Thursday, October 29, 2009 Palermo, Sicily

Well, I had a fairly restful night on the ferry. Valeria and i took turns watching each others stuff as we used the restroom, got drinks and walked the deck taking photos. We finally turned in around midnight, and with my earplugs and eyemask, I was able to shut out most distractions. However, when I woke up, I felt a disturbing amount of swelling around my nose. My neck also felt hot and swollen, right side only. When i looked in the mirror, I looked like WC Fields. My nose was twice its normal size and extremely red and scaly with a little bit of black in the middle. I didnt know if I had been bit by a spider or had flesh eating bacteria or leprosy, but I was alarmed! The right side of my neck had hot bulging areas and was very itchy. I knew I needed to see someone medical as soon as possible.

Valeria wrote me a note in Italian just in case I couldnt find someone with English. After we disembarked, we ended up going separate ways and I walked towards my hostel, A Casa di Amici. It was a lovely sunny place on the first floor behind Teatro Massimo. The two young women who greeted me, Letizia and Claudia were very welcoming and spoke good english. When i showed them my nose and explained the need for a doctor, they directed me to a nearby clinic. However it didnt open until 8pm, so I spent the afternoon getting a map of Palermo, wandering the main street and buying some groceries. I bought a box of Sicilian wine, mozzarello cheese, some fresh tomatoes, olives, dates, apples, eggs and rustic bread all for 10 Eu! I ate both lunch and dinner with lots left over before heading out to the clinic.

The young doctor who opened the clinic looked like hunky Luka from ER. He wore jeans and an Italian soccer shirt, no white coat. It was a very informal setting and he also worked with an older woman who appeared to be one of the doctors also. Neither spoke much English, so I showed him my note. He felt my lymph nodes and thru sign language and a few words of english from him and Italian from me, pulled from notes I had picked out of my phrasebook, he determined that i had best be seen by a doctor at Hospidale Polyclinica, and wrote a note for the doctor. Too late for that in the evening so I went back to the hostel and got bus directions from Claudia for the next morning.

In the morning, I was pleased to see that the swelling had been reduced a bit, although the neck was still swollen and warm and my nose still horribly red and much bigger than usual. I skipped breakfast and caught the bus taking it all the way to the end of the line as advised. I was definitely in the hospital area, but there were two hospitals side by side and lots of buildings attached to each one. I found the Administration area of the Hospidale Civicca and a lovely lady took me thru the hospital till she found me a young man who spoke english, I think he was a lab technician, Anyway, she had him walk me over to the proper building in the other hospital, which took some time, as it wasnt his hospital and he wasnt familiar with it. The doctor I needed to see wasnt available for another hour so he left me to wait with some other patients and went back to work. At 10, the doctor showed up and after seeing the other patients, I went in and showed him my note. He rattled something off to me and all I could say was Non Capisco, I dont understand. Well, that seemed to upset him and he showed me the door! I was horribly upset and frightened since i wasnt sure what to do next. After a good cry in one of the hospital waiting rooms, I left. Since I had just followed the young man all around, it took a bit to get bakc to the bus terminal and I rushed back to the hostel.

So I was sitting in the hostel on my bed, wondering should I just fly home and in walked Letizia to see how was I doing. When I explained about the doctor not seeing me, she said she would have Claudia take me and make sure I was seen. So, after a bit of lunch, Claudia drove me in her car to the nicer hospital, Civicca and its emergency room. It was a little after 1pm when we got there and she waited with me till 4, when she had to leave as she had made plans. But first she made sure that had my name on the list of patients and was in the system. While we waited together she told me how much she loved France, and Paris in particular. I took out my ITouch and we tried a few games on my French language tutor application. While there we also met some young men from Ghana, who struck up a conversation when they heard us speaking English, which is the native language of Ghana. Claudia had spent a month in Ghana and so we passed a bit of time just conversing. These men had been waiting since 10 that morning so it was not very encouraging.

After Claudia left, I just spent time observing. Just like any emergency room, there were people in more need of treatment than others. A lot of people were waiting in beds in the halls or in wheelchairs, moaning and complaining. Finally, at 7 pm, my name was called and I went into treatment room number one. There was a young woman doctor, a male nurse and a female nurse, one in scrubs and one in a white coat. No english here, so we pantomimed as before. Everyone got a good feel at my neck again and then they were able to drag another doctor who spoke english out of her treatment room to consult. It was decided that they would draw some blood, and have me come back the next day, when the results would tell them what sort of antibiotic I should have. For some reason they wanted to draw blood from both my arm and my butt, dont ask me why. Anyway, they were all so much much nicer than that horrid doctor of the morning that I felt more hopeful. That plus the fact that during the whole day of waiting the swelling had gone down quite a bit and the heat too.

