I realise that I left the blog in a bit of a loop since I last posted an entry on Sept 10th. This was deliberate on my behalf as I hated coming back to it since we had to cut our trip short by three months.
As most of ye know, I hurt my back while at the end of our three week stint in Australia and it got to the point where the trip was no longer a viable option for us. Long story short, I had a ruptured L5S1 disc which was causing all the problems and this showed up on the MRI scam which I got done in Phuket.
I tried to give it a few extra weeks to clear up while back in Thailand, but it just wasn't to be. Health is wealth as the saying goes, and looking after myself was my number one priority. So we ended up flying back home end of September, much to our dismay. But our insurance company insisted that I fly "first class" due to the nature of my injury. I initially declined as it meant Florence had to travel alone in economy, but the airline wouldn't let me board unless it was in first class. So first class it was ;)
I got an appointment with a Spinal Surgeon in the Galway clinic hospital and few weeks ago, and he looked at my MRI scan and said that an operation was not required, even though it was a pretty large rupture. The pain has reduced a lot in the past five or six weeks and this he said was due to the body forming scar tissue around the ruptured disc and basically eating it away. So the only thing he said I can do is to rest up for 6-8 more to give the body enough time to more or less get rid of the disc, while slowing building up my walks and also my core muscles to help strengthen my back for the future. Swimming is also on the list of activities, but only if it doesn't cause any undue pain.
So that's where I stand at the moment. Not able to do much, but certainly in a lot better condition than I was back in September.
Funnily enough, we were originally scheduled to return to Ireland today(Wednesday 7th Dec). But since we've been back home now for three months, it seems like we were never away.
Asia is just a magical place. And although we didn't get to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia like we had planned to, the countries we did visit were just spectacular. After spending four months travelling around there I definitely got a good feel for the culture and people along with an even bigger hunger to someday return and finish what we initially set out to do. I'm not going to harper on about Asia, as I've already said enough about it many times.
In saying that, the wheels are in motion already for my next trip, which hopefully will be to South America in Jan 2013 for 6 months. I know it's a long way off, but I like to plan in advance and give myself enough time to both get back to full health and save.
Between now and then there's going to be a lot of online poker played and the occasional live event. :)
Thanks to everyone for all the kind emails, texts and get well wishes over the course of the trip. Keeping a travel blog, or even just a normal blog is great as not only do you get to show off a few exotic locations along the way, but in years to come it will be nice to have both a written and photographic account of some of my travels.
I plan on doing up a slideshow of the four months which I'll add here when I do so. For me a slideshow at the end of a trip ties everything up nicely and brings it to a close.
Ciao!
