Still waiting for full details

Someone asked if we knew more about the accident and Chukka's condition. There's another surgery today; perhaps after that Mum and Magda will talk to the surgeon, and then they will try to go to the polic station tomorrow and look at the accident report. Those are two very hard things.

Magda can't stay; she is leaving to go home around noon on Monday; she has to get on a train Tuesday morning and travel to give a talk. After that my mother will be alone in Innsbruck.

I do know a little about the circumstances of the accident. European trains lock their doors one minute before departure as a safety memasure. I wouldn't know that, and neither did Chukka -- we traveled a lot in Europe when we were kids, and you could just pull a door open no matter what. She was trying to get on the train back to Prague, saw the train, and tried to open the doors. Then somehow she fell. Where she fell or exactly what happened after I still do not know.

All organs are fine. The legs of course are amputated above the knee. There are some other injuries, but Mum and Magda think it is best to respect her privacy as much as possible, I think they are probably right. There is no paralysis, again I think no trauma to the head.

At some time the surgeon -- the head of the clinic is taking Chukka's case -- will give Mum and Magda a full briefing, although if there is more to be done, they cannot make a final assesssment & so will not be ready to give full details. Doctors don't like to speculate in public.

The wounds are infected and she has a high fever -- there are some risks there.

Once she is back here and they have made their medical assessment, she will have to go through rehab, maybe in a rehabilitation hospital. She will have to be trained how to do many things that we all take for granted. They will also likely work on building up body strength. She will need to use both her upper and lower body in ways she has not before. They do believe she will be able to have prosthetics, but that will take some time until the wounds are fully healed and can take the pressure, and again there is a lot to be learned in terms of how to control them.

The hospital will presumably also have counseling services and support groups. Since they have not spoken of concussion, she may have been conscious during the accident (that is very painful to imagine) and then there will be postraumatic stress -- I won't call it a disorder, because it is perfectly natural.

I have to stop thinking about this all the time, irght this moment I know I am spinning out of control a little but it is not so easy to stop it. Your comments and support mean a lot to me. It matters so much that you are all there for her, and of course I know you are all part of her support team, all of you.