We couldn't stay out long because mom and I had plans to have lunch at Zio Nino's house. Once we got to his house I got to meet another one of my cousins Ludevica. Here they teach kids a little bit of English at the schools. When I asked her how old she was in Italian she was taking a couple minutes to reply and counting on her fingers and I couldn't figure out why, then she responded in English telling me that she was "eight" years old. It was so cute. I told here she is the first person that has spoken to me in English and was not affraid to try. While we were there my mom was explaining to my uncle how she adjusts her glasses when she wants to flip someone off and not make it obvious to everyone. Well this is my uncle who was a lawyer, is well known, and does not curse at all. I told him to adjust his glasses like my mom and he did. After lunch we returned home to relax for a little.
We were finally done shopping for dinner, and getting ready to pay when all of a sudden I hear something loud hit the floor followed by some weird grunting noises. I turn around and see a man fall face first into the floor having a seizure. I thought it was hectic trying to control an emergency situation at home once during a vehicle rollover and I was first on scene, and then another time controlling family members outside of the ER. I tell you what both of those events I don't think compare to the chaos of having to yell for what you want and need people to help you with in English, and then have your mom translate for you in Italian (I don't know how the heck I would have managed if she weren't there to help translate).
When the man fell he was on the ground prone and banging his head against the floor. Everyone there stood around and watched like it was some kind of show (my cousin Veruska also knew immediately what was wrong with the man). I had to yell for someone to call an ambulance since everyone was standing around. Go figure my cousin ended up being the one calling...twice @ 3 minutes apart, so everyone else could watch. I had to wait for gloves before I could try to keep him from banging his head because he was bleeding either because he bit his tongue or a lacerated lip. Luckily there was a meat department and they had gloves for me. They weren't very good, but at least they were some sort of PPE definitely better than nothing. Once I had my gloves on I held the mans head off the floor while he continued to seize and until someone was able to give me a seat cushion to put his head on. Finally when the seizure ended I rolled him over on his side. I could tell he wasn't breathing good because he was still clamped down and had snoring respirations, so I had to do a jaw thrust on him to maintain his airway until he woke up a little more and could breath on his own. While I am maintaing an airway a medic walked in. I am thinking finally I can get off this ground...nope the man walks out. He's not the first responder medic he does something else medical and he just came in to see what was going on. He did say though that he would transport the man in his non medical ambulance if the emergency ambulance didn't show up. I couldn't believe he didn't even offer to help. Here I am in an awkward position on the groung holding this man's head having to tell my mom to keep checking my backside and make sure my rear wasn't hanging. I'm the only one on the floor helping this man and the medic walks out and doesn't do a thing. In the middle of all this when we are waiting for the man to wake up my mom aks, " do you want me to grab your camera and take a picture?" I laughed and said, "no". She was asking because she knows that I have been journaling and taking pictures of everything I do while I am here. The man finally starts to wake up a little, but can't speak clearly and I can tell he is still disoriented. I had to keep my hand in front of his mouth so he wouldn't blow blood all over me and in my face with the way he was breathing when he tried to sit up. I aske my mom to have the guys around watch his hands because some people can become agressive after they have a seizure and I don't feel like getting punched. Once he was semi alert I looked at my mom and said " he smells like alcohol, and you don't have to translate that" (or else she would have). Finally Pronto Sorcorso shows up and they immediately recognize the man. As soon as they said his name he immediately looked at them. I gotta say it felt like home. He ended up being a regular, homeless, ETOH'er that left the hospital AMA earlier that day. They loaded him up and took him away.
After he was gone they allowed me to use their restroom in the market to wash my hands and harms and then drench myself in alcohol, followed by more soap because I didn't know they gave me 100% alcohol to use. I had to use the soap a second time because the smell of alcohol was so strong on me, then when we got home I needed lotion because my hands and arms were dry. Once I was clean we were getting ready to pay for our groceries the man at the register said we didn't have to pay for anything because I helped the man. That was a complete shock, but also very generous of him. Not very many people do that in the stores here. So the next couple days it was a joke that everytime we ate, we were eating Gratis.
When we got home to my aunts house my cousin Roberto was here, and my cousin Veruska was telling him that I had to work for him tonight. Then he said "that was you on the phone...if I would have known I would have told you something different." (bad word). He ended up being at the office when we called for the ambulance and he was the one that answered the 911 call which here for help the # is118. Then of course like all of us in the medical field my cousin voiced a couple of his opinions about this particular frequent flyer patient. After talking to my cousin and my mom I found out there is one main ambulance in the area to run 911 calls. They do have other ambulances around, but I still am not really sure as to how there system works. This city is pretty big and for one ambulance I can't imagine what happens when two people at the same time go down.
We eventually make it to Veruska's for dinner, and their neighbor Antonio came over for dinner also. He has a yellow lab that is 7months old named Lilli. He uses a harness for her and she ends up walking him instead. I tried walking here and there is no control at all. I told him about the gentle leader that works really well for those dogs. By the time dinner was done I was exhausted and ready for bed.
THE HOMELESS MAN I HELPED A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER
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