Fight or Flight?

I now know what fight or flight response is. I remember learning about it in anatomy class in the 11th grade but I didn't really know what Mrs. Crowder was talking about. But now I do. I experienced it the night that I did my last blog (two days ago) about my hatred of all things medical (ironic).

Mary Sessions, Mom and I went up to Tim's Ford Lake about an hour and a half away to our cousin's lake house to meet my sister Laura, Aunt Dixie, Uncle Ken, and cousins Will and Claire. We got there at about 7:30 expecting dinner to be ready, but Laura was standing at the oven about to put the lasagna in when we got there, not realizing that it took 1 hour and 40 minutes to cook. We gave her a hard time about it, but we were really okay with waiting to eat dinner at 9:15.

We decided to go on an evening boat ride in order to forget our growling stomachs. It was the perfect time of night, not too hot, with the sun setting in the clouds. We stayed out there until  about 9:10 (perfect timing for the lasagna).

When we came back in to dock, Mary Sessions was getting off the boat to tie it up, and she got off where a pole was that was holding up the dock, so her foot hit the pole instead of the dock, along with the side of her face. Then we think she fell backwards and hit the boat (because we can't figure out how the back of her head was bleeding). Then she fell forwards again and hit the dock with her legs off the dock, but top on the dock.

I don't remember getting off the boat or anything, I just remember knowing that she was unconscious and holding on to her with everything I could because she was falling into the lake. Then my marine Uncle Ken yelled, "DO NOT LET HER FALL INTO THE WATER!" I was having a hard time keeping her up. And then my mom was there holding onto her too, and then Uncle Ken was there, and he was able to pull her up onto the dock. Then I was yelling to call 911, and so was he. Laura was freaking out because couldn't find her phone (which was in her pocket) because she was panicking, but Aunt Dixie was already on the line with them. I think that all happened in about a minute.

That was my fight response, then I had a flight response. I had to get away from the scene because I knew the marine could do it better than anything I could, and I was completely freaking out seeing Mary Sessions laying there.  I went out and up a few stairs towards the house and had my hands lifted praying out loud to Jesus to save her life as she was having a seizure. Laura and Aunt Dixie were praying out loud over her, and Mom was whispering to her, while Uncle Ken was putting her on her side and holding her steady. It was a nightmare scene, but I kept my arms lifted, and for a brief second wondered if any of the many neighbors thought I was a freak if they couldn't see what was going on down at the dock, but I really didn't care at the moment.

I went to the top of the driveway to wait for the ambulance. I also yelled to an elderly neighbor to see if he knew of a doctor around, but he didn't answer.

Mary Sessions woke up and the first thing she said was, "I feel better." It was a relief to everyone! She said she couldn't figure out where she was, and she was really fuzzy, telling Uncle Ken that the president is George W. Bush, then laughing because she knew that was wrong. She could move, though Uncle Ken made sure that she not move anything at all.

And after what seemed like ages, a good 20 minutes, the ambulance arrived. I led the EMTs down there, and they asked her the president, and this time she got it right! Go Mary! I crossed my fingers as it took her a while to remember the year and month, but she got them right.

They said she needed to be life flighted to a trauma center because she had both a seizure and was unconscious. Apparently just because someone is talking doesn't mean that there isn't a brain injury, so they wanted her to be flown to Vanderbilt, Huntsville, or Chattanooga, and my mom begged for Chattanooga so my dad could be at the hospital when she got there.

Six men carried Mary Sessions up on a board about 50 stairs to the ambulance. We followed the ambulance to the place where Life Force came to see her off, but then the police wouldn't let us close. There were so many people there! Four sheriff suburbans, a couple police cars, and what looked like the entire volunteer fire department, and of course the helicopter!

Mary Sessions got a 27 minute ride on a hard board in a neck brace to Erlanger. Laura, Mom and I got a hour and a half car drive as we sweated bullets in two separate cars (brave Mom alone, Laura and I in another car). to Erlanger. Dad got to Erlanger an hour before Mary did because he wanted to make sure he was there. When we arrived, Aunt Anne G, Laura's small group leader, our two pastors, Laura Leatherwood and her brother Wade and a few of Laura's friends were there waiting and praying for Mary.

