Eric woke up on Saturday in Verona with some "floaters" in his right eye. He thought they might go away. By Sunday he felt fairly confident he had a detached retina in his right eye based on his April 2016 experience with his left eye. We were traveling from Verona to Asolo that day. Once in Asolo we did our research and with the help of the insurance company we located the best local hospital with an "oculist" (aka opthamologist).
We traveled to Camposampiero to the hospital the next day. We were advised to go through the the ER because in Italy ER services are free. Once there we were sent up to the oculist who was expecting us. He, by the way, was the only person we encountered who spoke English. We maneuvered our way through the system using the tablet and Google Translate.
The doctor confirmed the detached retina and wanted to operate the next morning. We decided to take the calculated risk of going home for the surgery. Since Eric had the same surgery in April on the other eye we knew it would be more than a month before he could fly and would need to be in the face down position for at least a week.
Here is a pic of Eric with his hospital wrist band waiting to see the oculist at the ospadale.
We can't say enough about the accomodations and the kindness of the owners of the B&B where we were staying. We were at the B&B Casasolana in Asolo. The inn keepers are Elizabetta and her father Arturo. They helped us in so many ways when we told then of the medical emergency. Before that they were wonderful as well. We highly recommend them for your stay in Italy. (see WWW.casasolana.it). You won't be sorry.
Getting the flights arranged took nearly a full day. Finally confirmed to fly from Venice on Air France (150 miles away-will drop the rental car there) to Paris. Paris to Chicago on Air France. Chicago to Sacto on United. Leave Venice at 12:50 p.m. Wed and arrive home 10:50 p.m. Weds night PST. The only way we got to the Chicago flight on time was the Global Customs pass (highly recommend it). Walk up to the kiosk (while everyone else was queing in line), insert passport, scan prints, take a pick, answer a few questions, get a receipt and move to the empty express line and out the door. Same with the TSA PRE. Got to the boarding gate as they were boarding Group 1 and we were in Group 4. Here's a pic of Eric aboard Air France in Paris.
Arrived home on schedule. Thank goodness for our dear friend Nancy Rogers. She picked us up at the airport. Our dogs were staying with her; we decided not to tell the dogs until after the surgery:). Home to bed, up and at the retinal specialist for a 9:05 a.m. appointment. They were all set to do the surgery but then...no room at the inn (Mercy Outpatient Surgical Units through out the area). After a bit of discussion, we were off to an out-of-network surgical unit--all the time working with Blue Shield and Dignity HMO to authorize the use of out-of-network facility due to emergency nature (wait too long and the retinal tissue begins to die and won't reattach). We forged ahead when Eric's opthamologist supported the emergency and would submit the authorization request. We'll finish up on that later when we get the determination (we can always appeal a denial and we have Blue Shield's support per discussions with them.)
Surgery done by 4 p.m., out the door and on our way home. Follow up appointment at 11:30 a.m. today. Here's a pic of the ole' boy this morning. He has to stay face down for 5 days, drops in the eye 4 times a day (boy is this familiar); no lifting over 30# for 3 weeks and no flying for 2 months.
Other than that....had a grand trip....can't wait to finish it!
