What I Learned from Falling Down a Flight of Stairs Holding Two Dogs from South Africa
Lucy and Enzo, South African Dogs - Luxembourg Housesit
How does a 50-something American woman come to find herself at the bottom of a set of granite stairs, holding two dogs from South Africa, in a Luxembourg apartment building?
I’ll keep this part brief. My husband and I travel full-time and along the way we housesit for others who enjoy traveling as we do. This experience happened while visiting/housesitting Lucy and Enzo, two sweet South African dogs in Luxembourg. New Years’ Eve 2021, started out as a typical morning, woke up, leashed up, and prepared to take the dogs for their morning walk.
As I stepped out of the flat, with its wall-to-wall granite flooring, I took my first step off the landing and watched as Lucy and Enzo flew past me, feet up with me following right behind them. Before I knew it, I was face down, stunned and confused. What just happened? I was up and down within seconds. I felt like one of those gawking observers watching a terrible accident happen but this time it was happening to me.
Wait! Before you judge me as clumsy, this time was not my fault. Admittedly, I have been known to fall up the occasional staircase, this tragic fall was out of my control. See, our lovely neighbor across the hall has a weekly schedule of cleaning the stairwell, with what I can only describe as rocket fuel because that’s how I felt as I shot down the stairs.
After a ride in one of Luxembourg’s state-of-the-art ambulances, a 5-hour visit to the local Emergency Hospital, a Cat Scan, and an ER visit, I learned a few things.
I am stronger than I realized. After this memorable fall, I was lucky to walk away with no injuries to any vital organs, just severe bruising on my ribs and months of slow recovery.
I overcame my fear of getting hurt while traveling. There were many obstacles that initially held me back from taking the leap to travel full-time. One that lived at the forefront of my mind was “What if I get hurt?” Well, I did, and I survived. I know, given the circumstances, I was lucky this time. But once I had this lived experience, I could reflect with confidence that I responded calmly to the situation, learned how to navigate my health needs, despite language limitations, and do it alone because of COVID restrictions.
Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. As an American, I take many things for granted. Healthcare is no exception. Living stateside, I have been fortunate to afford health insurance. Unlike the thirty-one million Americans that live today uninsured because of prohibitive healthcare costs, my experience with state-funded healthcare was quite encouraging. I received exceptional attention from the medical team, the hospital was modern and safe and my bill after a luxury 20-minute ambulance ride, ER visit, doctor visit, and Cat Scan was $500.00. If this episode happened stateside, I would be looking at months of payments.
Human kindness and compassion are universal languages. Our neighbor, who felt terrible about what happened, was instrumental in getting the help I needed. Her daughter walked Stephen, my husband, and Ethan, my son, through the process and helped us communicate with the paramedics when they arrived. The doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers were patient with me as I lay in a foreign hospital unable to communicate my pain in Luxembourgish.
Learning to stay present in the moment. I realize, on reflection, that each step I took leading up to my epic tumble, I took for granted. I wasn’t present in the moment. I was not mindful of my actions. I had a job to do and moved too fast. It may not have changed the result, but I wonder if I was intentionally in that moment, would I have caught myself from falling?
So, yes, I experienced my first major travel health accident and lived to tell about it. Lucy and Enzo went unscathed and even got their morning walk. Stephen and Ethan were my heroes in keeping me calm, and I was a rockstar for weathering one of my biggest fears in full-time travel. Here’s to more opportunities to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
