Pic blog 8-28 ItalyOn a family vacation my daughter’s boyfriend developed appendicitis when we were in Italy! The year our youngest daughter, Paula, graduated from college we took a family trip to Italy to see the sights and visit relatives. We started in Rome and then went to Florence.  One morning Angela (my oldest daughter) came to our room and said her boyfriend had been up all night and was sick.  I took one look at him and knew it was his appendix.  My husband took Angela and Logan to the hospital.  Thank God he could understand a fair amount of Italian and speak it somewhat.  The doctor spoke a little English and they were able to communicate.  After the test confirmed what I thought the decision was made to do surgery that afternoon

In the mean time I was with Paula (my youngest daughter) roaming Florence.  No sense in all of us sitting in the hospital, especially since I knew almost no Italian.  My time to help out would come later.  I felt bad for Logan, being in pain, having surgery and that would limit what he could do the rest of the trip.  The good news was at least we were going to be staying with family for the reminder of the trip.

Logan made it through surgery just fine.  The doctor said patients usually stay 4 days in the hospital.  I was shocked, it is an outpatient procedure or overnight in the US.  We had train tickets to go meet our family in Alpicella the next day.  I spoke with the doctor and told him I was a nurse and asked if we could take him home in 2 days if everything looked good and he agreed. Logan liked the idea of not staying in the hospital very long.

Nick (my husband), Paula and I took the train the next day to meet our family.  It was comfortable on the train and nice to see the countryside and cities that we passed through.   We had a great reunion with our cousins when we arrived in Varrazze.  The following day they drove me back to Florence to pick up Logan and Angela.  My nursing skills really came in handy on this trip!  Logan’s surgery was like a blessing in that we did not go from one place to another all the time.  We did low key trips with the family and spent more time just hanging-out which was fabulous!! This trip reminded me how nice it is to slow down, to spend time enjoying friends and family and to listen to our bodies for messages about what we need.  So now I am reminding you to do the same.

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Laurie Ratto, RN, Speaker, HTCP, CCA has 30+ years’ experience helping people to heal from physical, mental , and emotional pain.  She provides a safe, nurturing space for women to release fears and self-doubt, what spiritually ties us to pain. Laurie Ratto specializes in complementary medicine, as a holistic healer, she keeps her RN certification current because she understands the power of balance as we heal.