May 10,2012 This morning when I woke up Roberto was getting everything ready to draw blood from my aunt. They are still running tests to make sure the cancer she had is not back, and that there is not something else going on. My cousin gets to bring these things home to draw blood and give IM injections because he is a medic and knows what he is doing. He offered to let me draw my aunts blood and of course I jumped at the opportunity. He said she was a hard stick, so I dind't think I would be successful. I actually ended up hitting the vein on the first attempt and got enough blood for one tube. We still needed more, so I let Roberto stick her again because my aunt was already bruised up from other sticks in the last few days plus she wants us to keep using her AC vein and won't let us stick her hand. I didn't want to take the chance of missing and having to stick her again. I was happy that I got her on the first try. With those of us that work in the medical field, if someone tells us that they are a hard stick that then becomes a challenge, and we love challenges!
Veruska showed up a few minutes later to pick me up. I wanted to go to Catanzaro Lido to the mercatino on the beach because I had found a gift for a friend there and then decided that I also wanted one myself, so I had to go in search for another one and luckily I found what I was looking for. We were in a hurry and did not have a lot of time because Veruska had a dentist appointment. She had already changed the time so that she could take me to the mercatino. We rushed home in the car and switched over to the scooter. I am not scared to ride on the back of a motorcylce or scooter with her, Ivan, or Sonia. There dad (my Zio Silvio) was a well known motorcylce rider throughout Europe, so it is in their blood. I am a little scared of the traffic around us though because these drivers do not stop and the scooters weave in and out of cars all day long. Veruska has not used the scooter in a while because of the weather, so we had to go air up the tires before we headed out to the dentist. While the man at the station was airing up her front tire he ended up breaking the valve that allows air in and out. Now her tire was completely flat. We had to walk her scooter across speeding traffic to the other side of the road, and then a decent size hill to a mechanic. She was not a happy camper. She ended up having to call the dentist again and cancelling the appointment all together since we were obviously not going to make it. Since she now had some time we went driving around downtown Catanzaro, and then headed over to Zio Gaetano's for lunch.
I still do not like how everything closes down in the middle of the day, but the mall's are open when everything else is closed and I do like that. Everyone things I shop like crazy over here, but in reality I have not bought myself anything big. A magnet, a keychain, and a book. I have been shopping for everyone else, but myself. The trips not over yet though and I am still deciding what I want to bring home with me. Once we were done eating mom, veruska, and I headed out to al centro comercial (mall) in Lamezia. I wanted to go look at a jewelry store for a necklace I have been wanting to get, and especially today because I wanted to use it for when Veruska and I went out to dinner. Luckily Veruska knew the girl working there because it was her husbands cousin. She actually knows everyone in this town and I joke around with her everytime she says "hi " to someone when we are out and about I pretend to start counting the minutes until she sees someone else she knows. Usually these stores will give you discounts and people here bargain like crazy. And for those of you that know me I am also ready for a good discount, and it is even better when you know the person selling what you want. Once I was ready to pay she would not let me because my Zia Rita (her mom) told here that when I found my necklace she wanted to buy it for me as a gift. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited, and now I can't wait to buy some additional pieces to add to it.
The main reason that we ended up going to Lamezia was because Veruska said there was a toy store there and I have been in search for a spiderman gift for my cousin Gaetanno for a week now, and have not been able to find anything. I still ended up empty handed when we left the mall, but luckily there was a toy store in the same parking lot that is almost as big as Toys R Us. I finally found a spiderman toy and then also a gift that is for learning. It worked out perfect because I could give him one gift on the day we visited him at the hospital, and the other gift for his birthday when he left the hospital. We were definitely rushed for time after the toy store because Veruska and I had to come home and get ready for dinner that night.
We were suppose to meet her friends at 9pm, but she didn't pick me up until about 9:30pm. I give her crap for being late all the time. We finally got to the resteraunt at Catanzaro Lido called The White Pub. I was very happy to actually be having something other than pizza again. I love the panini's they have here because I can never find prosciutto coto (a type of ham) at home. After dinner all of us girls headed to a bar. A couple of them order gelato, Veruska ordered a shot of alcohol, and I ordered a Chamomille tea. They looked at me like I was crazy. Asking, "Da vero a questa ora?" (Really at this hour?). It's now 11:30 pm I am tired and going to be going to bed soon plus its freezing cold outside, so I definitely didn't want an ice cream and the shot of alcohol was out of the question.Come to find out later they were laughing and giving me a hard time because we drink chamomille to sleep and relax, but here the women drink it as a home remedy to menstrual cramps, so they were making jokes about me ordering my tea.
When I got home tonight my mom updated me on Gaetanno's status. She said that he hasn't been eating and that the doctors are worried because if he doesn't eat they cannot send him home. I think he is not eating because his throat is still sore from having the ET tube (breathing tube) in, especially since they had to re-intubate him. His mom Simona says he doesn't want to eat because he's affraid he will vomit. Hopefully he will eat something soon, so he can get out of there. He knows he needs to eat or he won't be able to leave the hospital.
Veruska showed up a few minutes later to pick me up. I wanted to go to Catanzaro Lido to the mercatino on the beach because I had found a gift for a friend there and then decided that I also wanted one myself, so I had to go in search for another one and luckily I found what I was looking for. We were in a hurry and did not have a lot of time because Veruska had a dentist appointment. She had already changed the time so that she could take me to the mercatino. We rushed home in the car and switched over to the scooter. I am not scared to ride on the back of a motorcylce or scooter with her, Ivan, or Sonia. There dad (my Zio Silvio) was a well known motorcylce rider throughout Europe, so it is in their blood. I am a little scared of the traffic around us though because these drivers do not stop and the scooters weave in and out of cars all day long. Veruska has not used the scooter in a while because of the weather, so we had to go air up the tires before we headed out to the dentist. While the man at the station was airing up her front tire he ended up breaking the valve that allows air in and out. Now her tire was completely flat. We had to walk her scooter across speeding traffic to the other side of the road, and then a decent size hill to a mechanic. She was not a happy camper. She ended up having to call the dentist again and cancelling the appointment all together since we were obviously not going to make it. Since she now had some time we went driving around downtown Catanzaro, and then headed over to Zio Gaetano's for lunch.
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