Hungary

I decided it would make no difference to my leg to sit in the room with my leg up or sit in a cafe with my leg up on a chair, so we headed out for an afternoon lemonade. Steve had a spritz while I made up for lost time and had three non-alcoholic drinks - a sparkling water with lemon, a fresh lemonade and a fresh lemonade with mint. Very yummy. We sat for about 2 hrs answering emails and watching people walk by.

Steve took some closer pics of what I could see from the view from my seat.

It was lovely getting out and walking, even if only a block in the sunshine and fresh air. Now I’m back in the room, icing my leg, with plans to go back out for dinner in a couple of hours.

As planned, the doctor discharged me today; however, we had hoped to be going directly from the hospital to the airport. Instead, the flights will be on Wednesday. So we are staying in a nice apartment with a separate bedroom (closed off by sliding doors) and a perfect-to-sit-with-my-leg-up couch. I like this because I can sit on the couch during the day and then go to bed later without feeling like I am always in bed

We have a kitchen and dining table, which we put to good use, having ordered enough food for dinner and lunch tomorrow. I wanted some comfort food, so we ordered pizza, chicken wings and Caesar salad from Pizza Hut

Steve also stepped out to pick up my prescriptions and some fruit for breakfast. While he was out, I realized what I’d really missed in the last week (besides food) was being alone. Except in the bathroom, there is not even an illusion of privacy in the hospital here. At home, we are used to every hospital bed having privacy curtains that can be pulled so you can wash or be examined by the doctor without feeling publicly naked.

Anyway, I enjoyed the hour or so I had alone. I really enjoyed the massive thunderstorm complete with lightning and hail! that happened while Steve was shopping. I had to close the door and clean up the hail off the living room floor. It was a fantastic storm. Steve completely missed it while in the grocery store and it was beautiful and sunny when he went in and again when he emerged 40 or so minutes later.

While he was walking to/from, he took a few more pics. Steve just remarked that he really likes this city. Budapest, like Rome has treasures around every corner, which is what we’ve always said about our walks around Rome. In fact, Budapest buildings are as beautiful as Rome, and without any graffiti. It is truly a great place to visit and I wish I could do it more in person, rather than just through Steve’s pics.

I especially like the details on the Liszt building.

Well, I have been cleared for flying on Monday. We are waiting to hear the flight details that are being arranged.

This a pic of a breakfast the other day; in fact, with a boiled egg, this was the best breakfast I’ve had.

Here’s a picture of my dinner today:

Using google translate app, the main word on the spread package translates as: cottage cheese sandwich. The translation of the next line, perhaps more descriptive: “after-treated, half haired”. Didn’t appeal to me, not surprisingly. At least I didn’t get the full haired version. (I did taste it before tossing it out.)

You’ll note the main similarity between breakfast and dinner: a large piece of bread, butter or other spread, and a piece of a vegetable. Every day, for breakfast and dinner. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to enjoy bread and butter again.

Lunch is usually soup, which has not been bad, plus something with it, which has invariably been pretty awful. Today was cabbage and some sort of meat in a congealed orange “sauce”. I had to kill the taste of that with yogurt and then chocolate.

So today, I decided to skip the breakfast and dinner options, and instead had a couple of yogurts, a banana, an apple, two danishes and some chocolate, all supplied by Steve.

Having replenished my stock today, I still have three pieces of fruit and a couple of granola bars, plus more chocolate. ????

I expect the airplane food will feel gourmet. Especially since they have to fly me business class to make sure I can keep my leg elevated. And since I have a drain still in, they are flying a nurse along with me. I asked to pay the difference to have Steve travel with me business. So we’ll see if that works. The nurse is to accompany me to the emergency in Ottawa. Not sure which hospital, yet.

I have to say, from what we’ve seen, Budapest is a beautiful city. Lovely architecture, almost no graffiti (which has been rare on this trip), and impressive landmarks - like the parliament buildings and the shoes on the Danube memorial. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to enjoy walking around and seeing the ornamental details on the buildings, for example. I wouldn’t want to have the hospital as the only example or memory of Budapest.

Here are pics Steve took today...

My second leg surgery will be tomorrow at noon. We are very optimistic for a great result and return home as soon as possible.

In the meantime, it is interesting that hospital patients here are required to purchase or bring their own supplies - toilet paper, soap, towel, a mug if you want any hot beverages, or money for the vending machine drinks. Steve’s brought me all of the above and more, and also snacks and fruit since the meals are a little meagre. If we weren’t so far from home, I’d be bringing my own pillow and pillow cases (which don’t exist at this hospital) as well.

Steve is hanging out with me each day. Here’s a few pics from this neighbourhood.

At the Pëterfy Kórház emergency hospital in Budapest. For the most part, the staff seem nice. Not very many speak English, but with Google translate, we are getting by.

First surgery yesterday was to clear the infection. On Wednesday I will have another to close the wound. Seems unlikely I will be flying home on Saturday, but we will see.