Ready for the off! - or only just!

El Toston y Faro at El Cotillo - a bit chilly!

Greyrocks has passed Christmas in Corralejo every year since 1992. Last year we went "off piste" for the New Year, and this time it was to be a Goan holiday that started in mid- December. This was to accommodate Chloë, who is no great fan of it all (Where does she get that from??) and has University closure days as well as normal leave, whilst Jack is less negative about it and also has to work as much as he can in his tourism low-paid job! So it would be almost two weeks for her and we would be away for about two months.
(It could now have been more as we have obtained five year Indian visas allowing up to six months - but "gently, gently"!)
So -  having returned from the Las Palmas birthday bash - we seemed to have plenty of time for preparation and closing down, but we hadn't reckoned on those factors beyond our control: health, weather and Spanish bureaucracy!
We resumed our healthy lifestyle campaign until our blood tests, with only a couple of lapses. This did the trick - the main purpose being to escape below the radar of our GP and the nurse. We went for the results a week later and - along with Ruth's 10 kg weight loss - got the "All clear!", but the  process of getting refunds on Bob's meds bought in advance for the summer at full price turned into an epic with multiple trips back to the Health Centre and to the pharmacy. It is still not fully resolved with respect to one of them!

The lapses in the regime were fun! Next door had a hire car for a while and we four went for a trip to Lajares, El Cotillo and the new British stores in the Los Alisios complex. We had an excellent tapas lunch at Los Piratas:- a new one on us - being in Lajares and inaccessible! We visited the lighthouse in windy conditions, and ended up back at Blue Rock. This led to arranging a meal out for the four plus hairdresser Elaine and Andrew. We went to El Anzuelo - now much improved- and as usual had a very jolly time as a sixsome!

Soon after Ruth began a filthy cold which has been doing the rounds, She was laid low by it for two full days, leading to cancelled plans for both business and pleasure, and the sense that we would barely be ready to leave. We were committed to our own "office party"  of days before, and made it a simple but tasty meal, including duck thighs from Lidl, that were not as good as we have had in previous years. and Ruth wanted to leave an empty freezer so that dictated some meals at home. The sewing machine packed up during a frenetic session of clothes mending, and the guy we had lined up to do some concrete work on the roof terrace didn't turn up. When there was triple confusion over a beautician appointment it was time to tear one's hair out!!

We were also on a drive not to waste the last remaining pre-paid sessions at the Bahia Real indoor swimming pool, so we fitted those in - in spite of both now having the cold - Ruth did some shoulder exercises there in addition to the swimming, and it also fits in nicely with Argentinian steak at La Bolada, where we have now worked out exactly what to order! After all, we would not be getting that for supper for a couple of months!

We left on schedule but Bob's cold was now in full flow, and three flights was daunting! We would have a day in Barcelona, so trousers and trainers were deployed.

A Shoulder to cry on/about

"Physiotherapy across Southern Europe - a comparative study"!

.. and if all goes to plan - Goa too!

Almost seven months sine the fall, and just over six since the operation to fit Ruth's prosthetic shoulder joint the bulletin is mixed! No pain whatsoever, but not enough flexibility to - say - fasten and unfasten a bra! (Not a luxury item as readers will know if they are in her circle!) So Greyrocks is still paying for -  and planning round - sessions with the local professionals! Practices vary thus:

France A where the person is a kinésithérapeute - said "kee-nay"

Not elegant - but it worked!

Had Ruth been a French national there would have been a programme of daily "rehabilitation" after the operation, but she was just told to find someone in town and get on with it!  The receptionist at the Dax accommodation made a recommendation and we went at least three times a week to see Frederique for half an hour. At first all the work was on the shoulder as the leg was in plaster, but this all had to be done without standing so was limited. After the plaster was removed the concentration was on the leg and ankle, and included use of a pneumatic boot thing on the leg, and the "ventouse" on points in the shoulder, as described previously. By the time we left France Ruth was walking from car to treatment with just one crutch.

Crete

"Get your calf and ankle into this!"

Enter Maria in the Church-owned centre in Paleochora! We recognised each other from 2015 when she worked on the wrist, but was then off on maternity leave. The centre is lavishly equipped, and includes facilities for hydrotherapy - not on the menu in France! We developed a set of activities to work mostly on the leg - with dunking in the agitated water, very effective massage and some active exercises. Sessions would often exceed the hour, with meeting other patients who also know us, and were "cheap as chips"! At some point there was the opportunity to have a short consultation with the visiting orthopaedic surgeon, and he said the leg was fine and to get on with the shoulder. By this stage Ruth was walking almost normally anyway- but nervously! So sessions continued with massage - sometimes electrically assisted and a series of exercises, With time Ruth got better at raising the arm from the shoulder, but was evidently "compensating" by lowering the other! After twenty or so sessions in all it was time to leave and in due course move on to the next

France B

In the unfortunately named Rue Ang Sang Si Chi!

