8 weeks after the Diep surgery I decided
I was going to go abroad and visit a friend of mine who lives just outside of
Split in Croatia. I had found some cheap flights from Bristol with a stopover
in Venice, a place I’d always wanted to visit. Brought myself a decent pair of
comfortable walking boots, knowing I would be on my feet for a while and
because the toe nails still hurt. The flight was an early morning flight, so I
set off around 4 a.m. in the morning, only having slept 2 hours the night
before as sleep has been very poor. Got on the plane and went to lift my
suitcase to find I didn’t have the strength and bent my thumb nail back in the
process, which then started bleeding. I got on the taxi boat from the airport
to Venice around 11am, very tired.
Google maps is great if I’m in a
car but walking, not so and after walking over several bridges and through many
cobbled roads I locate the hostel where I now have to carry my suitcase up
several flights of stairs. Anyhow, by the time I got to Croatia, my body was literally
screaming at me with exhaustion which was not really surprising given I was
still recovering from surgery, but this trip sealed my future plans to travel. In
discovering this new-found freedom, I decided that I was going to go travelling
and see as much of the world as I possibly can before I get older and my health
prevents me, but in order to do this I had to develop some level of fitness and
so I hit the gym. I started swimming, doing weights and Pilates. For anyone who
has never done Pilates I really recommend this after any surgery as I realised
how off balance and weak my body was. During this period most people would
comment on how well I looked but inside my body felt 20 years older than what
it is. The bones ached, the muscles ached and added to this was lack of sleep
and hot flushes, where I’m about to nod off and my heads just heats up, sweat
builds up on my face and the heat descends down my body, legs and arms. I wipe
myself down and then I am cold and wide awake, so I try again. This could go on
all night or several times a night breaking my sleep and leaving me mentally
foggy and unable to function. So, I am having to take some medication to try
and resolve this so I can sleep and function in a day.
Despite all of this, before my next surgery in
August, I went off to Mallorca and then in July to Switzerland, then after
surgery to Paris and Ireland in September. In late August I had further surgery
to correct some of the scarring and I had an implant inserted into the other
breast as the right one was now considerably fuller than the left and there was
a noticeable difference in clothes. The surgeon corrected what is referred to
as a dog ear on the right side of my stomach, he corrected the scarring on the
right breast and inserted an implant into the left one. The proceeding few
weeks involved giving my son a considerable number of driving lessons so he
could pass his test not the ideal way to recover from surgery, but it had to be
done. I also had to pack all of my stuff and move it so that I could actually
go travelling for a substantial period of time. I also organised a Charity
Event with the landlady from the Whiteleaf in Princes Risborough so I could
raise money for the bike
ride and Cancer. I honestly could not believe the generosity of local
people in Princes Risborough and I managed to raise £568 which allowed me to
hit my target of £1000 before I left for my travels. I waited 6 weeks and as soon as my consultant
confirmed everything was healing well I applied for a visa and booked a flight
to Myanmar with a view to travel around South East Asia. If you would like to
see pictures of my travels and where I am please follow my journey on
Instagram, harjitg2.
