Minus a Tooth in Milan

We arrived in Milan around six thirty or so and walked into our hotel. The lobby was really pretty and had a giant glass spiral staircase that looked crazy. We went up to our room on the first floor to find out that we had a window that opened to a terrace on top of the lobby we were able to climb onto. The bathroom was pretty nice minus the fact that the curtain for the window was too short and far away from the frame that you could see the toilet seat if you were standing out on the terrace which was open to the entire hotel :/. The four of us decided to head out and buy a dinner of bread and different cheeses with a couple bottles of wine for dinner. We brought it back and ate it on our terrace enjoying the sixty degree weather. All of the other stores closed before we were able to look around that night.

We went to bed early and woke up to breakfast downstairs before heading out for the day. Our tour guide took us on the underground to the heart of Milan where she walked us around to see the first covered shopping mall and the duomo which was gorgeous. We also got to see the Scala which is their famous concert hall, and were able to see the street of shopping they are most famous for since Milan is known for its shopping. After being released from the group we decided to ride the underground to a nearby science museum where we learned about Da Vinci's most famous discoveries and smaller inventions that he had thought of that were ahead of his time. The museum was not quite what we expected, but we enjoyed hanging out in the interactive parts of the museum and guessing what things were supposed to do since the directions were all in Italian.

We headed back early to do a little shopping in the affordable shopping district near our hotel after getting a cappuccino at a small place down the street. I was able to find a pair of small boots in my size for nice occasions for only 10 euros! Pretty nice deal! The girls I was with all found small things they liked and we started feeling hungry. As we entered the hotel we ran into our fourth roommate who was heading out to get us some wine for after dinner. We decided to all meet in the lobby in a few. The small stairs were the route we chose since we had tried the glass spiral staircase early and realized how hard and scary they were to go up.

All of a sudden we heard a " Boom!" And turned around to see Kathleen had fallen and hit her face and a knee on the edge of a stair. She immediately looked up to say I'm bleeding. Hillary and I split into opposite directions. Hillary went up to find paper towels and I ran to get help from the desk. The girl working the desk couldn't understand what was going on so she got her superior manager and he got Kathleen a towel.

(Just a warning if you get squeamish don't read this next paragraph)

We got the towel to her and one of the boys ran to call Rod and Les since they were out to dinner. I helped her hold the towel under her mouth and within a few seconds the towel and my hand were full of blood. One of the scariest things was that there was too much blood to see the damage and know if it was a problem that had to have emergency medical care or not. We decided to wait a while and see if the blood would stop. It took a while but finally the blood slowed and we were able to clean her up and rinse her clothes that had gotten blood on them.

We moved her to the couch where we were able to see she had chipped the incisor about 2 mm. The blood seemed controlled and she took prescription strength pain medication she had gotten in case something like that were to happen. When Kathleen began looking closer at her mouth she realized the source of the blood was not from her tooth but from a gash on the inside of her lip. We weren't sure if the gash was big enough to be stitched or not but she felt like she should go to make sure at the hospital. I got all of her emergency contact info and brought it with her things to take her to the taxi. While sitting waiting for the taxi to come and get Les and Kathleen before going upstairs Les turned and asked me if I had my passport. I didn't realize I was going to be going. I had just slipped my shoes on with my socks sticking out of the top and had left my uneaten pizza upstairs that our roommates had brought me. The taxi arrived just as I was about to go get my coat and things, so I wore Paul's coat that hung down over the top of my legs. I'm pretty sure I looked very hoboesque while wearing that ensemble as well as my and Kathleen's passports around my neck and her emergency paperwork in my hands. Kathleen had a towel up to her face and we headed off to the Milan ER.

The taxi pulled into a garage-like space where we got out and walked up to the desk. The paperwork was pretty simple and not too time consuming which was nice before she told us only one of us could go back with her. Les insisted I go and we walked back into the waiting room. Everyone was speaking Italian asking what had happened and the only response I could give was that we spoke English. They all shrugged and continued talking very expressively in Italian.

When they called us into the doctors room we walked through the hall where we found out there were no patient rooms. All of the patients were in beds along the hallways which was extremely eery feeling and made me appreciate our great healthcare in the U.S. The doctor look at Kathleen's mouth and was speaking to the assistants in Italian until she finally turned to us and said that the gash was deep enough for stitches but too irregularly shaped so it would just have to be cleaned regularly and close on its own.

That night after stopping at the pharmacy and returning to the hotel we packed our bags, I finished my dinner and we got ready to depart for Venice. (Kathleen is doing fine now... Her mouth is healing very quickly.)