashing into my back. Once I was lying in the middle of the slope crying in pain, I saw the young snowboarder who had driven into me (to all who have asked this question: no, it wasn’t my prince on a white horse, it wasn’t the ONE, it wasn’t a hot billionaire who I am getting married later in this story). The poor young guy was quite shocked himself, so I honestly felt somewhat bad for him.

The emergency services brought me down, I got into a wheelchair and after a short ride we arrived at the local orthopedic office. At this time I had no clue if my knee was just twisted or if I had torn my ACL, all I knew was that I couldn’t move my leg as my knee was extremely unstable and swollen. Approximately 30 minutes later, X-ray results revealed the bad news: I had a broken knee. “You need surgery,” the doctor told and I automatically burst into tears.

It turned out I had a type 3 fracture. Image: Case courtesy of Dr Matt Skalski, https://radiopaedia.org

I was a 6-hour drive away from my home in Frankfurt in a foreign country. How was  I supposed to get back? What about my health insurance? Will they cover my accident? Will I end up bankrupt after all this?

“You need to have surgery immediately,” the doctor repeated. She added, “Maybe even tonight. If you don’t get the surgery tonight, you immediately need blood thinning shots because it is highly likely that you will develop a blood clot.” In that very moment, I felt like a bipolar person because emotional Liis was just crying non-stop without thinking anything and rational Liis was doing the talking and asking questions through the tears. After several calls to insurance companies, we made a decision to drive back to Zurich (where my friend and skiing buddy lives). It was only 1.5 hours from the ski resort and I could just visit the hospital there. Equipped with essentials such as a splint and crutches, off I was to the next doctor without knowing what a nightmare this situation would quickly turn into.

My souvenirs: a splint and two yellow crutches.

Here is what happened next:

Feb 22. (Friday)
Zurich Stadtspital, 5 hours after the accident. The receptionist announces they don’t accept my EU health insurance and I would have to pay everything in cash upfront. Nobody seemed to care about my broken limb unless I show my tens of thousand of Francs first!10 minutes later another employee tells me that they DO accept EU health insurance, but there is no need for immediate surgery and that I should go back to Frankfurt. They are generous enough to give me my blood thinning injection so I wouldn’t die overnight.

Feb. 23 (Saturday)
My friend from Zurich helps me out and she drives me 6 hours to Frankfurt.

First stop: University Hospital Frankfurt am Main
ER receptionist: “If you want, you can wait here for 4-5 hours, but it is not an emergency. Come back on Monday.”
Me: “Can I get a prescription for blood thinning injections at least?”
ER receptionist: “This is not my PROBLEM!”

Second stop: BGU Hospital Frankfurt am Main
The staff over here is friendlier than at the University Hospital, but without looking my over X-Ray photo or even opening my splint, they make a decision that this is not an emergency. I like these medical professionals who can diagnose your broken joint just by looking at your face! Apparently (quoting ER staff here, so no offense anyone) MRIs done during the weekend are reserved only to those patients who have driven with 130km/h against the wall. They tell me to come back on Monday. At least I get my blood thinning injections from a pharmacy finally.

Feb. 24 (Sunday)
Nothing major happens except napping the entire day. I am at my boyfriend’s place and he tells me he will take care of me and I shouldn’t worry about anything. I am so happy I have somebody I can count on in the city where I don’t have family and friends!

Feb. 25 (Monday)
Visit to an orthopedic doctor who tells me to get an MRI

Feb. 26 (Tuesday)
MRI

Feb. 27 (Wednesday)
Boyfriend informs me he cannot focus when I’m around him and drives me back home. I am still naively thinking he will come and visit me in the future. But from now on, I can count only on my two crutches.  

Feb. 28 (Thursday)
Visit to the orthopedic doctor who I already saw on Monday. After seeing the MRI results, he confirms I need to have surgery.

As he refers me back to BGU hospital where I was kicked out on Saturday, I decide to make a call before going there. A lady on the phone says that I can get surgery in July (it is freaking February 28th). Excuse me? WTF are you saying? Anyhow, if I wanted to get help, I have to go back to their emergency room. As it turns out, I need additional paperwork from my orthopedic doctor. So I have to tell the taxi driver to turn around and go back one more time to the doctor who I visited just 30 minutes earlier. By this point I am at my wit’s end, bawling in public in front of everyone in his waiting room before I start my 1000thjourney to E.R. After a 5-hour wait, they take a quick CT scan. The verdict: “You need to have surgery” and the doctor looks at me like I hadn’t heard this diagnosis twice before. The surgery got scheduled for the following week and I felt like Jeanne D’Arc who had just won a battle.

A gorgeous photo of me in the hospital.

Even though the surgery by itself was a success, this is not where the story ends. Today, 7 months later, I am still recovering and unfortunately, I am not the most successful case. This accident has majorly affected me both emotionally and physically, but in a strange way, I am grateful for what happened as it has given me time to get to know myself better and freed up time to work on my goals. Remember: when one door closes, another opens! So, yes, I had to adjust all my sports related goals and cancel all my exciting trips, but at the same time I finally had the time to read, write and go live with my blog.

For the next post in my Fractured Knee Saga series, I would like to fill you in on what exactly happened after surgery, how my recovery is going, and how the accident changed my goals. Stay curious and feel free to either comment below or email me directly. If you have a similar experience, I would be happy to hear about it!

 

Much love,
Liis

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