Eric was in a lot of pain last night from his dislocated shoulder—specifically, whenever he moved it. If he’s totally still, it’s fine. But it’s hard not to move your shoulder! At bedtime yesterday, we discovered a problem: the only way Eric could sleep comfortably was on his back. And, alas, that also makes him snore…which means I can’t sleep.
We are on a trundle bed in the living room, so I picked up my mattress and moved it into the only place in the entire 1-bedroom apartment where there was space (and a door separating us): the entry hall. For anyone to get to the bathroom, they had to climb over me. But it let both of us sleep.
Today it was clear that he needed to have his shoulder looked at, just to be sure nothing was broken or otherwise in need of intervention. Very reluctantly, Eric went to the ER at the local hospital after dropping the rest of us off at a new resort that we hadn’t yet tried this week: Flégère. His visit took about 3 hours total.
Everyone there was in for ski injuries, mostly legs/knees but a few other arm/shoulder injuries. He had the initial consultation, got an x-ray, and then had the follow-up consultation. Nothing was broken or obviously wrong, other than the expected pain from having dislocated his shoulder. He is on 3 weeks of strict immobilization, followed by physical therapy.
Meanwhile the rest of us had a great ski day at Flégère. It was HOT! We’ve gone from winter skiing to spring skiing in just 2 days. We skied with our gloves and coats off or unzipped the whole day. I introduced the kids to their armpit zippers, which they didn’t even know existed. The snow got progressively slushier throughout the day and on the lower slopes. But we still loved it. We started off with a few blue runs and then moved to a really fun, long red run (Index & Pylônes) that we did many times.
As usual, Ivy started off slowly and timidly and gained confidence and speed throughout the day. By the end of the day, she was singing at the top of her lungs while going down the runs. “I believe I can ski. I believe I can ski away. And every night and day, I can ski the time away. Oh, I believe I can ski. I believe I can skin black diamonds. And every night and day, I can ski way better. I believe I can ski. I believe I can bomb the hill. And every night and day, I can speed my way …” And on and on, sung to the tune “I believe I can fly.”
As soon as he was out of the hospital, Eric joined us at the top of the big gondola (the base for the runs). We had a late lunch then one final run before calling it quits. We stopped around 3 pm and let the kids play in the snow back at home.
The total bill for the ER visit was 19 Euros. And another 19 Euros at the pharmacy for his arm sling and 2 prescription medications. Without French health insurance, it would have been around 100 Euros out of pocket for the ER visit. Interestingly, every medical professional Eric interacted with today—doctors, nurses, clerks, pharmacists at 2 pharmacies, x-ray technicians—were females.
Eric and I walked to the local pharmacy to pick up his arm sling and medications, but they didn’t have the right kind of sling. So he headed back into Chamonix while I made dinner (3 kinds of delicious local sausages and basmati rice). Then after dinner, we went back to the local bakery/café for a pain au chocolat, hot chocolate, and, most importantly, free wifi. Unfortunately we only had about 20 minutes before the café closed. I have so much work to catch up on since this apartment’s wifi stopped working on the 2nd day.
The kids finished a 7-ball snowman this afternoon. We watched some Olympic reporting, focusing on the French woman who won silver in the snowboard cross. Then we watched some random reality show about people who hand-forge swords. Super formulaic and funny to watch dubbed in French.
Meanwhile the rest of us had a great ski day at Flégère. It was HOT! We’ve gone from winter skiing to spring skiing in just 2 days. We skied with our gloves and coats off or unzipped the whole day. I introduced the kids to their armpit zippers, which they didn’t even know existed. The snow got progressively slushier throughout the day and on the lower slopes. But we still loved it. We started off with a few blue runs and then moved to a really fun, long red run (Index & Pylônes) that we did many times.
As usual, Ivy started off slowly and timidly and gained confidence and speed throughout the day. By the end of the day, she was singing at the top of her lungs while going down the runs. “I believe I can ski. I believe I can ski away. And every night and day, I can ski the time away. Oh, I believe I can ski. I believe I can skin black diamonds. And every night and day, I can ski way better. I believe I can ski. I believe I can bomb the hill. And every night and day, I can speed my way …” And on and on, sung to the tune “I believe I can fly.”
As soon as he was out of the hospital, Eric joined us at the top of the big gondola (the base for the runs). We had a late lunch then one final run before calling it quits. We stopped around 3 pm and let the kids play in the snow back at home.
The total bill for the ER visit was 19 Euros. And another 19 Euros at the pharmacy for his arm sling and 2 prescription medications. Without French health insurance, it would have been around 100 Euros out of pocket for the ER visit. Interestingly, every medical professional Eric interacted with today—doctors, nurses, clerks, pharmacists at 2 pharmacies, x-ray technicians—were females.
Eric and I walked to the local pharmacy to pick up his arm sling and medications, but they didn’t have the right kind of sling. So he headed back into Chamonix while I made dinner (3 kinds of delicious local sausages and basmati rice). Then after dinner, we went back to the local bakery/café for a pain au chocolat, hot chocolate, and, most importantly, free wifi. Unfortunately we only had about 20 minutes before the café closed. I have so much work to catch up on since this apartment’s wifi stopped working on the 2nd day.
The kids finished a 7-ball snowman this afternoon. We watched some Olympic reporting, focusing on the French woman who won silver in the snowboard cross. Then we watched some random reality show about people who hand-forge swords. Super formulaic and funny to watch dubbed in French.
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