Ruth is writing this post one-handed!
Greyrocks reached the halfway point in its Paleo stay on 12th August and on that day Ruth found herself pacing up and down the corridor of the Orthopaedic ward of Chania General Hospital in excruciating pain after an operation on her arm! The month had started so well! The weather was somewhat bizarre, but on the evening of the 1st we went to the re-furbished Atoli bar to watch Flush Royale. This is what they do! There we met an interesting British couple from Vamos who know a lot about live music around Chania. It was a wonderful gig, and included Greyrocks dancing after midnight to "Hotel California" after a public announcement that it was now our 30th Wedding Anniversary!
The day then passed off without much of interest happening - although the weather was nothing to write home about, being very windy! Then we had our party. The slide show says it all!
A commentary on local celebration cakes is promised therein, so before picking up on the arm saga here it is:
Prior to 2010 such cakes were best ordered from Michaelis' pastry shop, where a less sickly confection could be chosen and designs were faithfully followed; but the shop closed and Vakakis took over the role. Our first encounter was for our 25th anniversary. See here for the tale of that effort! Next year it was a tasteful birthday cake for Ruth's 60th for which some slippage had taken place in the transliteration and the name was spelt PUTH! and three years ago we ordered a cake for Duke's 70th - see what happened then!
For four days after the fall Ruth thought she could deal with the injury with ice-packs, elevation, paracetemol and a bodged sling, but repeated nagging from several German medics, a Pilates teacher, a retired physiologist et al led to a trip to Kandanos for an X-ray and next day Greyrocks' first encounter with said public hospital bearing her EHIC card. The diagnosis - delivered in perfect English by a surgeon who had worked at the Royal London was a complicated fracture of radius with something nasty going on in the small bones of the wrist. Oh Dear!
Catharsis is a good Greek word for what we need to do in a couple of weeks' time, as it has all been so grim and there is more ahead! We have seen the best and the worst of a state health system in crisis! For the moment the headlines are:
Watch this space!
Greyrocks reached the halfway point in its Paleo stay on 12th August and on that day Ruth found herself pacing up and down the corridor of the Orthopaedic ward of Chania General Hospital in excruciating pain after an operation on her arm! The month had started so well! The weather was somewhat bizarre, but on the evening of the 1st we went to the re-furbished Atoli bar to watch Flush Royale. This is what they do! There we met an interesting British couple from Vamos who know a lot about live music around Chania. It was a wonderful gig, and included Greyrocks dancing after midnight to "Hotel California" after a public announcement that it was now our 30th Wedding Anniversary!
The day then passed off without much of interest happening - although the weather was nothing to write home about, being very windy! Then we had our party. The slide show says it all!
Prior to 2010 such cakes were best ordered from Michaelis' pastry shop, where a less sickly confection could be chosen and designs were faithfully followed; but the shop closed and Vakakis took over the role. Our first encounter was for our 25th anniversary. See here for the tale of that effort! Next year it was a tasteful birthday cake for Ruth's 60th for which some slippage had taken place in the transliteration and the name was spelt PUTH! and three years ago we ordered a cake for Duke's 70th - see what happened then!
For four days after the fall Ruth thought she could deal with the injury with ice-packs, elevation, paracetemol and a bodged sling, but repeated nagging from several German medics, a Pilates teacher, a retired physiologist et al led to a trip to Kandanos for an X-ray and next day Greyrocks' first encounter with said public hospital bearing her EHIC card. The diagnosis - delivered in perfect English by a surgeon who had worked at the Royal London was a complicated fracture of radius with something nasty going on in the small bones of the wrist. Oh Dear!
Catharsis is a good Greek word for what we need to do in a couple of weeks' time, as it has all been so grim and there is more ahead! We have seen the best and the worst of a state health system in crisis! For the moment the headlines are:
- operation under a local anaesthetic to fix pins into the bones to hold a hinged contraption
- a night in a ward with three bed-ridden old ladies including a German alcoholic with dementia ("Carry On Nurse" it wasn't!)
- damage to nerves and tendons causing pain in the palm and finger-tips especially at night
- a severely reduced wardrobe
- no sea, contact lenses, fish on the bone, clapping, mending, unscrewing lids handstands........
- stitches out on Friday!
Watch this space!
Loved the video, so sorry we missed the party......see y'all next Wednesday.... :-)
ReplyDelete