A very cute doctor (says Laura) met Mary at the helicopter and got her to her room to check her out. They only let us see her two at a time and I missed the doctor every time I was back there. I just wanted to see what everyone was talking about.

Dad was sure to take a pic of her on
his camera phone. She was even smiling
in a neck brace!

The doctor had very good reports and let Mary walk out of the hospital barefooted just 3 hours after she had arrived. Our family got home at 2 am after being stopped by a policewoman for Dad running a red light... After Mary intentionally made a very sickly face and Mom explained the story, the policewoman let them go without proof of insurance, but questioning if Dad was in a condition to drive safely. 

I was so happy that the whole family was home that night! I couldn't have even dreamed that would happen when I was praying over the dock just five hours earlier. 

Mom and I had trouble sleeping after all that, even though she was alright. I might have gotten an hour of sleep. I think I was still recovering from the fight or flight response adrenaline or something. I had to start taking every thought captive and Philippians 4:8-ing every thought like Paulette always told us to do ("Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things"). I had to make myself stop what-if-ing everything... And remember that Mary Sessions is great and anyways, God has it all under His control, and He loves her more than any of us do.

Mary Sessions has had lots of visitors, sweet texts, cards, flowers and candy. I am so thankful that she is completely okay, though she is still taking strong pain medicine for her headaches and very sore muscles from hitting things and having a seizure. To me, she's much much better than she could be. It's kind of embarrassing that I'm sore too, though not nearly as bad, from trying to pull her out of the lake.  I need to work on my arms and legs a little.


I remember praying that God's Will be done, and that I believed with my all that God could heal her completely, but I didn't even imagine that she would be fine and out of the hospital in 5 hours. This verse is it exactly:

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, 

to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church 

and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." 

Ephesians 3:20-21

The Band-Aid

Tuesday morning I had a dermatologist check up appointment. Dr. Fenn looked at my skin and moles, and he found two moles that looked suspicious, so he ended up telling me that he needed to take biopsies on them. I was fine with that until the nurse led me into another room instead of leaving. You see, I thought that I would come in another day with my mom to have them taken off, but Dr. Fenn wanted to do it immediately.

I frantically told the nurse that my mother wasn't there and I was alone and had to drive myself home, but she just said that it was okay. That didn't work. Then I told her that I am not good with needles and with things like this, I get queasy sometimes,  and I've never had a mole removed. She said that it would be okay. (Not the reactions I was looking for.) And so, I just told her I did NOT want to look at the needle or see ANYTHING that they were doing. And she said, of course, that it would be okay.

And so she gave me the numbing shots. I closed my eyes and probably made weird faces. She gave me the one on my upper abdomen first, then the one on my back which hurt way more. He then razored them off and I didn't even know he was doing it except for the pressure.... Then came the worst part. The band-aid.

Ever since I was a child, I've hated band-aids. I've always hated blood and needles and casts and such. I would scream if someone came around me with a cast on or with any limb amputated. My extreme hatred of anything medically related was over the top. When I'd get a bloody knee, I'd be more upset because I had to put a band-aid on it and I knew that it was going to hurt when I had to pull it off.

I've improved since then. I got shots for Haiti last year all alone, and I got these numbing shots alone, though I did make some painful noises and faces. I can now help other people who get boo-boos and need band-aids. I can be around people with casts and not cry. I've come a long way, but the band-aids still get to me. Especially when I know they are going to hurt!

You see, at our house we have these intense water-proof band-aids. They are good in theory... until you put them on! They are the stickiest things I've ever seen. It's like those heart monitor stickies that they put on you when you get put to sleep for surgery. Has anyone else ever woken up when they haven't taken them off and suffered through the pain of ripping them off?

Well, these band-aids are like that! And they are painful to get off. It's hard to get them off because they stick so closely to the skin, you have to use your fingernails to peel it up. I have to change two band-aids twice a day, so I have to do it a lot.

To sum it up, the band-aids have caused me more stress and worry than the procedure itself ever did. 

