Wognum part IV

Kiara turned 10 years old while she was in France with her father, so we had some catching up to do. We invited friends and family over to Wognum to celebrate. Kiara had already received her presents from Jocelyn, and myself and had practiced walking on her powerstilts all week.

But having everyone come over was something she really looked forward to. By 14.00 hours almost everybody had arrived.

The kids played soccer on the lawn and the old foggies sipped wine on the terrace. It was a beautifully sunny day. At the end of the afternoon the Loos family joined us in our celebration and Siem had fired up the oven to make pizzas. It proved to be a real family effort as Ben had been in in the morning to make the dough.

Special thanks to Mom and Tirza for helping me out with all the groceries, the salads, not to mention the cake.

It was also really nice for Kiara to meet her cousin Yaris from Switzerland.

Ada and Siem, I truely recommend the Pizza school! Anyone interested in a fun day for all, get in touch with Wijngaard Saalhof.

Wognum part III

Martine, Kiara's friend joined us on Thursday. It was awfully nice of Bert and Annelies to drive her to Wognum. The kids spent the night on their own in one of the log cabins. Even though I was right next door, it seemed really adventurous to them. As for me, I had a really quiet evening. The kids even made their own breakfast and soon after left to play. They also tried to go swimming but were caught in a fluke hail storm and of course Kiara's phone had gone dead. Oh well, I trusted they were sensible enough to handle the situation, and they were. A little while later they came walking across the green. They made it back safely. That night I took the kids to Medemblik where the yearly fair was starting and we ended up eating in a very fancy restaurant. The kids shared a meal and I took my time enjoying my meal as they made their way around the fairground. My parents joined us on Friday so the girls, my mom and I went for refreshments in Hoorn. Martine stayed until Saturday as not to miss Kiara's 10th B'day party.

Wognum part II

When Jocelyn left the place went quiet, but not for long. On the Tuesday Yvonne and her family came to stay. I met Yvonne in Brazil during primary school. I left the Escola Americana do Récife when I was 7 years old. Later, when I was turned 10 we visited the family in Récife. It was wonderful to hook up after all those years. Back in March Yvonne and her dad met my parents and myself and we vowed to see each other more often. Yvonne's children Tessa and Linda are appropriately aged 9 and 11. Kiara fits in nicely in the middle. We had a wonderful time on the steamtrain from Wognum to Medemblik. The kids got all dressed up. Thanks to Yvonne's husband Gerard I managed the trainride as he carried my cushion around that day. The kids were facinated by the train and when we arrived back in Wognum, the staff went out of their way to let the kids experience travel in the olden days. We also went to Hoorn to do some shopping and went out for pizza and ice-cream in the evening. The kids also went swimming. It was so nice to have them, unfortunately time flew by really quickly.

Wognum part I

Having practiced in Prague we were totally prepped for Wognum. After a good month of rehab I felt it was time to take a little break and enjoy life a bit. Jocelyn flew over from the US with Zara and joined me at my holiday spot in Wognum in the Northern tip of the province of Noord Holland. We stayed at the Saalhof vineyard which is the property of Siem and Ada Loos, who incidently are Paula's parents. Paula used to be Martin's partner and Kiara grew up visiting them like most kids would to seeing their grandparents. We stayed in the new Siberian (Datchas) log cabins that to my great suprise were beautifully equiped. I would say the comfort level was comparable to a very good 3 star hotel. Jocelyn, Zara and I settled in nicely, and Marcus came up for the Saturday. We made a day trip to Medemblik where one of the Ijsselmeer's Marina's is situated. A trip to the old windmill and the Afluitdijk were on our list. The latter being an interesting site for a Geography Major, which Jocelyn is.

Holland's pride was adourned with the most tattered flag I ever saw and I could feel my spirit bubbling up when I promised myself to send a remark to the organisation. That is so typically Dutch. People from all over the World come to see these sites and they can't be bothered to get the flag right!

After a 3 week holiday with her father, Kiara joined us on the Sunday. We picked her up at Angélique's where we had lunch before heading back to Wognum. Zara once again practiced her flirtatious look on Hugo, my brother in law. After lunch we went back to Wognum. Paula was there and so was a pile of birthday presents for Kiara who had turned 10 during her absence. What a commemorable age. I remember that 2 years ago, I was still wondering if I was going to make it to that day. Luckily I have lived to see it and I am doing my very best to witness the next 10 years too. Unfortunately Jocelyn already had to leave the next day. It was so wonderful to have her here. I suppose we have to start planning the next trip. It was a real shame that Helena wasn't able to come though. She was caught up in work. Next time, Helena!

Back on track

Back from Prague, it was tough to go back to rehab again. The pain had died down and I was worried about it starting again. The weather is pretty good though and while painting in the outdoors, I managed to keep it up for a whole 2,5 hours. I have started 2 new projects and have set myself a new goal.
I hope to make enough canvasses to be able to hold an exposition in the near future. I have quite a way to go, as I have about 5 canvasses now but I need about 20. My shoulders are much better now. It is a great strain on my shoulders to paint at the moment because it is hard to hold my arm up. The Trappenberg will be concocting special equipment for me so I can paint by leaning my arm on a movable surface. 2,5 hours is not bad at all though.
It goes to show that the physical therapy is paying off.

My leg on the other hand just does not seem to want to come along. I will be seeing the doctor of the Trappenberg this week. I wonder what he will come up with.

I seem to be having a harder time this time to keep up the moral. On the other hand, I have already completed more than a month of therapy and all in all I am getting along pretty fast. Just moving forward a day at a time.

