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Wednesday;; Day 37. Today we relaxed around the pool, had lunch, packed up our things and then headed back on the road to Seville. This evening there will be a 'mass' at the cathedral Eva and Kiki's attend for a family member who passed away last week. Apparently it is a big event in memory and celebration of his life; but not the funeral, that was 24 hours after his death...A bit different to Australia I think! ..In between getting ready for the service and heading there, Eva takes me to Seville's hospital into Emergency's as apparently this will be a lot quicker than just waiting for a normal doctor. As we discover that no one here can speak English, Eva decides to stay with me until I've been seen. Fortunately it's not busy and I head into a white bright lit room with 3 doctors all standing waiting in full white coats! I feel like I've just walked into an episode of scrubs and I don't know why but there's just something very humorous about it all!! I limp my way to the chair and Eva begins to explain everything to them in Spanish.
The older doctor asks me to lay on the bed and he has a feel around pulling my leg up left and in every direction before telling me nothing is broken...well I knew that mate otherwise you wouldn't have just been able to twist my leg up like that haha! They agree to taking me to get an X-ray just to be sure but in the end, one of the doctors (the cute one!) pulls up a translator page on the computer and asks me to sit down next to him and type in the computer everything in English so that nothing is left out. It was quite funny being behind the desk and as I wrote in English, the Spanish automatically translated word-for-word into a box next to it. They start saying 'ah iii si si mmm hmmm' and nodding their heads lol. And then the older guy says something and starts laughing...Eva tells me he just said 'there will be no walking for me, I must stay in the kitchen and just cook the food' lol. Not funny! I am put in a wheel chair like an old granny (no offense) and wheeled off down the hall.
...Once everything is finished and I am called back in, Eva has left by this stage so I am left to try and understand the results by myself! ...nothing is broken, I can't do any physical exercise and I have to take some anti-inflammatory's and and ice it every day for a week. If the inflammation and pain hasn't resided after a week, I am to return....ergh!!!! €200 later I can definitely say that I wasn't exactly satisfied with the treatment or lack of diagnosis but I understand I will need to see a specialist to have a closer look at the ligaments and tissue that surrounds the knee! - I knew it wasn't broken lol but as I leave the hospital my friend in Italy messages me to say that he's going to try and book me in with a specialist there for when I go in August. Apparently this guy is the specialist who looks after the Milan football team and he just so happens to live near him! Not bad eh :) so hopefully I can get in with him and get a proper examination.
At the mass, there are people everywhere and you can't even get into the cathedral! The weather is definitely hotter here than in Sotogrande so after surviving 5 minutes squished amongst the people to pay my respects, I decide to relax on a bench close-by for the remaining hour.
Once it's all finished I get to meet Eva's sisters and brother with all their children and other relatives. There must be more than a hundred people and it seems everyone is someone's cousin or aunty! The cousins are lovely and we end up all going out for dinner (tapas) together at a Spanish bar. At 11pm! Just your usual dinner time! Most of the parents have gone to a different restaurant and we have taken the children. 11 of us; 2 parents (Eva and Kiki), 2 grandparents, 6 children and me! It was brilliant and we were even entertained by two busking Spanish 'musician's' who were very merry (drunk!) and funny. The food was amazing and it was nice to see the kids with their cousins laughing and playing around.
On the way home, we head to a 24hr pharmacy to get the drugs for my knee and I wonder how long it's going to take before I can run around like an idiot again. I literally can't bare the thought of not cycling, swimming and playing with the kids and it must be such an inconvenience for the parents but hey-ho. I really want to hike and climb in Italy but it looks like this isn't going to happen anymore lol. We shall see what the specialist in Italy says anyway. Luckily I paid for full medical insurance while I am traveling so I have been in contact with them and just have to fill out a claim form, send the medical report I received along with any receipts and then hopefully I will get fully reimbursed! Which takes me to my Solo Travelers Tip No.6:
Before I left Australia I was debating on what insurance to get. You can pay as little as $40 and somewhere as high as $1000 and probably more per year. I spent probably 2 days searching and calling different companies to work out which was best one to go with and why. I ended up choosing Allianz and went with their top option which covers full medical and emergency, prescriptions, possessions and everything in between. It even covers a flight for if say my Mum for some reason needed to urgently fly to Europe if I was in hospital and couldn't get back home to her. Not bad if you ask me but hopefully we won't ever need to use that one! ...So my tip would be, don't go light on the insurance, no matter what anyone else tries to convince you. Mine cost me $900 for 365 days but I would be in a pickle if I had gone with anything less. I would rather be safe than sorry. Allianz so far have been brilliant with their service as I receive full support 24 hours a day with even a doctor and nurse on hand at all times. My agent who booked my flights for me as well as my insurance back home with STA travel has been attentive assisting me any time of the day and has also been very caring and concerned. I will let you know how I go with the claim and how smooth the process is but so far, I am very happy with my choice. Please don't choose the $40 insurance and make sure you read the fine print before giving your details to anyone!
Tomorrow we will be heading back to the country house with the pools for the rest of the Summer - the end of August. I look forward to seeing familiar faces again and I just hope this knee doesn't set me back too much. I am already feeling impatient and want to know what's going on with it but I understand it could be a lot worse! Ah the adventures of life!
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