Pray that the biopsy comes back with good results (no cancer) so that I won't have to have another worse procedure where they take out more. Skin cancer runs in our family and I have decided to wear more sunscreen so I don't have to wear more band-aids! 

The End of the Trip

Today we came to a different hotel, but in the same city of Sorrento. The new hotel, Johanna Park Hotel is slightly outside of the city and has a shuttle to the city. They were nice enough to bring their shuttle to pick us up at our last hotel so we didn't have to carry the luggage everywhere. However, their "shuttle" looked like this. It was interesting fitting four people with four big bags into this car.

We had to carry two suitcases on top of us in the car. My suitcase wasn't small...

So anyways, our shuttle driver told us that we just absolutely had to go to Positano, a neighboring city about 30 minutes away by SITA bus. He said the bus ticket was only 7,20 euro round-trip, and there was a beach there and it was gorgeous. We had been wanting to go anyways, so we decided to do it. The bus picked us up right outside of the hotel, and we packed in through the middle door of the bus. There were already about 20 people standing in the aisle of the coach bus, so we joined them standing in the stairs for the middle door of the bus. Before this, I thought that I was becoming used to the smelly people over there. But no... The man next to us smelled so badly that I gagged a few times. He was up against me because there was no room and he had his arms up holding onto the rails. All four of us got motion sickness I think, and then we started going on these cliffs.

The last 20 minutes of the drive was on a road like this, with the bus driver gassing it on the straight parts and going way too fast on the sharp curves with the bus tilting, looking like it was going to flip. Some say the drive was beautiful, I say the drive almost made me have my first ever anxiety attack, and I'm used to driving near cliffs on a mountain. Nonetheless, we made it there safely.

We loved Positano. It's an adorable, colorful city on a hill/cliff with the beach at the bottom. There are cute shops, lots of boats, and many tourists. The houses and restaurants are all stacked on top of one another on the hill. It was really neat and had tons of steps.

The beach was made of pebbles instead of sand, which brought a nice twist to it. I liked lying on the pebbles, but I didn't like walking on them because they got into my shoes and were super hot, as they were grayish-black.

After a nice day of laying out and reading, I began to get nervous about the drive home, but I was comforted by the fact that most of the time, we would not be on the same side of the road as the cliff because we'd be in the opposite lane. We waited about an hour for the bus to come, and when we got on, there was just about no room for us.

The driver made Aunt Anne G. stand in the stair well in the front of the bus, right next to him, and he made her hold on to the front rail with two hands. She kind of looked like she thought she was driving or something. We couldn't stop laughing about it because she was also nervous about the ride, and there was no way she could avoid looking at the scary road unless she closed her eyes. I was the first person standing in the aisle, right behind Anne G. and the driver, also ironic because I could see everything and would be the first person through the windshield if anything happened.

But this time, we had a good bus driver who beeped before each blind turn so that oncoming cars wouldn't hit us, and he went slow around curves. He couldn't understand English and was very serious about driving, but sometimes I threw out the word "Bueno" just so he knew I approved and would keep up the caution.

We went up part of a mountain, and then got to the top and began going down. I watched carefully as the driver shift into second gear, and I was glad to see this in case the brakes went out. A few minutes later as we were on the decline, the driver sniffed and looked around. Then Anne G. sniffed and said, "Do you smell the brakes?" I shrugged. Then the driver sniffed, looked in his rear mirror, and started cursing in English. I thought he was mad at Anne G for saying his brakes were out, but he slammed on the brakes, opened the doors, and pushed me and Anne G out the door (without my purse with wallet and passport) before grabbing the fire extinguisher.

I quickly noticed smoke coming out the back of the bus and freaked out about it blowing up and my passport being in there. I was in a bind because I know you're never supposed to go back into a fire, but I thought I'd be stuck there without the passport so I started yelling at the people who were rushing out of the bus to grab my bag. Someone did, and I couldn't tell you the first thing about what the person looked like, I just ran away from the bus in case of an explosion.

We called our hotel shuttle to pick us up because I did not want to ride another bus the rest of the way down the mountain, and we knew that our hotel owner would be nice enough to send someone to get us.  A man came and got us in a different "shuttle."

