Istanbul Surgical Hospital

It’s been nearly two weeks since we landed in this single bed room at the Istanbul hospital … and there is no clock on the wall. Of course all it takes is an easy glance at the mobile phone to get the time, but when you’re just killing time lying in bed, time becomes a strange enemy. The longer we spend here, the longer the recovery must be taking, the more we miss home and want to go home.
I can update the travel blog by saying that I hobble to the toilet a few times each day, and every couple of days I get taken to theatre where surgeons change my dressing and continue to clean up my foot. I’m a regular now – the theatre staff know me, and welcome me like a member of the family. Their smiling face and warm Turkish humour is just what you need when you’re in such unfamiliar and clinical surroundings. One theatre attendant’s name is Assan, and his cheeky beaming smile is so settling. I have to transfer myself from the trolley to the operating table, and one day Assan left a metre gap and challenged me to take the leap. The theatre staff even put on music for me -some lovely gentle acoustic traditional music. These are highlights in my day, believe it or not.
The other highlights are all the calls and emails from home – a genuine tsunami of love and good wishes coming from Australia, and a few from Canada. Makes me feel very humble; they are all appreciated and lift our spirits immensely.
The hospital food is just that, hardly interesting but edible and nutritious. Thankfully there is a café just outside the hospital where Anne has become a regular customer. They even deliver her order to our room, even though they are not connected to the hospital at all. This enables us some genuine Turkish fare to supplement hospital meals. This must also be the longest we’ve gone without alcohol for ages.
I feel that my foot is recovering slowly every day, and all that’s left is plastic surgery (over two operations) to replace skin and muscle lost since the accident. Then we can come home and start the long rehabilitation road, but there are no dates for those yet.