Prague's promise

Two months ago I decided that is was time to pull myself out of this bottomless pitt. It was time to set one of my impossible goals again. I thought that a trip with Marcus, while the kids were away with the exes might be just right for us. We decided on Prague but frankly, I had no idea how I was going to get around Prague. I remembered from my trip in I think it was 1993, with my mother, that Prague was a city of cobble stones and stone tiles. I booked anyway, knowing that I would be pushing myself through rehab with a goal as prestigious as this. For a moment it seemed like I might not make that goal as I got back-lagged by the last radiation session and the fall which the ambulance had caused. I was into my 3rd week at rehab when disaster struck. The pain in my left leg had gotten so bad that I had to stop exercising it. This is how the week in which I was supposed to leave started. The pain did not die down by Tuesday which was the day that we were off to an airport hotel for which I had won the stay on an online auction. I had been off my opiates for 5 weeks already and I was proud of it too. I reallized that if I did not give into using them, I would most certainly not have a good time in Prague. On drugs, I seemed to manage. We flew to Prague on the morning of the 8th of July. The flight was uneventful and we soon made it to Prague. Getting into town was easy and much cheaper than we had anticipated. Our reservations were fine and we were most suprised by the quality of the hotel which we had booked. We stayed at Andel's hotel, a design hotel not to far from the town's centre. It is situated in the Andel neighborhood, a modern neighborhood in the vicinity of Prague's largest shopping center Nový Smíchov . We spent the first afternoon there and left the site-seeing for the next day. We visited Prague Castle with tour and concluded it with a boat trip on the Moldau. We got tired of our guide who seemed to be in a tremendous rush, so we ditched the group after the boat trip and tipped the guide on the boat instead of her. Afterwards we headed to the old marketplace where we meant to watch the astronomical clock on the whole hour, but we had some time to kill and after shopping for crystal the rain caught up with us. Prague is a beautiful city with many building styles as the city was spared in the World Wars. It is most renown for the art deco style which provided us with some beautiful locations to have dinner at.

The food was good and inexpensive. A three course meal with drinks for two amounts up to about € 50 which is pretty cheap for us. It always feels good when you know your money is going to stretch a long way.

How did I get around? Well, mostly Marcus pushed me around in my wheelchair. An oddity in Prague which made us wonder where the invalids of the Czech republic reside. We bumped into just 2 wheelchairs, one of which was a Dutch lady, traveling just like us. And I think I saw maybe 6 or 7 people with crutches. People are very obviously not accustomed to wheelchairs as is it mostly tourists that know how to clear the way. The infrastructure is not adapted to the use of wheelchairs either and we ended up using the road to move around rather than the sidewalk. It seemed dodgey but people seemed to be OK with it. We even passed the odd cop or two and were not stopped. By the last day I was benefitting from the excellent bed in the hotel. My pain had diminished and I managed to get through the last day without opiates. We ended our stay by visiting a concert held at the national museum on the inner stairs. We chose a concert with arias from famous operas. The quality was pretty good, but not quite as good as the ballet which I saw years ago. We ended our stay with an Italian dinner which the people of Prague really seem to be into. Our trip home was just as smooth as on our way there. I had made it! I had gone to Prague and really enjoyed it.

Progression

I have been back at the Trappenberg for 2 weeks now. I dived right into a strict programme to rehabilitate. The programme consists of physical therapy, hydro therapy and activity therapy (I do my painting there). The pain is horrifying but it feels much better knowing that is getting me somewhere. I have noticed changes like being able to put on me D.O. without and being able to lift my on arms or being able to sit up half of the day. I've been pretty busy working on getting my things in order at home during the occasional lost moment. My mother who is still here with me has been priceless as usual, working through my jobs with me. I do the jobs lying down or in brief periods sitting down. It is really rewarding when I manage.
Getting to and from the Trappenberg has proved to be less trying than I imagined. I drive myself, which seems to be OK for short trips. I have decided to get tested by the driving authorities to ensure couvarage of my insurance. Will be sending out my application sometime this week.
I am also slowly starting to find time to sociallize again. Ineke came by, and last Saturday Tineke treated my mother and I to Sushi. Today I even went to Bo's birthday. I am also managing to do the odd errand in town. All in all, I am moving towards a normal existance again.

Incommunicado

Recuperation is energy consuming. The last couple of weeks have been really difficult with all the things going wrong. Thank you for all your kind messages. I hope to get back to all of you soon!

Last Friday I completed my radiation therapy. They finally took an x-ray of my hip joint which gave me the security to get back on my feet. Starting last Wednesday, I have started to walk again. After seeing Dr. de Boer in the Pain department, life became easier.

He blocked the trapped nerve so I cannot feel it and I have been given muscle relaxers to reduce the pain.

They should have done this when I was still in the hospital which would have avoided a whole lot of trouble. I am also practicing sitting upright. Yesterday I managed 5 hours which was a first. I will be starting rehab next week. The Dr. was reluctant to allowing met to start with a full-blown schedule, but I felt like I don't have time to waste. We agreed on 3x physical therapy per week to start with. It's a shame he did not plan the hydrotherapy which would have given me some relaxation time. The Trappenberg is only 10 minutes from here so I will be going into day care. I intend to be on a complete schedule within two weeks. I have plans for the summer and must be well by then. I went to see Dr. Lips yesterday. We have planned to start the alternative treatment (Sorafenib) in August. I am hoping this will work for me. There aren't too many options after that. In the meantime, I will continue my Iodine treatments.

Whatever the case, I am looking ahead again and seem to have jumped on the band wagon. Glad to be walking again.