Brad and I just started our year-long adventure in Rome,
arriving yesterday morning, Saturday, September 10. The flight we booked here included
a two-week layover in the NYC area to catch up with some old friends.
 |
| I liked the flags in the arrival hall--Ireland and Italy right there together! |
We arrived
in Newark airport, Friday, August 26, and stayed with Elia, an old friend from
law school, who lives on the Jersey shore in the aptly named Point Pleasant
Beach and who was also kind enough to meet us at the airport.
 |
| Met some friends of Elia's on the beach Friday evening ... |
The next day, Saturday,
was a perfect beach day.
 |
| Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. |
 |
| Brad on the shore ... |
Bill, another old friend (from high school), met us
with umbrellas, beach chairs, sandwiches from Joey Leone’s, and some bottles of
wine. (Bill has a summer place with his husband Gabriel in nearby Asbury Park, of
Bruce Springsteen fame.)
 |
| My Oswego (N.Y.) Catholic High School friend, Billy Fultz, who's been making me laugh since 1972 ... |
The surf was up, with a bit of a riptide, and the beach was steep (piled up to protect against the next Hurricane Sandy) but I plunged
in anyway.
A wave knocked me down on the way out. There was also a bit of running
on the beach. Felt like a kid again! Walked off the beach and back to Elia’s to
clean up for a planned dinner in Asbury Park with the group. It was on the way there that
my left knee started to hurt. Needed help to walk to the restaurant from the
car and the knee got pretty swollen over dinner. By Sunday morning, it was bad
enough that we went to the ER. The ER doc said nothing was broken, based on an
x-ray, but decided I probably tore my ACL. Gave me crutches and told me to ice
it and see an orthopedist as soon as possible. Yikes—what would it mean for our
time in Rome?!?! Spent the next couple of days on crutches with my knee up
under bags of frozen corn looking for an in-network doctor who could see me
quickly.
 |
| Re-enactment . . . |
Elia pulled some strings and got me in to see a great doctor in NYC on
Wednesday morning. (Brad went up with me on the train.) The doc also got me in
for an MRI that afternoon, and, finally (!), by Thursday morning, I learned I
had a small fracture of the tibial plateau (too small for xray to see) plus a
small meniscus tear. He expected both would heal on their own (with a little
help from PT) but I’d need to stay on crutches for a total of six weeks—that means October
8 is D-Day! It will be putting a dent in what we do our first month here in Rome …
 |
| Arriving at our house: "Auguri," said the cab driver, after he helped lug the bags up the steps and Brad gave him a big tip. |
 |
| Via di Sant'Onofrio 24A |
|
| A year's worth of luggage outside our new home ... down the (30 or so) steps to the end of the street flows the Tiber! |
I just haven't been in the right frame of mind for blogging. Mi dispiace—mi sono
fatto male al ginocchio!
So glad you arrived safely, but a bummer about your knee. Hobble on and enjoy (just at a slower pace for a while)!! Nancy S.
ReplyDelete