Homeward bound

After a leisurely sleep in, Rus and I had breakfast together and then she dropped me at Paddington train station to catch the Heathrow express. My mom left earlier this morning and I do mean earlier. 6 am. I didn't have much time to explore the new Heathrow terminal 5 but what I saw was pretty impressive. The flight home was fine. Just a wee bit long. The problem was I had to sit in the back with all the riff raff. Wait a minute. I am riff raff. Never mind!

It was an amazing week with Rus and the Bass Boys. Thanks for such a cool week and thanks blogmeister. Lets do it more often. How about March 21st???

Carpe Diem.

Last day in London

Day 6
At least they let me sleep in on my last day in London! I have really been busy and apart from coughing every now and then and the breathlessness going up stairs, I have been feeling great!
Mom and I had breakfast together and then Rus picked us up to be finished off at the clinic. Microdermabrasion,face masks, appointment with the dermatologist, zapping of my ear, met the ophthalmologist, chatted to the nurses and had lunch before leaving them all till the next time!

Dinner was going to be another meat pie and chips! One of Rus’ good friends came to say Hi and as soon as they’d gone we sat down to The Feast! Ilan came over later and we just enjoyed each others company till bed time!

This has been an amazing week …especially for my sister who has been waiting for so long for me to be on her patch! Bringing my Mom was an added bonus! Now we have Florida to look forward to when all of us can be together!

Carpe Diem.

Paris

Day 5

Bonjour mes amies!

We caught the 8.40 train to Paris and this was my first time on the Eurostar. It is a great ride! Really comfortable and so fast! We managed to have a quick croissant and latte before we left and two and half hours later we arrived at Gare Du Nord in the bitter Parisien cold!

We sped to the restaurant that Rus had booked and met a very good friend from Zimbabwe there. Gail lives in Paris and it was a superb lunch together catching up with the news of all our common friends from Zimbabwe who are now all over the world. The restaurant is called L’Avenue and it was filled with beautiful French women! The waitresses weren’t bad either and according to Gail only chosen for their looks!!

We had a car arranged after lunch to take us on a short sight seeing journey around Paris because it would have been difficult for my Mom to walk in the cold weather. Unfortunately the man who should have ferried us was out of Paris so we had his brother in law who not only spoke nothing but French but didn’t know the city as well as he should have and so although we saw most of the sights I didn’t get to see the Eiffel Tower…Imagine that!! Have to laugh now but we certainly weren’t when it looked like we may miss the train home because he had no idea where he was!!

All part of the experience and we had a great day arriving back in London at 10.00pm!

Carpe Diem

More Londinium

Day 4




I must say, I am really getting used to this hectic lifestyle. No rest for the wicked! Breakfast with one of Rus's closest friends Debs, who actually needed us to rescue her from her apartment as she had locked herself in! Yes, believe it or not, in. That was my introduction to Debs! We had a lovely brekkie at one of Londons' best restaurants (The Wolseley) and then walked down to see Buckingham Palace. We trod on the red Queen owned road and then walked back past the Grenadier Guards. It is so great being in England because all of this history is what I had grown up with and it felt strangely comfortable. The weather was so much better we were able to walk quite a way and I was pleased as I'm not as fit as I'm used to and my breathing is really compromised. Hopefully the visit with the pulmonologist will clear this up. It was really good to meet Debs and I was able to thank her for being my big sisters support here!

We were all invited to my cousin Mon for late Sunday lunch and en route we met my Mom and Gerry at Oren's office! Lunch at Mon’s was great and her apartment is really grand. We had an excellent meal and then we sat, stuffed with food listening to her play the piano masterfully! Really mellow Sunday afternoon and by the time we left it was dark! I drove Oren’s Porsche home so …no jokes please…and I amazed myself negotiating the small London roads in terrible traffic.

An early bedtime was planned. We needed to be up early for the day in Paris!

Carpe Diem.

Londinium

Ok, so I arrived at the much talked about Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport and Rus was there to meet me while Gerry went off to terminal 3 to pick up my Mom.

Our week in London had begun and all the trepidation that I felt prior to the journey disappeared. The weather was actually clear and even tho' cold, a bright blue sky welcomed us! We sped back to the house,had a short rest and then Rus picked us up and off we went to the clinic. Really good to see everyone and they were very happy to see us. My Mom dived head first into her treatments and I just chatted to the gang happy to be here! I even had the opportunity to chat to a French Surgeon at the clinic who is an expert on Giblet extraction! (Please send personal email addresses to me for more info on this procedure!) It was great dining together that night and over dinner we planned the next few days events. Off to bed......me in the Penthouse and Mom in her room!

DAY 2

After an excellent nights sleep I woke up relaxed and we planned to spend most of the day hanging out at the clinic and then dinner with my nephews Oren and Ilan and Ilan's girlfriend Carolina. We met the other French surgeon and had some interesting talks with some of his patients! Good to see how busy the clinic was and meet all the different doctors some of whom had brought in food for everyone! The Christmas spirit has well and truly kicked in! Left a tired Mom at home and went with Rus to get her hip pain sorted out! Good to be the escort to the patient this time! And did I tell you that everyone said I look great!!!! Still a slightly plump hamster. Fish and Chips for dinner and great to be all together. I have to say it's great to be with my sisters and their families and of course my Mommy! Need to report that the sleep wasn't that great. Heartburn like you have no idea! When I finally managed to fall asleep it was great as I needed to be ready for my big day! FOOTBALL .

