Touching Ground - Return to Australia

Good Bye New York! 

(this cool sign was on the toilets' door at the airport)

We finally got flight clearance: the flight back had to be delayed by two weeks since my daughter had to stay five more days at the hospital to recover from a longer than anticipated surgery. Moving the flight was a good move because we ended up in emergency three days after discharge, on the 5th of September, precisely, one day before original departure date.

I had US paramedics coming in our hotel room 😱. I immediately called the ward, and they were already liaising with the emergency room doctor. We arrived at the hospital full speed; I had double click security belt in the ambulance - like for racing cars. They told me how they admired Flying Doctors Services and how they would love to work in Australia where paramedics had longer holidays.

I was holding her head in the pillow to avoid the tarmac shocks. 

I was also dead worried about the cost :(  

Anyway, they prioritised her straight away, about six people were attending to her in no time; they did not hesitate to comply with the protocol, while, at the same time, checking with the information they had from her hospital file. 

In 45mn, we were out. 

So damn efficient!

As it turned out, we did not have strong enough medicines as explained in the previous post; this was remedied the following day. 

The first few post-hospital days were high care juggling, not for the faint hearted!

As time went by, she recovered one step at a time, and two weeks later, she could go in outings in a wheelchair, then walk a bit, and finally, we could envisage flying back. Planning was not easy.

Despite heavy back head scars that had the potential to worry the airline staff and the airline medical authority that has the right to refuse anyone at the plane gate last minute 

(we got hold up like that once at the plane entrance door in Sydney with the halo brace, 

despite having a doctor's flight clearance). We could envisage a smoother trip back because there had been no seizure for the last two weeks ... I had a sense that there was some hope because, before the surgery, seizures were almost daily, and we ended up in emergency every ten days. 

Nothing was sure though...

Singapore Airline plane ready to take us back home. 

Below, my daughter is resting in NY lounge around 6am. 

Lying down position is the preferred one after such a surgery.

 This time we went through Singapore without a night stopover, we were feeling slightly more confident 

(4h only in the lounge area, and it went fine)

Night cup in the plane, so nice.

This was also the month Elizabeth II passed away. 

The United Nations mast was lowered in New York for this occasion in her honour for the words she had spoken there: 

'In tomorrow's world, we must work together, as hard as ever, if we are truly to be United Nations'

Amen to that!

From NY to SYDNEY, she was mourned by all, but we were not yet to return to a Republic. 

Now Prince Charles ... well, not sure his antics qualify him morally to be the head of the Church in his country. As they say 'the fact that there is a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic'. I am not judging him, and I am not religious, but my understanding of religions make it hard for me to reconcile his doings with being a 'by birth' pillar of religious morality. Incredible what privileges can make you get away with and still be in a position to moralise others. Well, at least, he should be a good influencer on environmental issues, which is much more important in 2022.

We finally arrived in the Kingdom of Australia.

It was so good when the plane touched down. 

I did not cry this time, but I did when the plane arrived in New York; this took me by surprise. It was tears of happiness, intense emotion, beyond my mind's comprehension.

The arrival was not super smooth. Luckily, a friend came to collect us, but the airline had lost the wheelchair, and it took them a long time to 'not find it'.

Then, there was the challenge of living at a friend's place with her daughter for a while, while working from home, finishing a thesis, with a child in heavy recovery mode having to call ambulances (3 x times, for expected and suspected light CSF leaks that would resorb in two weeks), and a dog stealing everybody's knickers indiscriminately, glasses, computer mouses, you name them ... carefully placed in heights, as shown below. 

Also, the neighbours decided it was time to construct a pool! ... but they were nice about warning us about the noisy bouts, and at the end, we could cope. 

This was clearly not the worst we had had to get through.

Eventually, we could do more and more things. Stairs became easier to tackle, and you can see my daughter renovating some furniture in front of my beautiful friend's house where we have been staying. By then, we were the ones making some noises (ahaha:) with the sander!

