Hi Dotsie,
Thank you for your interest... Well the 'oxygen helmet' was a device they were trying out at the hospital in Milano where I was taken... It's like this (though here it's over a child) and is placed and fixed/sealed tightly over the patients head. It is far more efficient - so they claim - than a standard 'tent'
http://www.hbot4u.com/trinity.jpg

There are varying levels of recovery in some major hospitals here ....
Re-animation is where, upon arrival you are considered to be 'a lost case'.

That is followed by the Intensive Care Unit where you are recovered
a)If you survived the 'Re-an'.
OR
b)If when you arrived you were 'pretty bad' but not 'almost gone'.
c) Specialist units are the next level. i.e. Cardiology, Pneumology, Surgery, Maternity etc. etc.

As for being 'fit again' well - my heart was damaged, kidneys too. Lungs could be better, but I can now manage to sleep on just one pillow and on my back....., and I can - all be it VERY slowly - climb 4 flights of stairs. I had an operation on my leg in the 80's following an accident, and since then use a walking stick. I excercised at home on an 'excercise bike' but that is now becoming more painful because 'arthritis' is starting to set into my hands, wrists and knees...

But despite all these 'trials and tribulations' - life remains VERY, VERY sweet. I enjoy what I have - and feel it is such a pity when so many don't appreciate what they DO have and just 'bitch' about everything!

europa