Made it Through The Night

     May 3, 2012 Thank God we didn't get a phone call through the night with any bad news. My cousin made it through the night. They had to do another invasive procedure early in the morning on my cousin again. They had to open him up and clean the inside out because there were blood clots. After this procedure the bleeding has stopped and only been minimal which they said is normal for a large procedure like this. A family friend who is a nurse was trying to explain a word my family did not understand, and it sounds like that they were thinking my cousin may have had a reaction to the blood transfusion, or may have been give the wrong blood type that can some times cause the lack of coagulation. They do not allow anyone in the ICU's here, but luckily they have allowed my cousin Antonio to go in and see his son. I am at least glad that he was able to go in there. I can't stand the thought of them allowing people to die alone here, but I guess that is one of the things that is different from our hospitals at home. There is no communication here between the doctors and nurses to the parents or family members that I have witnessed.
     Three friends of Antonios came to Naples today from Catanzaro, and one of Simona's friends also came to Naples as well. Once everyone was here we all went to a church to go pray for my cousin. I have not been into a Catholic church in a long time. I don't know if things have changed over time, or if it is just different here in Italy. When we walked in we ended up catching the end of mass and communion. I was able to light a candle for my cousin and my friend Lorena's mom who was just recently diagnosed with Leukemia. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that there was a large brown dog laying below the priest at the front of the church. Now that is definitely something you don't see very often. After the mass ended there was a prayer gathering that started where they did some prayers and worship songs. I may not know how to say it in Italian or understand it, but I recognized the tune. They were singing Shout to The Lord, something that I was at least able to sing in English because I knew the words. That was one of the other things I noticed that was different. The Catholic church that I was raised in when I was younger only played the organ and sang songs from a hymnal. This church here in Naples had about 8 younger kids singing worship songs. One was playing the organ and then there was also someone with a guitar. I liked how they were singing contemporary music rather than from a book of hyms.
     Later that night when we returned home from church and everyone was done eating pizza(a mediums size pizza in America is about what they serve here for one person) I was on the computer and my cousins friend Massimo wanted to go outside. The desk I was sitting at is in front of the door and he needed me to move so that he could get outside to go smoke. The way he said my name I knew he was going to try and screw around with me but I beat him to the punch and told him "tu ce una culo largo" basically that he has a big rear...everyone started laughing because this american girl definitely knows how to use these special words at the right time, plus they don't expect things like that to come from me...this is all
thanks to my cousin Veruska.
     Tonight is another night of waiting and praying that the phone doesn't ring and my cousin makes it through the night. Once he is out of ICU we will know we are out of the woods.