I was just thankful it wasn't a bus!

So anyways, we got to the hotel and took hot baths and we to sleep soon after so that we could wake up at 5 the next morning for a bus to Rome (which never came). We ended up having to ride a train at 7:50 and then finally making it to Rome by 2 in the afternoon. It was okay though, and I was secretly glad that it was a train instead of a bus, even if it took an extra 4 hours.

In front of the Trevi fountain

We spent the rest of the day in Rome seeing the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, shopping, eating, and searching for good gelato. It was a nice day with a nice hotel and a nice dinner and amazing gelato from a place called Venchi.

Our last Italian dinner

The next morning we were up and at'em and ready to come home! It was a wonderful trip, but by the end I was ready to come home to the US and stop worrying about the conversion rate between dollars to euros (one euro is about $1.50, so it's terrible). Uncle Paul picked us up in a very roomy Sequoyah SUV, and I thought, this is why I love being home... There is space!

Ponza, Naples, and an Allergic Reaction

We are in Sorrento now! It's a cute little town south of Naples on the Amalfi Coast. It has beautiful views of the ocean and is very charming.  We love our hotel, too! It is one of the cheapest, yet it still has character. It's family-run and has amazing breakfast. We have been in town today, riding a train around and walking the streets. We stopped to get gelato at a famous place that many famous people have visited. It was delicious until Meredith started having an allergic reaction. We all kind of panicked. She is allergic to nuts, so she got mint chocolate chip and coffee ice cream, but apparently nuts got in the gelato and her throat started swelling before she finished the cone. I had to help her out and finish the cone as we sprint-walked to find a "pharmacia"where the Benadryl was 15 Eu ($21), and so we decided to try to find our hotel to get her Benadryl from home. I'm pretty sure we were all saying silent prayers as we sweated our way home from being hot as well as nervous.

Meredith skyped her mom, and decided she didn't need a hospital and just took an antihistamine and is now sleeping. We decided it was the perfect time for an afternoon siesta because it's so hot outside and we are tired from yesterday....

YESTERDAY was crazy. 

We began on the tiny island of Ponza on the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Southern Italy. It was beautiful and calm and peaceful. We felt like we knew just about everyone on the island--the hotel workers, hotel owner, waiter, restaurant owner next door, beach worker, bus driver... Everyone was so friendly and helpful, even though most did not know English. We did a lot of acting, mostly acting out swimming because that was the easiest way to say we were going to the beautiful beach that was just about 300 stairs down from our hotel. 

It was well-worth the walk, but it was a long walk down. 

This was the only sandy beach that we went to. We loved it! The boulder beaches were pretty but the rocks weren't so comfy. We had the best weather we could've asked for.

We stayed in Ponza for just 2 nights before moving on. It was perfect for relaxing after Barcelona, and we were all so glad that we took the time to go over there. (It was a beautiful 3 hour ferry ride away.)

Anyways, we left our sweet hotel, Hotel Ornensia, and crammed our suitcases onto Ponza's public bus where the very friendly bus driver sang to us in Italian. Then we relaxed on the cargo ferry for three hours as we traveled to Formia where we planned catch a train to Naples. After dragging the luggage up about 50 stairs and asking about 6 people for directions to the station, we found it. The crowded (rush hour) train scared all of us because of the rough crowd on board. We were stressed because we couldn't find seats where our luggage would fit, and there were some creepy men in the section by the door where we had to stand with our luggage.

Four seats finally cleared out for Meredith, Mary, and me. They got into the four seats facing each other, then we stacked four bags on top and around us. People stared, but we were happy to be seated. Anne G sat across the aisle from us where she met a middle-aged, Russian woman, who when we asked where she was from, replied with, "How do I look from?" After some clarification, we figured out that she meant, "Where do I look like I'm from?" Her English was better than our Russian, so I'm not making fun, but it was awkward. 

