Heading South

The flight out to NYC from London Heathrow was smooth & on time, the foot was reasonably comfortable,able to be elevated for the entire time, due to the club seat/ beds. For some reason I was personally welcomed on board by the chief steward (?).

I had a wheelchair service at both of the airports which was really efficient & amazingly the Clexane syringes weren't even questioned. The scanner guy's comment on my hand luggage as it passed through the scanner was " Wow ! That's a lot of drugs." But everyone was kind & courteous, which made it much less of an embarrassment.

Swelling only became noticeably painful during the descent to landing in Newark.

So the weather was hot & sunny in Manhattan, around 78c on average. I spent most of Friday around Wall street, Seaport & Pier 17. Whilst sitting on the pier enjoying the sunshine, a couple of men who were engaged in slightly high pitched dialogue, were edging along towards me. One chap was moving backwards with the other a "Jackie Chan" lookalike moving towards him holding what looked like a flick knife. To start with I watched them with mild bemusement & wondered if they were acting out some sort of street theatre .......
People around me started to back away from them & move along the pier, getting their mobile phones & cameras out of their pockets etc while they did so.
As I looked at "Jackie Chan " I noticed his eyes were bulging & he had a deranged expression fixed on his face, the other guy was wearing an amiable smile, whilst speaking softly. He was big built but quite young I thought. Anyway, after watching these two dance around each other for a few moments,it became apparent to me that "Jackie Chan" clearly was wired, unhinged & serious ! I then noticed that I was the only person left sitting on the steps & considered to
myself how quickly I could move away from them on my crutches looking as inconspicuous as possible. I looked upwards & the upper levels were lined with crowds of people filming & taking photographs!
I got up slowly & inched my way along the pier sideways, crab like really, all the time
watching "Jackie Chan's" wild eyes but trying not to meet his gaze full on. Two lads ran past & then wrestled the Chinese guy unceremoniously to the deck in seconds. One of them sat on him while the other wrestled the suspected weapon from his grip. I looked at it, as it was thrown to the ground but i couldn't really make out what it was exactly other than it had a bright green plastic handle. Then the NYPD arrived, trussed up the little China man like a chicken ready for the oven & carried him away.
I mused for a while about the "what if's" & then headed to the Pacific grill for lunch which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. The rest of my day was pretty uneventful after that, a bit of shopping, the Brooklyn bridge & a little bit of Little Italy & Chinatown.
We had dinner that night at The Waters Edge restaurant in Long Island, it has a complimentary water taxi service from the Skyport marina which provides stunning & romantic (take note Glenn) of the Manhattan skyline at night along with a complimentary glass of champagne The food is pretty good too !

Next morning the sun was shining high in the sky as we headed to Central Park. After a taxi ride we entered by the Lake & Boathouse & walked to them via Strawberry Field. I took the obligatory photograph of the Imagine mosaic & some great close ups of the bridge & staircase down to the fountain, before we hobbled around to the Loeb Boathouse. I couldn't believe our luck, we got a great table by the lake for lunch. The view was so beautiful, of people trying to row their boats around, of the sun glinting on the water & glowing through leaves on the trees. I ordered the Maine lobster roll & it was delectable, slightly sweet but not too chewy, delicious, the glass of bubbly complimented it perfectly too !

Afterwards another taxi ride, but this time to The Empire State building. Although I have been up it before (2005) I wanted to watch the sun set & hopefully capture a bit of it in some photographs .

We finished the day by heading to some bars just off of Broadway & the foot & I boogied to
Michael Jackson before heading back to the hotel.

Yesterday we drove over 700 miles (after getting lost) through West Virginia & along the Blue
Ridge to arrive in Greensboro NC. Lovely chappie has a two day course to attend before we can continue onwards to our next destination which is Cherokee.
Whilst chilling out & watching daytime tv in the hotel room I saw an advertisement for a male grooming gadget, it had a bright green plastic handle & looked very familiar ..

I'm hoping to be able o visit an Indian reservation & maybe have a pow wow with the Chief !

The foot is crossing the pond !

Good morning everyone,
Thank you for your comments, they were a lovely reminder that I'm not the only one dealing with these problems........

The news is, I've decided to go ahead with my trip. A distraction is what I need at the moment I've decided. After a few days of stewing, a few minor alterations to our plans, we are flying out of Heathrow T5 this evening!
My lovely chap (yes he did hang around,despite the foot)has booked me club class all the way to NYC. Which means the foot will travel in style & will be elevated the whole way.
I am back on the Clexane to hopefully fend off a possible DVT & we have organised wheelchair assistance through the airports on both sides of the pond.
We have cancelled both of our internal flights & now plan to drive from NYC to Greensboro NC before heading to Cherokee & the Smokies. The beauty of this is we can stop as often as the foot needs & run to our own schedule. We've even decided to include Philadelphia in our return journey back to NYC.

I brought a new DSLR a few months ago, so I will be snapping away & will try to post as often as I can. We plan to have dinner at The Waters Edge restaurant tomorrow evening (Birthday) which has stunning views from Long Island of the Manhattan skyline. We were there last November, on our 2nd date so it's sweet to be going back. I may try to watch the sunset from The Empire State building, I visited it in 2005 & perhaps a picnic in Central Park .......
I've also researched wheelchair hire companies, if it comes to it, I'll swallow a bit of pride & use one.
So for the next two weeks, it's not about the foot & what I can't do, it's about exploration, fun, adventure & me ;-)

Fractured forefoot

My consultant was quite concerned when I arrived this evening. The CT reported a fractured forefoot which apparently is the part from the bottom of my metatarsals to the tips of my toes.
I just need to fracture my ankle & I've done the full set !

Thankfully it's not displaced & my mid foot reconstruction is still intact with no misalignment. Therefore as long as it stays that way I won't require surgery. It just needs lots of TLC.
So I feel some sense of relief but am upset & frustrated to be back in the aircast boot & on crutches for the next six weeks. The Osteopaenia is partially to blame apparently making my bones more brittle than normal, but the good news is it doesn't slow down the bone recovery rate.
I developed Ostepaenia as a result of the time spent none weight bearing, it should resolve itself in time I've been told. I am continuing with the vitamin supplements & will try to eat a diet to encourage the mineral density in my bones to improve.
It hurts, but the drugs are good, it's very swollen too, ice packs & elevation here I come!

So, on Monday 3/10 it is the six month anniversary of my Lisfranc fracture & on Friday 7/10 it will be my birthday. On Thursday 6/10 I am supposed to be flying to NYC to celebrate :-(
My consultants advice was I could travel but he wouldn't if it was him in this situation. I will have a higher risk of developing DVT being pro coagulant at the moment due to the fracture. He did say he would put me back on the Clexane injections if I went ahead with my trip to try to prevent a possible DVT.
I'll need to restrict what I do in NYC though & will need to put my foot up as much as possible (De Ja Vu !). I will need to sit in the back of the car with my leg up for the road trip in the Smokies as well .........  However I don't think we can get a refund on the airline tickets now. So, I don't know what to do really. I was so looking forward to seeing the Smokies in the Autumn, I bet the colours are stunning this year. But I'll be able to do very little in NYC, my planned cycle ride in Central Park on my birthday can't go ahead.......... Hold on, do they have tandems ??? Hehe I could just sit on the back & get my chap to pedal.

Travel insurance could be a problem too, getting cover for the foot !

With this unlucky streak, I don't think it's worth my while buying any lottery tickets.