By the 22nd of October, 

two months had gone by since the surgery, and there had been no emergency calls following seizures, no need for any seizure medication either whatsoever. 

This is not to say that all was roses and posies. We are still in post-op recovery, and tissue healing is not totally linear, so there are days with and days without. 

Chronic pain may have improved but there had never been any promise it would go. 

We also had issues with her stomach lining taking the toll from heavy post-op medication, including one presentation to emergency for this reason alone. 

We drive there now by ourselves, huge improvement! 

We are now back to baseline medication. She should be going to pain management hospital soon for one week so that we can decrease medication further.

We celebrated her birthday that day, calmly, at my friend's place (who was still in Europe) 

with my son, who is now back to his engineering studies, and seems happy with this new girlfriend (still not presented to me, boys!) 

That afternoon, we went to an auction, and among 18 bidders, I bought a small house in a cool & lively area not far from the city centre, after one gruesome month of intensive (over 100 houses) search. I had been dreaming for a while of a place from which I could walk everywhere, while still be able to have a small garden and enjoy our sub-tropical wildlife. With this house, I can even drop by a coffee place when I walk the dog in the morning, what more would you want?

Et Voilà! 

Our new little house, in search of tender care. We'll get the keys mid-November.

There is a good backyard, we'll be able to plant our banana trees, etc. and we have a beautiful jacaranda tree which blooms this time of the year. 

I may even be able to put an outdoor ping pong table.

Number 11, like for a new beginning!

Corina 2.0

Trip to New York

 

The trip to New York started with fear in the stomach about the possibility of force-landing in the event of a long seizure. Fear definitely not unfounded, since Day-1, we were at the Royal Brisbane Emergency Room following a 1-hour+ seizure. 

My hairdresser was reassuring: 'If you do an emergency landing and have to speak to the press, you will look good' ;(    

Hum...

Well, the flight went marvellously well! ... 

(except, perhaps, that we had to redirect the luggages to Singapore last minute because my daughter realised she had left her evening meds in her suitcase, but that is normal life)

Finally! ... we are off, we are going there ...

We stopped over for a night in Singapore at the Crown Plaza Hotel a few minutes walk from the terminal. It was such a relaxing place with a warm water swimming pool constructed in a maze of greenery alleys where you could play hide and seek, or let yourself be transported. 

Very comfortable indeed.

Changi Airport butterflies' garden ... while you wait for your flight. Here again, it did not go totally smooth with a purse left in the plane - we found it in lost property at the airport. How about that!

In the late afternoon of the fifteenth of August, we landed in New York. The plane had flown from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean, and in a last manoeuvre, it elegantly engaged landing from the Atlantic Ocean side... for some reasons, I liked that last little twist.

Our view from the plane. Like a promise. The New World, a New Life after the surgery, perhaps...

We left this world of comfort and luxury as soon as we landed. 

In fact, we were called back on earth two hours before landing when we received an email (you can do that in business class but not sure it makes the flight more enjoyable) from the hospital admin saying that we needed a letter from a GP authorising the surgery, as per US protocol. We thought the surgeon would do it, as is the case in Australia, so we were a bit taken aback, and very worried we may not get one at all since the GP had not signed the documents to allow the flight, or not one in time. We emailed Josie's GP immediately.

NYC immigration lanes were interminable and we noticed that no one was respecting minimum covid space. Looked like a death line to us, the immuno-compromised. I had some mask shields in my bag in anticipation, since covid pre-surgery is a 'no, no...' but at the end, I did not need to use them since we were wheeled by a street-wise Spanish speaking woman - the first language we heard on arrival - who claimed that my daughter was not feeling well, and who got us through immigration and taxi lanes in front of everyone un-shamefully. I think she wanted to finish her shift and go home early from what my daughter understood ... we may never know. 

JFK airport plastic wheelchair were photogenic but appalling (tape-cul). Then, a yellow-taxi with no suspension whatsoever took us to Long Island - Rockville Village as they call this area.

Josie was now really feeling unwell by the time we arrived at the hotel.

