BG Unfallklinik

BG Unfallklinik is basically the emergency room in Tuebingen (Unfall means accident). And that's where I was yesterday, getting a tooth put back in. Yes, you read that right. Gotta love freak accidents.

This is how it went down: I was returning from grocery shopping and heading to my dorm. As I was crossing the street a cobblestone reached up and grabbed my foot, tripping me. Normally, this would not have been such a huge problem, except that my hands were full of grocery bags, limiting my ability to break the fall. And the curb just happened to be exactly the right distance away to smash into my mouth when I fell. Oh hello, there's my tooth on the ground and a whole in my mouth. Of course it was one of the front ones too (the top left incisor, to be exact).

I start freaking out, because I don't like blood and I'm missing a tooth! Fortunately I was with a friend at the time, and he managed to get me and the tooth to the Unfallklinik, which was no easy task considering I was bleeding all over the place and sobbing/hyperventilating. He seriously should become an EMT, because he did a great job of talking to me and calming me down (at least to some extent).

Various x-rays, shots, and attachment procedures later I now have bloody and sore gums, braces across my front 6 teeth and a hugely swollen and scraped up upper lip (I look fantastic, let me tell you). No guarantee from the doctor that the tooth will "re-root" though, so gotta go back on Monday and see how it's going. Might have to get a fake tooth, but maybe that would be better, because the corner of the tooth that fell out got chipped.

What's really unfortunate is that I don't have any pain meds. I only had a few aspirin in my room (which are now long gone) and I can't get any more from a pharmacy because today is "Tag der Arbeit" (Labor Day, essentially), and absolutely nothing is open. And pharmacies aren't open on the weekends. Fortunately the pain isn't too bad, so I'm pretty sure I'll survive. And did I also mention that I don't have any ice? Germans don't believe in ice cube makers or even trays, or even in selling bags of ice at the store, so that kind of sucks. I attempted to use a bag of frozen beans last night, which was not the greatest idea ever because the bag was already open, so when I woke up this morning there were beans and wet spots all over my bed. Trust me, nothing makes you homesick like being sick or injured. Being alone in a dorm in a foreign country is not really that comfortable, but oh well.

Oh, and did I mention that all these shenanigans only cost me 10 Euros? Gotta love that socialized medicine system :-) Ok, time to get back in bed. I'll keep you all updated as the saga continues. And walk carefully!