Yep. A Europe we will go go. We leave this evening and fly the red eye from Vancouver to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Helsinki, Finland. Paul has a conference in Helsinki that he could not be talked out of going to, and the trauma docs gave him the green light to fly after a nice x-ray of his lungs, so off we go. We will be in Helsinki from June 1st to 6th. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do while Paul is busy nerding it up with the other paper physics geeks, but I'm sure I'll find something. Finnish soap operas anyone? One night we're booked onto a boat cruise around the Baltic Sea which is supposed to be quite stunning.
On the 6th we fly back to Amsterdam, and then hop on another flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, Spain, which I managed to secure for a whopping 10 Euros each. Return. Plus taxes and shiz, so it worked out to 200 Euros for the two of us round trip. We have three nights booked in Barcelona and then we rent a car and are going to drive to San Sebastian where we have four nights booked. After that we have three nights unaccounted for until we have to be back in Barcelona for June 15th for a 9am flight back to Amsterdam. We're not sure where those three nights will take us, we've agreed to just wing it and see how it goes. Then just over 24 hours to chillax in Amsterdam and enjoy the cafes and the botanical gardens Cammy is insisting we see. Cafe first, gardens second. Understood. Then flying back home, arriving back some time the afternoon of June 16th.
I have to admit, I'm more nervous about this trip then I ever have been about travelling in third world countries. After surviving being trapped in a sinking boat and stuck in the middle of a military coup, I'm pretty sure I can handle pretty much anything travelling decides to throw at me, but this broken man of mine I'm not so sure about. I guess I'm nervous about his pain tolerance while sleeping in strange beds without his special bed contraptions (way too big to take with us) and while sitting in airplane seats for long periods of time and rickety rental cars. And I'm nervous about having to lug his luggage around the pedestrian only parts of San Sebastian trying to find our hotel which may or may not exist according the reviews on the website we booked through. I'm packing extra light with a wheelie bag that can be converted to a backpack so I can take over handling his stuff if need be. It's all apart of the fun of travelling, so whatever, we'll just roll with it.
I've got my money belt (with no actual money to put in it . . . hello overdraft, my name is Katie . . .) and my airplane pillow and two books on Spain and "Spanish for Dummies" audio CD's to listen to on my ipod and we've got a shit load of ativan and funky narcotics, so yeah. Whooohoo!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
getting back to it
I suppose I should have posted an update sooner, but time is of a premium these days and blogging took a low priority. Shocking, I know.
Paul is back at home now, which is great and also certainly has it's challenges. I stayed on medical leave last week to be home and provide care and help where needed, but I will go back to work next week. Paul is approaching his recovery with the same intensity with which he approaches all things he is serious about - the same intensity that saw him finish his PhD in less than 4 years, among other things. So watch out world, he's coming at ya! We've had an OT come in and do a home assessment and have been outfitted with all kinds of things to make it easier for him to be independent . . . bath seat, hand held shower, bed rail, bed lift wedge thing. Yep. We're officially octogenarians. And so good looking.
It seems the pain from having the surgery is wearing off, and so he's starting to feel all of the other things, like the 7 broken ribs, 2 fractured vertebrae, and all of the little fractures and bone fragments around his broken scapula and collarbone that they did not repair, letting time and the body do their jobs instead. We saw the trauma team again last week for a follow up chest x-ray, and the verdict was that the pneumothorax and hemothorax have resolved (thanks largely to the chest tube that was in for 3 days, and Paul's mega healthy lungs) which is really good news. Tomorrow we see the orthopaedic team again, and look forward to hearing what they have to say about pain management and starting rehab.
We documented pretty much everything with photos from lying in hospital beds to bandage changes. Out of respect for Paul's privacy I'm not going to post them on this blog, but you can check out the one he posted on his blog if you're interested in seeing him at his worst (still pretty dang cute if you ask me).
Paul is back at home now, which is great and also certainly has it's challenges. I stayed on medical leave last week to be home and provide care and help where needed, but I will go back to work next week. Paul is approaching his recovery with the same intensity with which he approaches all things he is serious about - the same intensity that saw him finish his PhD in less than 4 years, among other things. So watch out world, he's coming at ya! We've had an OT come in and do a home assessment and have been outfitted with all kinds of things to make it easier for him to be independent . . . bath seat, hand held shower, bed rail, bed lift wedge thing. Yep. We're officially octogenarians. And so good looking.
It seems the pain from having the surgery is wearing off, and so he's starting to feel all of the other things, like the 7 broken ribs, 2 fractured vertebrae, and all of the little fractures and bone fragments around his broken scapula and collarbone that they did not repair, letting time and the body do their jobs instead. We saw the trauma team again last week for a follow up chest x-ray, and the verdict was that the pneumothorax and hemothorax have resolved (thanks largely to the chest tube that was in for 3 days, and Paul's mega healthy lungs) which is really good news. Tomorrow we see the orthopaedic team again, and look forward to hearing what they have to say about pain management and starting rehab.
We documented pretty much everything with photos from lying in hospital beds to bandage changes. Out of respect for Paul's privacy I'm not going to post them on this blog, but you can check out the one he posted on his blog if you're interested in seeing him at his worst (still pretty dang cute if you ask me).
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