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| doing rehab in our apartment |
On February 7 our two-month sojourn in
Prague was brutally interrupted by a fall in which I fractured the femur in my left leg. I
described the incident in earlier blog posts. I underwent surgery
wherein a titanium pin and screws were inserted in my left femur and
I was released from hospital after 12 days in which I started to
relearn how to walk again with crutches and the encouragement of the
physical therapist who pushed me just a little harder than I would
probably have done myself.
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| apt. as rehab clinic |
When I was at my weakest low point I
felt that I would need to go to a rehab clinic after discharge from
the hospital, but both the surgeon and the therapist dissuaded me,
saying that I could profit more from doing my own rehab and, as my
therapist put it: “You can go to the opera.” That sounded better
than lying around some rehab clinic whiling away the hours when not
working with a therapist—probably only twice a day as I later heard
from a friend here in Prague who had hip replacement surgery and
spent some time in a rehab clinic last year.
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| at Rudolfinum for Baroque concert |
It has been almost a month since the
day I broke my leg and two weeks since my discharge from hospital.
Have been working at my exercises and walking practice at first only
in the apartment, but soon began to go out walking in the streets and
parks around town increasing the distances and length of time out as
I felt my leg getting stronger and more flexible. Road buddy, who has
been magnificent in handling this crisis, and I've been going out
just for walks at times, out to restaurants, to the opera and
concerts, taking the newer trams that are easy on and off for
handicapped people like me.
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| taken at camera shop with the Lumix I bought |
My old point and shoot camera, which I
have never been happy with because of the inadequate quality of the
pictures, has been malfunctioning with the lens not opening and
closing properly. So I bought a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30 that, so
far, I am very happy with, especially the quality of the pictures I
have taken with it. My camera is never very far from my pocket and,
even though a little handicapped, I continue recording my impressions
of Prague from the perspective of someone on crutches.
Hey, maybe this could lead to a niche
business, offering guided tours of Prague for handicapped people. :)
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| at farmers' market on banks of the Moldau River |
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| children at the playground with sunny weather |
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| Old Town on left with the many bridges spanning the Moldau |
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| Frantisku Hospital on left with red roofs |
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| Frantisku Hospital where my surgery was done |
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| Hanavsky Pavilion - enticingly visible from my hospital room window |
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| clean plates, an obviously delicious Chinese dinner |
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| Charles Bridge and Prague Castle illuminated at night |
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| Theater of the Estates - oldest opera house in Europe |
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| intermission of Mozart's Don Giovanni |
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| principal cast of Don Giovanni - Svatopluk Sem in title role |
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| after Don Giovanni at McDonalds |
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| Wenceslaus Square at night |
3 comments:
Great pictures! Glad to see you're enjoying your new camera.
I knew a little thing like breaking the largest bone in the human body and a acquiring a little titanium hardware wouldn't be enough to keep you down! Great to see you up and around...and showering :)
Michelle
Ha, this isn't the first time I break my bones. I broke the other femur before Robin was born and spent 3 months in hospital in Okayama. I've broken my arm 2 or 3 times as well. After all these years I'm not gonna start bowing to the whims of fate. Get knocked down, unavoidable, but once down you have the responsibility to take your life in your own hands, get off your back and do the hard work of getting back on your feet. Giving up on that responsibility is like signing your own death warrant.
Thanks for the good wishes...
...and yes, I like my new camera. It's a good mid-range model, a kind of cross between a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) and a simple point and shoot portable. It's still pocketable (though a little bulkier) than a simple point and shoot, and the the power of the lens is closer to the picture quality of a DSLR. It also gives you more flexibility in that you can make manual adjustments if you like by taking the camera off Automatic mode...a fetish for so-called "advanced" photographers perhaps.
Yes, I,m learning all about the wonderful effects you can create in a photograph by playing with the camera settings. My Photographic Vision class has turned out to be very interesting. I'm still struggling a bit with the "vision" part but I'm getting there. I got a bonus at work last week and went out and bought myself a new camera. I went from somewhat compact to bulky; got a Canon Digital Rebel T4i and a telephoto lens to go with it. My Lumix is about 7 years old. Still takes great pictures but wanted to try a DSLR and all of the added functionality that goes with it. Gotta take black and white photos this week for my camera project. Hopefully I'll get some good ones.
Michelle
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