Yesterday, April 20th, I finally had the appointment for the MRI, my first MRI. As there was only my knee to scan, it was not necessary to put my whole body into the tube. I don’t know how I would have felt as I suffer a little bit from claustrophobia. The process took about 10 minutes. You get a headset to put on, because the thing is pretty loud.
This morning I called the hospital to make an appointment for the next check up. I got one offered next Tuesday. They are not very fast. When I asked if I could come on Thursday or Friday, I was told, yes I can, but only if I have a lot of time to wait. I do indeed, but I’m also relying on someone who drives me. And that person does not have that much time to wait with me. Anyway, I hope that I can get rid of the crutches and the rack. My attempts to bend the knee end at about 45 degrees. There is still a lot of work waiting for me to recover full strength.
So far I spent the time with different things. The stack of magazines is getting smaller, I started to learn Spanish, I’ve done a little research on my master’s thesis and I am working to organize my music collection … but what I hope most is, that I can start to organize my journey again.
I want to keep the blog up during my recovery time. Meanwhile, two weeks are over. All in all I feel well. The knee does not hurt very much. But I feel the effects of the lack of movement of the right leg. At the end of last week I had a follow-up appointment at the hospital. The doctor said, it does not look that bad. The X-ray image showed that the splinter is where it should be. But for a better assessment I need an MRI. But I got an appointment not until 29th April. Until then, the healing process should have fairly advanced. Maybe I can start my journey sooner than estimated.
I spend most of the time in bed. I would like to work more time at my desk, where I have a large monitor. But sitting in a chair is quite uncomfortable. The thigh rests permanently on the edge of the chair, which is quite unpleasant. I did not find a solution for that now. But with the laptop, on one of those racks where they serve food to bed, I can “work” relatively good in bed.
I start hating the rack. Especially during sleep it is very uncomfortable. Also walking around with the crutches is pretty exhausting.
But I don’t get bored. There are a couple of large and smaller chunks I can do, like, taking care of the master’s thesis, learning Spanish, browsing through magazines lying around, and and and …. But most of the time I let myself be entertained by television. Enough whining.
The doctor told me, full recovery will take around 3 1/2 months. He was discussing my problem with other docs. They decided that they will not do surgery. I have to wear a rack on my leg for six weeks, should not stress my leg, lie most of the time and have to walk on crutches. Each evening I have to give myself a thrombosis injection. After those six weeks they estimated two months of physiotherapy.
New estimated start for my journey will be August. The route will change, but I have to think about that in detail. Maybe I will start at the west coast to get still to Alaska …
It’s very likely that I will not be able to start my motorcycle journey as planned. But what happened? One day before my departure from Australia I fell and hurt my knee. After my arrival in Austria I went to the doctor. First X-Ray then CT. The doctor said, a part of the back of my knee is broken. It’s very seldom. Surgery very likely. Time for recovery about 2 1/2 months.
That does not mean, that my journey is cancelled. It will be just postponed.
I will get a call tomorrow from the doctor to get more details. Next appointment is on April 9th, when the whole procedure will be planned. I keep you updated.
Most of my friends already know him. But let’s start from the beginning:
From October 2008 to February 2013 I lived in an apartment in Eisenstadt. One evening, it was at the beginning of summer 2012, I can’t remember the exact day, it knocked on the door.
I came home a few minutes before and warmed some soup onthe stove in my kitchen. I opened the door and without saying a word he passed me and went into my apartment. He looked around and walked directly into the kitchen. As you can understand .. I was really astonished. I followed him to the kitchen to see how things would develop.
He opened the fridge, looked around, mumbled a little bit “Hm Hm”. He shook his head, turned around and asked me if this is a *** freezer.
I said: “Yes.” He was looking again, reached into his pockets and took out a bunch of banknotes. He said: “I need a cool place during summer. This is for the first two months.” The first moment I did not know what to think about the whole situation, but my fridge is half empty all the time and I needed the money.
This is how a penguin moved into my fridge.
Summer passed and the penguin stayed. He put money on a regular basis on my kitchen table, so I did not see a reason to kick him out.
Time wasn’t always good between him and me. He often swigged my beer and did not refill.
One day, when I came home, I found a female in my fridge. It was at the beginning of February. I thought: “Ok. We are moving out soon. So who cares.” My journey to Australia in March 2013 and the following journey through America led to, that I had to move out of the apartment at the end of February 2013. For the penguins, it meant that they had to look for a new place too. About mid of February we separated without a lot of words. I never knew their names. They did not tell me and I did not ask. I did not expect to see them again.
At end of February, it was one of my last working days, I came home and there he was, sitting in the hallway, with a bottle of booze in his arms wings. So, what happened? The Sushi restaurant, he worked for, was closed after a police raid. It turned out that the restaurant offered the highly endangered Southern Bluefin Tuna in a backroom for financially strong customers.
After the loss of his job he was really devastated. He tried to find a new job immediately. But at the top of the financial crisis it was not easy to find a new job, especially if you were employed in a restaurant with a criminal background – although the penguin was innocent. But who would believe that? I think you understand that such incidents are not very beneficial for a young relationship. So it came that they broke up. What else can you say?! I refer to Edward A. Murphy: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.”
Lacking a girlfriend, expectations and a fridge he could live in, he decided to accompany me on my journey to Australia and through the American continent.
That is how it came to be that we are on tour together – the penguin and I.
With this article I start the blog about my planned motorcycle tour through North and South America from mid May 2013 until mid May 2014.
Structure and content of the blog will shape more during the next weeks. But you can already look around on the page.
If everything is going to be ok, I will start mid May 2013 in Halifax, at the east coast of Canada.
The preparations are proceeding. The flight to Montreal on 09. May 2013 is booked. A transport company is commissioned to ship my motorbike to Halifax. Actually there is no exact schedule, but if everything goes well the motorcycle should arrive in Halifax between May 10. and 20.
Friday 1. March is the last day in the office and the apartment is almost empty. There are still a few things to do in April. I will sell my car and some other stuff to get some more money for the journey. The motorcycle needs an inspection and I have to mount some equipment, like and USB outlet, chain oiler and crash bars. I also want to do a test ride with the fully equipped and loaded motorcycle before I send it to Canada.
That means, about two months until the motorbike will be shipped and a few more days until my departure. And March? On 2. March I will go to Australia for a month. I will travel around with two friends to get used to being on the road again. 🙂
If you are interested in what will happen during the next year, then stay tuned. If not, it’s ok too. But, maybe you have friends who are interested in following my trip. So: like, share, tell and spread the link to my blog. Each reader is welcome.
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