Gefährlich

That's my conclusion, after (almost) 3 years of living in Germany.

That living in Germany is dangerous (gefährlich = dangerous).

You think I'm kidding?

I was just writing (email) to a friend detailing our medical mishaps in 3 years which include;

- 3 broken arms
- 1 broken tooth
- 1 split lip
- 2 operations

A bit excessive don't you think? I reckon we're certainly getting our money's worth from the health system here!

In the UK I think we'd only ever been in A&E with the children once for each child over a 10 year period (and that was for chicken pox gone bad & something else I can't remember) But now I can probably find my way to the Elisabeth Krankenhaus blindfolded (except that wouldn't be a very good idea as it involves driving down the autobahn) & I even know how to get to the X-ray department (röntgen = x-ray) & back again!

Ben was the first to break his arm, in the April or was it May, he was racing his friend back from the eis-cafe on scooters and he crashed into a kerb. The hospital x-rayed it & put it in a plaster - done, nice quick visit.

The second break was Ben again, this time swinging from the underneath of his bunk bed like an ape, slipped and landed on the floor (concrete under the carpet - very hard) broke the arm in exactly the same place (which is apparently very common, which surprised me as after the first break everyone said that it'd never break in the same place again) Hospital, and the same routine, x-ray and plastering, home. Easy.

The third break was Jasmine 4 weeks ago, tea-time, she was dancing in the garden, there was a scream the like of which I have never heard before & truly hope never to hear again, so I kind of realised then that all was not well. The arm wasn't quite as straight as it had been, there was a bump where there shouldn't be. No problem I thought to myself, we ice packed the arm and I took her to hospital, wondering to myself whether I'd be able to make it to a friend's later that evening - it was do-able I figured...

They x-rayed and then we saw the doc. "We need to operate" she said. "Now"
And that was that. Straight up to the children's ward, Jas was put onto a hospital bed and taken off into theatre. I didn't escape the hospital for another 2 days!!

The worst moment for me was after Jas had been given the pre-med to make her dozey and the anaesthetist lifter her up in his arms and carried her round and through to theatre, in films and on TV people are always lifted almost roughly from one bed to another, but this doctor picked her up as though she was his own precious child. This was however counteracted by watching Jas come round from the anaesthetic, a drunken 8 year old is one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed! Slurring, repetition and inane questions are not good in an adult but from a child who's still hooked up to a heart monitor? You have to laugh!

Life in Germany is definitely more dangerous than it was in the UK, but maybe that's because our children are getting older and more adventurous...'cos clearly children never dance in the garden, swing from bunk beds or race on scooters in the UK!