Rockville was not quite how I had imagined Long Island. It was more like Pantin... :), with a feel of the 50s, quite hard to describe. I had the impression we had gone back in time through a time capsule. The area had been hit hard by covid, it seemed, and many shops were run down or vacant.

Fortunately, the hotel that had been recommended by the surgeon office was very comfortable, 20mn walk to the hospital which is located slightly more up north in the island, with a supermarket and a CVS chemist around the corner.

We tried to eat like the locals.

Local Bakery opposite Rockville Train Station

CBD Oil shops were opening everywhere

We visited Long Beach, the day before the surgery. I liked the thought of Europe being on the other side, it did not seem as far as from Australia, relatively.

The surgeon office was north of Long Island, in Great Neck area, a more sophisticated part of LI.

Neurosurgeon Office

The hospital was quite impressive for a Community Hospital.

We did not manage to get a letter from our GP who had been cautious of the legal repercussions, but a local General Practitioner assessed the situation and with full understanding of the legal implications for her (that would be different for her, it seemed); she was able to produce the document. She recommended a chest Xray that was organised immediately. We also had to meet a recommended neurologist and neuro psychologist who were to produce a report to the neurosurgeon each. 

We were going to make it on time.

23rd of September - Surgery Day

Below is the hall where I waited and waited for the surgery to end ... during ten long hours. There was happiness (we finally managed to do it) and fear (as you can imagine).

The surgery was supposed to last 4-7h, but the scans had not revealed the extent of the work to be carried out, neither how urgent the surgery was. We arrived very early in the morning, and I waited to see her, but it was not possible that day: I would have to wait for another 24h. 

The surgeon came at the end of the surgery. He was very exhausted and explained what he did. In the meanwhile, the plastic surgeon was closing the opening.

Salle des Pas Perdus

Walking back to the hotel alone that evening. Another sleepless night.

In the morning, I took a different path; 

As I was looking at these sunflowers in the wind, I was imagining my daughter in her own life turmoil

I was highly receptive, in a state of acute sensitivity, I could notice everything around me. 

Someone had laid these stones in their garden...

I got some discreet flowers for the room where she would be sent at 3pm on day 2.

and brought some waffle my daughter likes that I made in our hotel breakfast area on day 2.

Hospital Kite

She had to stay in the hospital longer than anticipated after such a long surgery, but she recovered well. The surgery had been successful. It was not going to take the pain away entirely, as we knew from the start, but her quality of life would hopefully improve as a result, and further deterioration would be prevented. 

I also met a wonderful family whose daughter had been medically-air-lifted from Arizona, the state where they lived. I first noticed their child in the recovery room where I had been granted a special permission after 24h of Josie being there on the second day. Her beautiful eyes fixing the ceiling, and her age was an immediate cue to me as to her predicament. She was 22. 

I could relate to their trauma dealing with this rare condition, the lack of understanding in the community, the emergency services, set-backs, and we talked about these things that not many people can truly relate to. 

Their pain was palpable, their daughter had arrived without being able to move a finger, and in a sensory shutdown, she could not hear, could not eat much. Sometimes, one of them had to sleep in the room, but they were in there as a team, very proactive and mindful, and this was beautiful. There are definitely some good men out there. One day, they even brought me a cup of camomile tea. We shared the same emotional support dog, Warwick who came for a few visits, once with a birthday hat on for their daughter's special day. They were there for the long-haul for multiple surgeries. We'll remain friends on FB, at least... who knows... a wonderful meeting, they brought hope to my heart for humanity in the oddest of places.

I had to move the flight at a later date to give my daughter a chance to recover and be sufficiently mobile to handle an airport hall and immigration queues. Singapore airline were asking me 6,450 Aud! for the change to the booking, and could not find seats before October. To add to the stress, my phone let me down (motherboard) so I had to find a new one in a hurry, and the hotel had treated my debit card like a credit card, so the amounts had been debited twice. It was hard to sort out this series of unfortunate events at once. Finding the heavy duty pain-medicines was not easy either, and led to a bit of drama, but, again, it got sorted out at the end with the help of the surgeon's P.A.

