Today Invercargill has its Christmas parade at 2 pm. Maybe, just maybe, we can get R settled and I can go take pictures. The tickets arrive in a beautiful red NZ Courier pouch before I check out. I make it to the hospital in time for rounds, see the surgeon finally, but she doesn't speak, not to me and hardly to R. The other doc agrees to discharge him after the physical therapist signs off on R's crutching skills. R has to wear my pants with the side zippers - it's the only clean thing left in the bag that will go over the cast. He gets breakfast, a shower, and now we need NOT to rush, since the new motel can't take us before 1:00.
Invercargill competitors.
No worries, since the physio didn't arrive until after lunch. She wasn't too impressed with R's agility but checked him out anyway.
R says: She set the crutch-height for someone 6' 1" (I'm 5' 9") and then asked me to navigate down some test stairs - a bit dicey. Back in Auckland I readjusted the crutches and am doing just fine, thank you.
Then we needed to wait for the xray department to duplicate his films to take with us. Our friend of a friend of a friend, the angel, appears again, a vision of heaven, and drove us to the chemist for the prescriptions and the new motel. This one is much nicer, and I wished I'd moved earlier - bright and cheery with cable tv. After she leaves I forage for food while R watches Davis Cup tennis on tv.
We shall install a handicap shower back in SLC for everyday use - it is far superior to a regular one. Easier to clean, the bench is handy, the adjustable height sprayer a small luxury. Luckily we have the backpack liner bags to wrap around R's cast. The taxi is ordered for 6:00 am, wheelchairs to be supplied at all three airports.
At the airport, an NZ famous singer and 2 other musicians are boarding the plan. The Dame (not Kiri) has a huge bouquet of flowers when she boards the plane - but when she gets off they are gone and I wonder where they went. A barely ambulant bloke shows up right before they load R and has to be moved out of our seats - when we get to Christchurch he has passed out, his seatmate has to climb out over him, and the flight attendants call "Wakee Wakee" on the intercomm hoping to rouse him. R says he'll get off first.
In Christchurch, R has to hop down the plane stairs to his wheelchair, and we get the behind the scenes tour of the airport to the net gate. I need to find a toilet, all on the other side of security and I don't have my ticket. The security agent says to me, "Don't worry, it's just us, luv" and she lets me come back through. The Kiwis are the definition of kindness.
Christchurch: a quiet hallway
From the plane out of Christchurch we see the Southern Alps and Marlborough Sound. We are already talking about going back, to see the Catlins, the penguins and the albatrosses. This hasn't been the desired way to experience a country, but I am counting up the positives: I met a real NZ sheep farmer (leg crushed when his tractor brakes slipped) and he told about the grass going from too little to too much. There was the Scottish accent of the locals, sometimes impenetrably thick - the aide's confusion when I said that R was allowed tea (the beverage) after surgery and she thought I meant he could have his tea (the suppertime meal). I rode in a helicopter and have pictures to prove it. I've come to appreciate how hard these Kiwis work, how well they care for their sick and injured, how much pride they have in their country, and how kind and helpful the NZ spirit is. I was glad even so to come "home" to Auckland and put R to bed.
Comments (1)
Jesus!!!! Now, that's a trip! Tell Robert that he and Steve share the same ankle fracture...Robert will be glad that he had his pinned. Steve's was borderline and they didn't do the surgery(my dog Pearl broke his ankle)...and now it is a bit "loose"...he thinks the outcome would have been better if it was pinned.
Sorry about the injury...but I am so enjoying the blog! Also, Steve and I took a trip to Vancouver Island and Seattle while he was "Non-weight bearing". I would take a book or paper for him...and when he got tired in Seattle he would sit in shoe departments and read....the sales staff at Nordstoms even brought him lattes!!!!
Take care....what an adventure! Maggie
Posted by maggie shaw | December 6, 2003 11:52 AM
Posted on December 6, 2003 11:52