The nice young men from Ghana walked me to the bus stop and waited until I got safely on board. When I got back I fixed a bit of supper for me, my roomate Marta and Sasha, who had been at the same hostels as me in both Sora and Naples.

The next morning, my neck was much better, no heat, only a little swelling and my nose had taken on almost its normal shape although still red but not blistery looking. I arrived at the emergency room only to be told I should be at the Dermatology office. I was sure I had been told to return to ER. but obediantly left to find the Derm office. The woman doctor examined me this time with a magnifying glass and finally prescribed a cortisone cream. I was told to put it on day and night for seven days.

The total money spent for all of this was nothing, except for the bus tickets, Claudias car parking and the cream, which was 9Eu. I cant imagine someone coming to the USA, not speaking english and having a less traumatic time than me, plus they would be faced with some horrendous bill at the end of it. I am now extremely grateful for the Italian way of using the hands while speaking, it has produced a way of guiding me and helping me understand a little.

As I now had a reduction in symptoms, a treatment in hand and time, I decided to explore a bit of Palermo and beyond. I first took the bus to Piazza Independenza, where there is a Norman castle and a chapel. However only part was open so I decided to leave that until Monday and instead taek the half hour bus ride to Monreale, high up in the mountains where there is a basilica all done in mosaics.

I had a great afternoon, wandering around in the sun through the streets and then going thru the church which had truly astonishing mosaics telling most of the familiar bible stories. I also took the climb up the narrow little staircase and around the rampart of the church to get to the tower for a great view of the mountains, the sea and Palermo. I saw another wedding couple posing for pictures. Had a pizza Monreale, pork sausage and egg, a bit heavy. Took the bus back and ran into Sasha whilst stepping into a church in Palermo. We had a glass of wine together, then attended mass and walked bakc to the hostel. Sasha cooked dinner for me and I went to bed planning to view some of the churches the next day as not much would be open, it being a Feast Day, All Saints.

Sunday Nov 1 All Saints Day.

After my first breakfast at the hostel, I strolled over to the Four Corners area where there are a number of churches. As Masses were going on, tourists are expected to either wait to enter or participate in services respectfully. I was able to see three churches after service. The last church, Chiessa de Casa Professa still had mass going on, so I sat in the back and waited. When it was over, i took out the camera and began taking pics. As I got towards the altar end, I saw there was a museum in the back that was open. I stepped thru and there was a level on the main floor, one up and one down. I took my time, looking at embroidered altar clothes and silver chalices.There were stairs to a crypt too but no lights were on. When I emerged back into the church I didnt see anyone around but didnt think anything of it till I tried the door. I was locked in ! It was 1pm and I shouted and banged on doors, heavy, wooden, soundproof of course but no one came. No phone of course. I did find the fire alarm but decided not to hit that unless I gave up hope. I could see from the sign that on Festival days there was an evening mass at 6pm, so I hoped that this would be the case. All the electricity was turned off, no light switches worked, although there was a very complicated sophisticated bank of levers and switches near the museum.

So for four hours I looked at every piece of marble stone, icon, mosaic, statue, frescoe there was. I sat in the confessional, the priests chair is pretty comfy, not so for the confessor. I tried singing, acoustics are excellent. On occassion I would try to get the attention of the boys who were playing soccer in the square just outside the church door, but they never heard me. Finally, at 5pm, I heard some doors rattling. I called out and nearly gave the elderly priest a heart attack. I explained as best I could how I managed to be left behind and he finally released me into the now fading afternoon light. I was cold through and through so got a coffee right away. I headed back towards the hostel, wandering thru sidewalk sales and evening strollers and shoppers. When I got back I decided to give up on seeing any more of Sicily. Someone told me later that maybe Vulcan was displeased with me. So I booked two nights in Naples instead of one and went to bed. Of course everyone laughs when I tell them about the church and I imagine I will too, someday, but it just about defeated me, especially right after the hospital thing.

More from Naples.