A few days after my daughter came back, we had to move because of a marriage taking place in the hotel. I checked Airbnb but I could not find any suitable nor reasonably priced accommodation. We moved to the other hotel that had been recommended by the surgery (more expensive one, but with a discount of 33%). There was not much choice. The hotels in the CBD were hosting the UN General Assembly meeting and all the prices had tripled. The hotel I had found prior to us coming had gone from 200 to 600 USD a night!! I read in the reviews that CBD hotels customers were complaining with long delays waiting for the lifts in high rise building ... well, that was not going to be a good idea for us in case of emergency or when she is in pain and tired. Staying in the vicinity of the hospital was also a major criteria.

Moving was not a light affair, we now had a 'transporter' and a soft pillow. Fortunately, the Uber driver was a big guy who did not think twice about lifting it all in the car.

It was a fortunate move at the end for a second phase of the recovery. The next hotel was slightly further from the hospital, but only 20mn, really nice with a kitchenet, a heated pool and a nice shopping centre of wheel-chair reachable distance

and had funny sponges - I bought a few at the local supermarket for my friends and their kids.

Hotel-Home Cooking (Bison meat balls ... for iron) and finally (because I felt safe for the first time in a long time that we were not going to end up again in emergencies), a glass of wine.

After one week of progress and no sign of seizure/dizziness, 

we ventured in beautiful New York City. 

It was so lively, not unlike Paris, except that for the dimension of the buildings. There were even people on the terraces in the street enjoying the end of the summer.

Views from the Metropolitan Museum of Arts 5th or 6th Floor Terrace

Metropolitan Museum of Arts Fountains

Back in the street, we had a hot dog and my daughter recognised the owner from Street Vendors Netflix show. Apparently, he had lost all of his kiosks during the pandemic, except for that one in front of the Met.

NY Hot Dog Kiosk









Then, we went for a fashion discovery tour 












with the piece of resistance ... in the Met (Kimono exhibition) where I would go for inspiration if I were a dress designer artist.




Then, we looked all around, as we walked with our eyes mesmerised by the sky-scrappers



and as we stumbled on iconic or provocative sites...










Now back to Long Island... on our doorsteps.
This area used to be/still is (?) called the Gold Coast, like our Gold Coast south of Brisbane. It used to be the place where New Yorkers had their beach house for the summer... until they were able to commute from this paradise and it became more suburban living. It is very leafy compared to places like Queens or Brooklyn, and slightly more led back and relaxed than New York.

We did not hire a car, but were using Uber when needed. Not sure how this happened, since we had chosen the economic category, but we ended up having a ride in a Tesla once.



This is one of the great mansions who hosted extravagant lavish parties in Great Neck area in the 1920s and which inspired Fitzgerald when he wrote the Great Gasby novel, a must-read, with timeless accounts about human nature, and a jewel of English language which enlarged my vocabulary (with Google on hands). 



The house had 120+ rooms to host their guests, and in order for the house to have sea views, the owner, Otto Kahn, had a hill man made under the house before its construction. He would commute to the City by boat where he had his principal residence, an apartment.

Amazing to see pictures depicting simple life inside of this castle,
as if it was what they were dreaming of.

Today, the mansion is hosting marriages. I had never seen so many table clothes so neatly ironed and organised. Beautiful preparation work.

Charly Chaplin had been a friend and host.
A room is dedicated to him.

You can see Otto Kahn on his left.

Today, we are having my daughter's stitches takes out by the plastic surgeon and in three days time, we'll fly off! We haven't got the flight clearance document yet, the surgeon office P.A. advised that the plastic surgeon should be able to produce it 🤞. 

Although the last few days almost felt like a holiday, and I can already see that the promise is going to be fulfilled, I will feel only and truly relaxed when the plane will touch the ground.

After that, I will have to find a home ... (detail)

I 💗 NYC