It’s now two weeks since my surgery and we set off on the epic journey home tomorrow or at least I am heading home, back to the warmth of Australia whereas Denise will be in the cold and wet of Wales until the 27th. I must say I had forgotten what real cold is like, we experienced some ordinary weather in the uk in 2016 but nothing like the temperatures here. I don’t think it has risen above freezing all day and the wind has a real bite with it. I think my blood has thinned in the 11 years I have been in the sunshine.
Last night we experienced a true Philadelphia staple, a philli cheesesteak, it was so good but what made the evening so special was the company. We had dinner with Kami and Jon at their home in south Philadelphia. Kami is the front office manager at Dr Rumer’s clinic and has truly been my saviour over the last twelve months since I first made contact with Dr Rumer’s office to talk about the possibility of coming to Philadelphia for my surgery. She has from day one been perfect with me, replying to each and every email promptly and following up on queries and questions that I have had over the last year. Her professionalism is truly amazing and she has absolutely made the difference between an ok experience and a perfect one. Having dinner with her and her husband was the icing on the cake as it were, the absolute high point of our visit.
The thought of 55 hours of traveling does not excite me at all but getting back home to the pets, my own bed and some sunshine really does. Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil, the thought of doing the second half on my own also doesn’t fill me with joy, I’m not a big fan of traveling alone at the best of times, thankfully Qatar Airways look after its customers very well especially in business class so I’m sure I will be in good hands. The other comforting thought is that my good friend Chris will be at the airport to collect me when I get back to Perth so I won’t have to go and look for the car in the huge car park or wait for a bus to take me to the right area and there is never a shortage of things to talk to Chris about so the trip home should be good.
I had my final appointment with DrRumer yesterday, she seems pleased with my progress up to now, there are a couple of things I need to attend to in the short term just to ensure the healing process keeps heading in the right direction. One of the things is to apply a small amount of ointment to a couple of sore areas so she gave me a prescription for a product called Santyl. I duly took it to the pharmacy along with another one for some more painkillers only to be told that for a 30g tube, the cost was us$234! I was a little taken aback as this equates to around $300 Australian so it better do a good job or I will be very disappointed to say the least. Anyway, onwards and upwards as they say, it was never going to be a cheap exercise and the cost wasn’t the issue, becoming the person I have always known I should be was the object of the whole thing and just as returning to Philadelphia was but a bump in the road, there will be more of them before my journey is complete and it will all be worth it in the end.