So Ulka, the Russian lady, talked to Anne G the entire rest of the time and she was going to Sorrento as well. So when we got off the train, she ended up "clinging" to us and throwing everything into confusion. The train from Naples to Sorrento was on strike, so she told us that we were going to split a hotel and all stay in one room and then come to Sorrento the next day. She started bossing us around and we really didn't like it, so we had to tell her that we were going to go ahead and come to Sorrento without her. Meanwhile, taxi drivers were mobbing us trying to get us to ride in their cars for way too much money, and we didn't know what to do. 

We arrived safely at our quaint hotel at about 8 or 9 after an hour drive. I was so stressed by that time that we couldn't decide what to eat for dinner, so the waiter ordered a pizza for me. (And it turned out to be great!)

The cute town has this plant everywhere. I think it's the same kind of plant that the Streets
gave me last summer. Wish my thumb was green enough to have one looking like this!

We woke up to a wonderful breakfast and lovely day in Sorrento until we had the allergic reaction, and though her throat isn't swollen any more, Meredith is still not feeling better yet. It's really hot, and that's what I think is making her sick. We may go try to find a place with air conditioning! I'm very thankful for a restful day, but I feel bad that Meredith has to be sick. Say a little prayer for her... We'd like to stay away from the Sorrento hospital.

And a few pictures that I didn't put up last post...

The view from Parc Guell above Barcelona

A boy we didn't really know "fell asleep" on Mary.

At the top of Parc Guell

Mary sitting with the old ladies at the bus stop.

Our yummy Catalynan dish from the Bachelor party. We are broadening our palate.

The Sea Shepherd is docked in Barcelona!

Mary and Meredith with the cute town of Ponza in the background.

Barcelona

We have loved the city of Barcelona. We've met lots of very fun people, and have gone to lots of very fun places. 

Someone told us before we got here that the city was so great because the public transportation was so easy. That made me happy because that also meant that the transportation would be cheap, and so upon our arrival, we bought a pass for 10 rides for 8,75 euros. Good deal! Only .70 euro for a ride!

Anyways, our first day, we wanted to visit the amazing La Sagrada Familia, so we asked a woman at the tourist info place to give us directions for the metro. She did, I wrote it on the map, and we headed that way. We got off the metro on the stop that we thought she told us, but we were in the middle of a neighborhood. We asked someone where to go, and she told us to walk down a road. 30 minutes later, we were in a tiny quickie shop in what looked like a very residential, somewhat rough neighborhood, trying to communicate with the men working there. 30 minutes later or maybe more, we were at the La Sagrada Familia by about 3 pm. That was our first experience with the easy public transportation.

We made it to the Parc Guell on a bus, which was a huge feat, and the park was amazing. Pictures to come.

That night we got home by about 9, and wanted dinner, so we got ready and decided that we would go to the beach area to eat a good Barcelona meal. We asked the hotel man how to get there, and he said, "It is an L, you go left, then you turn right on the first street and it leads you there." 

We thought that sounded easy enough. 20 minutes later, we saw water at a bay, but we couldn't find a beach or restaurants. We asked a big group of guys where the beach and a good restaurant was, and they laughed, and told us in very broken English to follow them. We followed about 20 feet behind them because they ignored us and didn't seem like they wanted to chat.

We found the beach and restaurants and stopped and the group of guys kept walking. Then a couple of them stopped when they didn't see us behind them, and they walked back and said, "No, no, this is not it. This is not good. It is up here. Follow us." And so we followed them. 

The rest of the group of 11 guys was already sitting down when we got to the outdoor restaurant, and they had already asked the waiter for 4 extra seats because we had to have reservations (first red flag). We thought it was very nice of them, and they were very prepared. We sat down and they started bringing us tons of food. Olives, bread, fried fruit of the sea, fried calamari, wine, sangria... Without us even asking (second red flag). We didn't eat at first because we thought that another person had ordered it, until we realized we were paying for this, and we ate every last bite because we knew that we wouldn't be able to afford to eat for a few days after this meal.

Anyways, when they poured the wine, they all toasted, "To Francisco!" And we wondered what was up with Francisco. Then one of them told us that this was his Bachelor party. 

