The last thing I remember is standing on the train platform, a little confused as to which train I needed to take to get home.
On the morning on June 2nd two strangers found me lying on the train tracks. They found me 10 minutes before the next ICE (high speed train) came through. They pulled me out and called the police. An ambulance came. The police spoke with me. None of this I remember.
I remember briefly throwing up and being held down. They were trying to get an IV in me and I started screaming. I figured it was a nightmare, and if I screamed loud enough I would wake up.
I woke up in the hospital. It was about three in the morning, and the nurse woke me to give me the phone. My parents were calling from the states. They wanted to know what had happened, if I was okay. I couldn’t answer them.
My lips were bloody and swollen. I couldn’t close my mouth. One of my front teeth was entirely missing, the other was broken into shards and embedded so high up in my gums that they were almost in my nose. Another chip of a third tooth was stabbed underneath my gum.
The nurse explained to me that they had found me, and given me a cat-scan. They would be keeping me there for 48 hours to monitor me – it was very likely I had sustained brain damage.
I fell back to sleep and woke up at about seven. The doctor asked me what had happened. I told him I didn’t know. He asked me again, what did I remember. I told him, nothing. He assured me it was a bad case of shock, and that I might remember bits and pieces later. I don’t want to remember.
I was taken later in the day to the dentist in the clinic. I’m terrified of dentists, but I laid absolutely still while she numbed my mouth (those needles hurt right under your nose). She carefully removed the remains of my front teeth, except for one section with the roots still attached. She dragged this down and placed it where it originally was. She then sewed up the gum carefully around the tooth and glued a metal band holding the tooth to a few other teeth. She said it would be a 50-50 chance that the tooth would be able to live. I’d need to get it capped, obviously. But the other front tooth was long gone. I will have to get an implant when I return to the states.
My host family came to visit me, and a friend brought me a book. I had two pain killer drips, but most of the time they just gave me saline. I wasn’t aloud to eat or drink (like I could move my mouth enough to eat!) in case they found something wrong with my head and had to operate.
The hours went by slowly, with my vitals checked every hour.
The next day a police officer came. He read my statement I gave when I was found and asked what I remembered. I told him, nothing. He asked if I could confirm my statement. I said, no. According to my statement, I said someone called me a bitch and pushed me onto the tracks. The police took a sample of my blood (taken on the night they found me) from the hospital. They are checking it for foreign substances, namely the date rape drug.
The doctors did find blood and light bruising on the back of my head. But no conclusions can really be drawn. For all we know, I simply slipped and fell.
A physiatrist also came. He wanted to know if I had been trying to kill myself.
I was released in the afternoon. They did not find anything wrong with my brain, and counted me as lucky. I am on an antibiotic and a pain killer. Monday morning I have to go back for a dentist check-up, and when I get home (11 days) I’ll be going to the dentist to see about getting my teeth fixed.
The program’s insurance will not be able to cover the medical costs. I do not know if my parent’s insurance will, either.
All in all it has been the most traumatic experience of my life, and I am thankful that I do not remember it.
I am thankful to the strangers who pulled me up from the tracks.
I am thankful that the only injury I sustained was broken teeth. I could have just as easily broken my neck, or been run over by a train.
I will post pictures in a few weeks time, when I get my new teeth. Right now, I am very depressed. Maybe having written about it will help me get past it.
M.
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