So Much for Fiestas :(

I started to write this while I was sitting outside the hospital cafeteria looking up at what was my home away from home for two weeks when Eric was born.  This time the visit wasn't as happy, but definitely was just as frustrating.  This morning I awoke to Mauri coming into the bedroom to kiss me goodbye because he had made plans to go biking as a workout with his brother.  He had just bought a new, "better" bike after selling his older, heavier one, and was excited to try it out.  I was a bit sad to see him go because with his work, there aren't that many days that I can wake up beside him.  I was looking forward to that during the week of fiestas, but I figured he should be able to spend his vacation time as he likes.
So I got Eric up and started off my day straightening up the kitchen, when I got a call from Mauri telling me that he was about to go in an ambulance to the hospital.  The chain on his new bike had popped off or something, and it threw him from the bike and onto the handlebar.  He was then thrown off the handlebar and proceeded to somersault several times. 
I felt sick when I got the call because it wasn't too long ago that I got a call like that, and ended up spending the worst month of my life.  I told him that I could go run to the hospital, but he told me to wait for him to call me.  So, I nervously started to get ready, and get breakfast and lunch ready for Eric, just in case, and waited for his call.  We rushed to the hospital, where all of Mauri's family was already waiting.  They brought me to where Mauri was waiting, white as a ghost. 
I was a bit worried, but he assured me that he was OK.  On the other hand, the looks that everybody was giving me made me wonder.  It turned out that he had lost a lot of blood, and they were worried that he had severed an important artery or something like that.  So, they were planning on giving Mauri a CAT scan.  Everybody left me alone with Mauri, and they brought Eric with them so I could stay calmly with him. 
Shortly afterwards, two surgeons came in and started shoving their fingers into the huge, deep hole in Mauri's left thigh.  They seemed relieved to say that Mauri's femoral vein and artery were completely intact, but after getting a better look, they told him that he couldn't be any luckier.  (Actually, he could be- He could be sitting home relaxed and enjoying his vacation)  It turns out that the handlebar of his bike had gone into his thigh, and had actually stripped everything off of the femoral artery, and had it gone in another millimeter, according to the surgeons, he wouldn't have lived to tell the story!
I was able to stay with Mauri while they prodded around a bit to make sure the rest of the bigger arteries and veins were OK, and then they finally stitched him up.  It looked like we were really lucky because they told us we would be going home, and that we could clean and dress the wound at home.
As a last-minute precaution, they decided to get an x-ray, despite not thinking it necessary, to make sure he didn't have any fractures in his pelvis.  So, we waited awhile, they wheeled him into radiology, and then they wheeled him out again.  I asked the person with us if it all looked OK, and he said that it wasn't for him to say and that a doctor would have to look at it.  (I later saw the x-ray, and know he must have known something was up).  Finally an ER doctor told  us that we were waiting for the trauma doctors to come take a look because it seemed like there was a fracture in the bone. 
While waiting, Mauri's brother said that there was something stuck in the handlebar of Mauri's bike, which he thought might be bone, but had later decided that it must be wood or something.  Meanwhile, the ER doctor came back, and showed us a printout of Mauri's digital x-ray.  I immediately saw a huge radiolucency- a dark area on the x-ray which should be light-colored bone.  She talked to Mauri's brother and sent him to go get whatever was stuck in the handlebar out, and  he came back with a huge hunk of bone.
(I guess we aren't going home anymore!!)
It turns out that the handlebar acted like a huge cookie cutter, and jabbed into his thigh and when it came out, pulled with it a big circle of skin, muscle and bone.  Nobody there could believe it.  They said they see strange things all of the time, but had never seen anything like this.
Unfortunately, if you'll recall from my last blog, here things in the hospital tend to shut down mostly on the weekends.  They need a CAT scan to be able to say what they will do to fix Mauri's pelvis, if necessary, but told us that there weren't any radiologists in the hospital today.  So, they ordered a room for Mauri, and told him he'd be scheduled for a CAT scan in the morning.  Unfortunately being Monday, so are a lot of other people, and there is a big list from the weekend of people needing CAT scans tomorrow morning.
They brought Mauri to an observation room, so I went to go change Eric and hold him for awhile.  I bought a sandwich to eat, and waited for them to bring Mauri to his final room.  Once there, I brought Eric to see him, spent 10 Euros on a code to be able to turn on the TV in the room for a couple of days,  (Oh, this brings back great memories!!) and I spent the rest of the day with Mauri.
Now that we have Eric, we decided that I shouldn't stay with Mauri at night, so I came home, fed Eric, gave him his bath, and put him to bed- much later than usual.  It is now very late, and I'm going to head to bed.  I wanted to let everybody know what was going on, though.  I'll try to update as soon as we know what the plans are, but I doubt we will be celebrating Eric's first fiestas as we originally thought anymore.  Mauri's bummed out about not being able to see the bulls and to do everything that he needed to do this week.  At least Eric still has his "papi."