July 25 & 26 - Universal Hospital Group, Istanbul

The two days at this fabulous hospital remain a blur except for the awesome photos I took of our hospital suite. We may have been in Turkey but it was totally Greek design and apparently part of a German health care organization. Not only did our room have a lounging area plus full bath and shower, it had several attached rooms for family guests including an office, a large bedroom, and a full bath - all in marble and gold as I dreamily recall.

Wednesday morning a team of doctors and nurses began rounds in our room after we had been served breakfast at a settee. (Ripe olives, feta cheese, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, rolls, juice and fresh yogurt along with coffee.) Just as they came in to see these new American patients, Dr. Gunay, our PC doctor from Azerbaijan, walked in behind them. Elaine and I gasped with joy to welcome him. He introduced himself to the startled staff and then all conferred on what had happened to us and our current medical status.

The next few days consisted of napping and eating and blood draws. I did make a request for help with taking a shower since it had been 4 or 5 days since I had washed my hair or bathed. As at the previous hospital, we received tender care and I'm sure we were the object of discussion as we walked the halls with our black eyes, bandaged legs, and arms in black slings.

Dr. Gunay seemed to spend his time ironing out the paperwork to get us to the US for further care and recovery in Washington DC. There's always the question of who's going to pay the bill. Even tho' this was cleared by about noon on Friday, it was apparent we would miss the 1 o'clock flight that day and take the same flight on Saturday instead. So Elaine and Dr. Gunay and I decided to leave the hospital and stay Friday night at a hotel in the old city.
Elaine managed to contact the same hotel we had planned to stay in before we returned to Azerbaijan. We took a taxi from the hospital on the Asia side of Istanbul to the Broken Column Hotel on the Europe side of Istanbul - also closer to the airport. After checking in and having dinner together, we retired to our rooms knowing that we would fly via Turkish Airlines on Saturday at 1pm, and the long journey home.