Expanding My Vocabulary

Sledding = faire de la luge

La piste = slope

La luge du sport = wicked fast Swiss sled

La congère = snow drift

Renverser = to flip, to turn

Coincé = trapped, jammed, stuck

Le genou = knee

Tordu = twisted

Effrayant = terrifying

La Source = medical clinic in Lausanne

Urgence = emergency

Radio = short for radiographie, x-ray

IRM = MRI

Une attelle = brace, splint

Paracetamol = Tylenol aka Dafalgan

Ibuprofenum – Ibuprofen aka Algifor

Physiothéripie = Physical therapy

Kinésithérapeute = Physical therapist

Doug has accused me of having a knee injury to be able to practice my French, which of course isn’t true (but as you can see I’ve learned quite a few new words).

A couple of weeks ago our downstairs neighbor invited us to go with her and her fiancé in her cute new red Mini to go sledding at Les Diablerets, one of the closest ski areas to Lausanne.  It was a gorgeous day – perfect for sledding.  The drive there was beautiful, we went west from Lausanne, through Montreux, and then ascended into the mountains via Aigle  - it took less than an hour.

We found the bottom of the piste, and rented our “sport” sleds for 14 CHF and lift tickets for about 12 CHF, and hopped on the lift.  We had never been on a lift without skis, and it was a bit unnerving jumping on and having the attendant put the sled on the seat next to us.  I was worried how we were going to manage to get off and get our sled off the lift, but we did.

At the top of the 7km slope (a closed road dedicated just to sledding), we realized that our “sport” sleds were awesome – they went so much faster than plastic sleds or saucers, you could sort of steer them with your feet, but wait…where were the breaks?  Doug gave a quick 30 second explanation from the website that you break with your heels and off we went. 

Right away I realized that these sleds were powerful – you could really get up some speed, and wait, if you steer with your feet, and break with your feet, how do you steer and break at the same time?  I developed a new technique, steer with one foot and brake with another, which promptly veered me into the bank of snow on the side of the road.  I flipped my sled, and through some contortionist move, got my leg stuck in the sled, twisting it in a direction that your leg isn’t supposed to go.  I heard a “pop” in my knee, felt my head bang against the road, and prayed that I wouldn’t be decapitated by another sport sled coming behind me.  By the time I extricated myself from the sled, my endorphins were so ramped up that I thought the best way to get down was to continue to sled down the hill (it was either that or walk back up the hill, which I knew would be impossible).  So the rest of the 6km slope I was in terror that I would flip again, and immediately learned how to break and steer the sled (oh, hindsight is so bitter sweet).   The end of the slope was especially terrifying, with big banners signs to slowdown around the turns that intersected with skiers, and a last hurrah of a hill that I’m sure the Swiss Olympic luge team uses for practice.

I hobbled to the car, knowing that I’d done something very bad to my knee, and the next day went to La Source Medical clinic where I received VIP treatment from my nurse friend Debbie and Dr. Gianni (pronounced Johnny) Minghelli.  I left La Source to pick up a bionic brace at Vidy Med, which I will wear for a total of 6 weeks and hope that my stretched ligaments and tendons will have healed back in shape and there isn’t any permanent damage.  My observant and oh-so-wise friend Debbie said “Laurie, I know that you’re always going for the full Swiss experience – but you didn’t have to come to see me here as a patient!” Nevertheless, now I’m practicing French with my kind kinésithérapeute.