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Australia
| Journal Entries | Movie: |
|---|---|
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• Arrival in Perth —this page [added December 7, 2007] • Perth [added December 7, 2007] • Esperance [added December 7, 2007] • Streaky Bay [added December 8, 2007] • Port Lincoln [added December 8, 2007] • Adelaide I [added December 8, 2007] • Adelaide II [added December 8, 2007] • Apollos Bay [added December 8, 2007] |
• Cottesloe Beach Western Australia.wmv [added September 21, 2007] Photos: • Western Australia [added September 24, 2007] • South Australia [added December 11, 2007] • Victoria [added December 12, 2007] • New South Wales [added December 15, 2007] |
Arrival in Perth
24 March 2007
Perth, Western Australia
The last few days have taken an unexpected turn: Andy finds himself hobbling on crutches and taking daily doses of pain-killers, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. After dealing with chronic pain in his right knee for far too long, the situation has finally been resolved. While in northern Thailand, the knee became more of a serious problem than before. Whether this happened as a result of kayaking, hiking or something else, it's hard to know.
A few people had attempted to help Andy with traditional medicine (diagnosing a ‘circulatory’ problem) unfortunately, I wasn't getting any better and eventually the owner of the hostel where we were staying in Singapore suggested we ‘stop going to the quacks and go to a Western doctor!’ So, we hobbled into Raffles Hospital, saw a family medicine doctor who checked for signs of infection — negative — and then saw a specialist the next day. He ‘aspirated’ or removed the water from the knee — a very painful procedure — and saw the fluid was bloody, which indicated a tear in the tissue. The next day there was an MRI, which indicated torn cartilage, and an operation was scheduled for the next day at 4:30 p.m. The operation went off on schedule, and the next morning we were on a Quantas flight from Singapore to Perth! According to the doctor, Andy should be on his feet in about 72 hours and walking fairly normally.
The hospital itself was quite impressive, not only for its first-rate equipment, but also for the level and speed of service. Not that it was cheap — the surgery itself was about 7,500 Singapore dollars (US$5,000). Everyone keep your fingers crossed for our travel insurance to pick up the bill!
Now we're in Australia, though Andy hasn't been able to see much, as mobility is limited by crutches! Still, we've both experienced something like culture shock upon arrival yesterday. Culturally and architecturally, Australia seems very similar to the U.S. People seem to talk very loud and their ways of interacting are certainly different than in Asia. Australia is sure to be fascinating; check back to follow our progress!