We were like, "What! We shouldn't be crashing his party!" They assured us that it wasn't a problem, but we still felt bad. And so, for a couple of hours, the 4 of us girls ate at the very end of a table of 11 Italian men who were chanting songs about thinking long and hard about getting married before you do it. It was in Italian, but one guy translated it to us in broken English. We had many long, difficult conversations throughout dinner with the guys. I would usually just say "Bella" or "Bueno" (beautiful or good). 

Since I've been here, I've also really picked up on broken English. We have even started speaking it to each other when we are in the room! We talk much slower, without contractions, using our hands to describe things, and sometimes put an English accent on it.

Anyways, the Italians ended up being very nice guys (from what we understood) and they stopped ignoring us after we sat at their table, but it was just so random. When we were going home, one guy showed us how to get on the bus. Then he ended up riding the bus with us to show us which stop to get off of because I think that was easier than trying to explain it to us. Once we were off the bus, we knew where to walk. We got home pretty quickly, and were so glad for that.

The next day we went to the beach for the day, and we went a "shortcut" that ended up taking us about an hour to get there instead of 20 minutes. So we asked the same friend that we made who was from Barcelona who had helped us get home the night before, how to get home on the bus during the day. He showed us exactly which bus to get on and walked us to the bus stop. 

After about 45 minutes riding the bus, we started wondering why we were still on it since our stop was only about 2 miles away. We stay on the bus for another 45 minutes thinking that it would go back to where we recognized something. We had asked the driver, but he spoke Spanish. Long story short, a woman ended up translating to us that there were protestors all over the city so they would not be able to go close to our neighborhood, but we should get off immediately to get home. 

Some wandering, map studying, and 3 different metros later, we arrived home in less than 2 hours from the beach that was 2 miles away. 

I decided that the American woman who told us that Barcelona's transportation was "so easy," was probably from New York City. It's not that we were that dumb, it's just that we don't have that kind of thing in the South. That's what I keep telling myself.

So far, we have walked everywhere today, and we are taking a metro to dinner tonight, but we aren't going to risk getting lost on the way to the airport tomorrow. We decided that we will splurge on a taxi! 

I think my favorite thing about Barcelona so far has been the culture and the feel of it. It has a fun feel. It's beautiful and clean and everyone seems to be happy, helpful and friendly. My other favorite thing is their waffles drizzled with Nutella, with 2 scoops of gelato on it.

I would come back to this city again, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone coming this way! 

And really, we have had fun on our long walks through neighborhoods in the suburbs of Barcelona. The public transportation isn't all bad. It has given us the chance to see where the people actually live. We would have never done that if we had been able to figure out how to get places!

Pictures are coming as soon as I download a few!

Hello Barcelona

We just arrived in Barcelona at our hotel. We had a fun, smooth day of traveling. Praise the Lord!

For $34 a night, we got a great room! Beautiful, high ceilings and a balcony!

That's me on the balcony if you couldn't really tell.

And we have a cute view of a nice pedestrian street from our balcony!

We'll let you know if we can fall asleep with all the noise... 

Under the Tuscan Sun...

We had a bus tour today through Tuscany. We went to Siena, a vineyard/farm, San Gimignano, and Pisa. It was busy, busy, go, go, go, but very fun! I would completely recommend the WalkAbout Bus Tour- Best of Tuscany if you are ever planning on coming to this area!

I tried to take more pictures with my phone today so I could put some on here.

Beautiful wine country! 

Mary in the vineyard.

A little bit windy on the overlook in San Gimignano... Beautiful Tuscan hills.

We couldn't believe how much it actually leaned! It was insane.

Shortly after taking this last picture I realized that my passport, credit cards, and cash was gone. I got very nervous and after a few minutes, what felt like the entire tour group was staring at me and asking me questions. We couldn't find it on the bus or anything until an hour later, after the panic had completely set in and I had sweat through my shirt. It was the worst feeling ever. We rode the bus for about an hour and then I put my hand down in the crack beside my chair that my sister had been sitting in, and I felt the wallet. I'm telling you that I believe a miracle happened today. I don't know how in the world the wallet could have gotten there, and I don't know why I put my hand down that crack when I wasn't even looking for the wallet. Anyways, I feel ten times better and am going to sleep now resting easy, knowing that I don't have to spend all day tomorrow at the Embassy.