In advance Greyrocks had selected a clinic very close to the Montpellier apartment. It was very modern -as one would expect in Port Marianne, and Ruth's kiné was Sarah. She is young, sports-mad and fluent in English! Almost all the interaction took place in an open communal spice with other sock-wearing kinés and punters  doing their thing. Sessions of half an hour - at French price - had some strong massage and passive movement, but a lot of active exercises - to continue at home - in both seated and standing position. A real focus was stopping the "compensation" that had crept in over the summer! All "hands-on" here!

Fuerteventura

Once returned home it was a swift visit to the sports clinic ten minutes walk away and used for various problems over the years by both of us! We settled on a package of fifteen sessions of an hour across the month of November, and the physio would be - usually - another Sara. We would start with at least five minutes seated and using the double pulley, then move into a cubicle here the rest of the session would be with R lying down! We would communicate in slow simple Spanish and she explained the reasoning behind the position as gravity-related There was the same sequence each time of independent work with weights and resistant bands,  some tough passive rotation and sometimes TENS or the arm version of pneumatic pressure kit! By the end there was a definite improvement in the rotation and strength, but still not enough for some dressing and lifting tasks. So we moved over to gym membership entitling Ruth to visit at liberty and use the pulleys, weights etc unsupervised.  That worked for the first week, but then "other forces" = see next post - intervened and it fizzled out close to departure day. By that time depression had also set in following a scheduled return visit to the traumatologist at the private clinic, where the knees had been done! With the brilliant surgeon who did them gone we had seen another in November, and this was a third, who looked at the x-rays and expressed surprise at what had been done in the operation, His opinion was that with the damage done to some tendons a different sort of prosthesis should have been fitted. Asked about the prognosis he was vague!

Ruth continues to do some exercises - especially now in the warm Arabian Sea - and has a lead for a therapist here who might help. Watch this space!!

A Bit Better Birthday

A work by Jack Beng-Thi

Over the years Greyrocks has been late in posting, but this is a record! It is a panic to get recorded with a December date, the tale of a trip to Las Palmas for a birthday at the end of November! This post is being written in Goa, and it all seems a long way off!
We took a three day "holiday" to celebrate Bob's birthday. We flew for around EUR 10 per person, per leg, thanks to residents' discount, and it all worked very well except for a muddle over surnames - which is a common occurrence with non-Spaniards who don't have a second apellido. With that resolved for a fee of EUR 1.50 we had a great flight with a front seat, and got the two buses to Santa Catalina, and couldn't find the hotel! Some recriminations, but worth it in the end for a good room in a newly renovated large hotel with just a few niggles!

The weather was mixed! We had some intervals of beautiful sunshine - often walking along the prom of Las Canteras, but also some heavy rain, and whilst there were sunbathers on the beach and a few in the sea it wasn't really that pleasant for sustained periods. We feel we know the city quite well and much of what we did was a repeat. We went down to the other half of the city (San Telmo) and went round the market, then had a good few hours in CAAM near the cathedral. We still saw only the work of one artist:-  Jack Beng-Thi from La Réunion.  We were surprised to find a very popular bar in the park at San Telmo disappeared, but mooched around others dodging  showers - the worst of which was as we left El Corte Ingles, after a minor shopping trip! One of the days was clearly a major one for cruise visits, with consequent crowds! We went to a nearby mall and saw three ships in at once!
Food-wise we knew what we wanted, and largely achieved it! A French-inspired dinner, a birthday bogavante at La Lonja, and a good quality steak,  The last was a challenge as we went on spec to a Uruguayan we had spotted last year and it was full, so we went instead to an unknown on the beach front that advertised beef on the bone with the hot stone. It was not South American as this was a Spanish Peninsula place. It was not quite what we wanted but pretty good! A couple of light lunches were - of course - at 100 Montaditos. 

Good when finished!

The famous nearby Belen for Christmas was well under way in construction on the beach, and was clearly going to be up to scratch!

So - all in all- a rather better birthday treat than Ruth's in June which will be remembered forever by Greyrocks for all the wrong reasons!