April 13: Disappointment

Well, you probably saw it coming. I didn't go on my trip. I made the decision Thursday night, very late, but the process had been ongoing.

The foot is now seven weeks out from having been broken and it's not nearly as far along as I think it should be. The orthopedic doctor said it would take 8-12 weeks, and "maybe I would get lucky and it would be the shorter period of time". I laughed and, inbetween guffaws, informed the nice doctor who has never treated me before that my body is not known for following the easy path. He conceeded that with my bones seeming to be as thin as they are that 10-12 weeks would seem to be more realistic. And he did not want me to take this trip, he was concerned that it would be too much stress with increased walking over rough terrain and cobblestones.

Having the blood go whacky on the coumadin was a factor. Even last night the level was still too thick. "Normal" people have developed clots in their legs on long flights, and that risk is substantially increased if you have a leg cast on. So, the broken foot became an even more dangerous issue.

Please spare me the happy, perky bunnyland crap. Yes, I can and will go another time. Yes, Italy will still be there. But this trip was so much more than just a neat vacation. It was to try to resume a measure of normalcy beyond my day-to-day life. International travel is my favorite thing to do; and this was one of my two big goals.

I couldn't even post Friday because I was just too depressed. I brushed my teeth in the morning, that was the only thing productive I did all day. I laid around in my pjs, ate all sorts of major calories and bad things, watched TV and read, although there were several phone calls in there to doctors offices, travel agent, trip insurance, etc. And finished off a bottle of wine before going to bed at 2 am. Saturday I figured it would be better to get out of the house and be around people. Fortunately, there was stuff going on at my Fellowship, so I went there, had dinner with Kim & Rick and then went back to Fellowship for several hours of companionship.

Susan and her daughter Emily are still going to go to Lake Como, and have promised pictures and postcards. Emily, who is 12, was at first resistent to going with just her Mom, because that isn't cool. She said it wouldn't be as much fun without me, which I found intensely flattering since I don't think of myself as that much fun--yeah, I'm cool to a pre-teen! I will see them both, along with Susan's son Mirko, in late July when we meet up at the camp we try to stay at every year. We didn't go last year, so I'm glad it worked out for this year, although not all my cousins will be able to be there.

So, I'm making other plans. I'll go into work next week, I think. More later on the rest of things going on......

Thanks for checking in, Laurie