I’m sure once you speak to your mom it will help you deal with the situation – when my grandfather broke his neck a few years ago I was totally freaked out until I talked to him. When you do, she will be able to tell you what she needs – if she feels like she has made good friends there who can help her, or if she would rather come home to heal.

I hope you get to speak to her soon. ~hugs~

I hope everything is ok and she isn’t in a lot of pain. To top off not speaking the language of the nurses, the poor thing.

I was an exchange studen in Southern Germany when I was 18 and met enough Germans and Swiss (also visited Switzerland enough) to have learnt this: they are extremely organised and competent, and most people in Switzerland in bigger towns speak English.

A good friend of mine recently had ankle surgery after falling down the stairs less than elegantly and I’m in vet school so I’ll just be terribly arrogant now and presume you’d like me to tell you what to expect since I assume, from what I’ve been reading in your blog, that you’re much like me and not knowing creates space for nightmares far worse than reality. (Abject apologies if this is not the case) Recovery from orthopoedic surgery is a bit hard bcs it’s painful, but the drugs work. The extent of her recovery will depend on what sort of fractures, where they happened exactly, her bone density and general physical condition but good physiotherapy and instant surgery help loads. My friend is a dr. and therefore a terrible patient, she walked on a broken ankle for 3 days refusing to see a dr (!!) and post-op did every single thing one is not expected to, and neglected to do what she had to (including rehab exercises). She walks without a limp. It took a while – see above – but there is no reason to think your mother won’t have a full recovery. Physical rehab is not all that pleasant either but it is effective and sometimes almost miraculous, and the Swiss are also good at that sort of thing.

I know how horrid the feeling of hopelessness is, since I speak German I’d be more than glad to help you should you need it, please don’t hesitate if there’s any way I can. I also have friends who are extremely competent drs and can help translate doctorese into layman format, from x-ray intrpretation to – well, everything really.

I really am sorry you all have to go through this, I hope will feel more reassured soon.

I wish her a speedy recovery, and if she’s anything like you she’ll bounce back quickly because you are one feisty lady. Feisty.

I hope your mom heals quickly.