Right now in Budapest we are experiencing unusually cold weather. I'm sure it must be an all time low for Budapest in May. When I went to the gym this morning, my car's outside thermometer registered 6 degrees Celsius!! A few more and this freezing rain could turn to snow!! In mid-May! It's completely unusual. We've started using the fireplace again and are pulling out fleeces and long pants. This is very, very odd. I'm not entirely disappointed as we've had quite a few storms and I love thunderstorms!! Also, we've planted a lot of new grass and also some vegetables and the rain is exactly what they all need to sprout quickly.
Okay, I'm sure you are all wondering what happened with Mia. On Friday, I got a call from the school nurse. The conversation was in 1/2 French and 1/2 Hungarian. So, while all the way across town in Pest, I understood that she needed to be picked up and I should take her for x-rays. Did you know in most other languages the word for x-ray is rontgen after the inventor Wilhelm Rontgen?
Quickly I called my friend who works for Telki and scheduled to meet the orthopedic doctor and x-ray room for about 30 mins after getting Mia from school. The nurse was fine with holding her for the hour it took me to get to school and pick her up. I figured it wasn't life threatening so that eased my mind. It's still never fun to get 'the call' from the school that your child's had an accident.
When I got to the school, I found Mia sitting in the office near the front door drawing and waiting for me. There was another boy, who was apparently sick and waiting to get picked up, next to her. The head master of the school was also there to greet me. I made a very Curt-like crack and asked Mia, 'so, did you get in another fight?' I thought this was very funny but I only got strange looks. I assume the head master either thought I was crazy or didn't understand. Mia just gave me that look a child gives their parents when they are pleading to not be any more embarrassed then they've already been... This is our jobs as parents, isn't it? To embarrass our kids? It toughens their skin...
Seriously, I was happy to see she was still able to smile and she was very relieved to see me. She then apologized for having to pull me out of work. Isn't she so sweet? I told her not to be ridiculous and there was nothing that could have kept me away from coming to get her. I then assessed her injuries and signed a document (in French) explaining that it was her leg AND her arm! She had fallen while playing on the playground.
The head master was very concerned and kind and offered to help me carry Mia out to my car. I told him that it wasn't necessary and told him I'd keep him posted on our doctor's visit.
I was happy to see that there was a very short wait at the clinic and the entire process of consultation, x-rays (of her leg and arm) as well as the casting were all done in less than an hour! The charge to my insurance (if anyone is curious) is 50,000HUF or 225USD. We could have went to a state hospital and had it all go through our National Health cards for no charge but then I probably would have been at the hospital with Mia for 4 - 5 hours, if not overnight. The private clinic method was the best option for us!
So, as you have probably guessed, Mia has a broken arm - or wrist, as her medical report has 'csuklo' written on it. Actually, the doctor that was in the clinic when we got there only spoke very little English. It was adorable as Mia translated most of the conversation between him and I. The English medical report is being sent to me later this week.
Mia was great in the x-ray room too. The x-ray technicians loved that she spoke perfect Hungarian without an accent. This always gets lots of raves and attention as the Hungarians love when foreigners make the effort to learn their language. She was loving the attention and chatting away to them about how the accident happened at school, etc.
Since the break is not terrible and probably due to her youth, her cast is only required to stay on for 3 weeks - assuming all goes well. She was surprisingly excited to get a cast! Her friend in Dubai also has a cast and she's secretly been admiring it... Fortunately, it is her left hand and she is a righty so she has adjusted to it very well. Since her fingers are sticking out of it and her elbow is not covered, she is able to do just about everything. I think she's excited to go to school tomorrow and show it off.
Here are the photos of x-ray time (I got them doing her leg)...
Casting time....
And her smiling face today....
She's managed to do all her usual chores. Here she is below running out to the compost pile with Ali.