DAY 3
Soft Boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast on day 3 and then off to Shul with Rabbi Schlochem and Ilan (my nephew) who felt like going and invited me along! My brother-in-law Gerry, aka Rabbi Schlochem, has been going to shul every Saturday since my adventure began and he is now part of the inner sanctum at Shul! Maybe it's the kiddush food that is so appealing to him!

We lunched at Nandos, us three, and then waited for Peter to pick us up for THE GAME!!! We were picked up and chauffeured to the front door of White Hart lane. My excitement was palpable as we made our way to the private box with the other 5 guys. 6 out 8 of us were Man U supporters and the other 2 Tottenham as was Peter the owner of the box!!! What a day! What a game ! What an atmosphere and so amazing to be at a live game! I even braved the cold and spent some time outside, in the stands, absorbing everything with Peter's sons Gerald and James. Although it was a draw it was totally worth it and it was the first time I had seen Man U live! I will definitely do it again! Now that I know how great it feels, this is just the beginning!

I was buzzing all night and when we got back to the house I was just babbling on and on about the game. Ruth and David (Rus and Ger's friends) didn't even get a word in. In fact I was so wired I only got to bed at 12! Me, Baltimore Boy! Have you ever!

And by the way, my Mom had a good day too! She bought me a great jacket, scarf and cashmere sweater! My Mom looked great after her total hair makeover! And even The Duchess of Kent, who sat next to her at the hairdresser, admired her hair!

Carpe Diem.

Change of plans

After consulting with family, friends and doctors, we will be adjusting our Africa trip in January to exclude Zimbabwe. This is with a heavy heart and much soul searching. It is very difficult for me to be geographically so close to Zim and not be able to visit. The situation there is just too risky for me from a health standpoint. I can only hope and pray that the government will change soon and that the cholera and hunger problems will be eradicated.



I will be posting something, in the not too distant future, concerning what we are trying to do in Zim. We have a lot of work to do!

In the meantime, I am off to Londinium tonight for an action packed week.

Oh, by the way, lest any of you still thing I travel around the globe for free...............it ain't happening. I lost my travel and jumpseat privileges when I went on medical leave back in March 2008.

Carpe Diem.

Monday's Gaithersburg trip

Monday morning I heard from Dr. Erlich. All the issues we raised are also caused by the side effects of the drug Sutent that I am taking. In his opinion, there seemed to be no reason for concern. I am scheduled to see Dr. Joshua Rubenfeld (the pulmonologist) on December 22nd, after I get back from London. I'm also scheduled for my monthly port flush and blood work the same day.

I met with Rick Levy at his Gaithersburg office in the early afternoon. We had a good productive session and we talked about the Thunder incident. It was very interesting! I will be seeing him again at the end of January.

Carpe Diem.

Weekend update and more

What a lazy past few days. Allow me to blame something . Steroids or should I say, lack of steroids. Diana wrote the following email to Dr. Erlich:

"Sorry to bother you again. It's Diana. Adrian is leaving this Wednesday for London, and I'm a bit nervous due to some new symptoms he has been displaying. He is a lot more tired than usual, mildly depressed, has a slightly diminished appetite, some mild nausea, and feels cold (primarily at night time). Is there cause for concern? Also, do you have a pulmonologist you can recommend? His breathing is still labored with the occasional coughing spasm. All in all, he is in much better shape than he was on March 5, 2008. Yay!"

Honestly, it's not as bad as it seems but I am definitely suffering from steroid withdrawal. All the symptoms I am showing are classic withdrawal symptoms. No, I did not read the information on the Prednisone package to garner more sympathy. I'm still quite blimpy and eating well but I guess I'm quite simply bored. Yes, bored though not all the time. I feel like an alcoholic self admitting! I do miss the good, fun parts of flying and I certainly miss my flying friends. I guess I miss traveling to some degree. So get a load of these plans:

Next week I'm off to London for a week. Russ has scheduled an action packed week including a Man U vs. Tottenham football game, a day trip to Paris and watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Core blimmey. Oh, by the way, our mom will be joining us.

At the end of December the Baltimore Suskin clan will be going to Boca for just over a week. Lots of the immediate and extended family will also be down there at the same time. Can you say "one big party".

In early January Diana and I will be going to Africa. Specifically South Africa and Zimbabwe. But there is a wrinkle in the schleifenplanne. It's called "cholera". This obviously complicates things for me as I was personally hoping to finally get things moving on our Zim project. Diana is very concerned about my health situation. It's not that I'm not concerned for my health but my judgement is somewhat clouded by what I see happening now in Zim with the inflation and starvation. It seems the cholera epidemic is just another huge set back for a country struggling to survive. We will consult with our doctors and decide what to do closer to the departure date.

Saturday lunch time we watches Man U beat Sunderland in literally the last few minutes of the game. Smashingly entertaining game with a great result. Saturday evening we went out for Italian food with four (two couples) of our very close Baltimore friends. The dinner was really nice but the movie we saw afterwards was fantastic. The movie was called Slumdog Millionaires. It was about this Indian kid and his brother growing up in the slums of Mumbai and winning a shit load of money on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". When we got home Mike had a bunch of friends over at the house playing poker. We thought that we would be having a lot of sleepover guests as there had been a light snow fall in the evening and the roads were pretty lousy. But in the end all these card mavericks decided to drive home. Safely and successfully I might add.

Carpe Diem.

Me and Max

Just a bit of pet silliness. In case you are interested, Max has a bunch of nicknames:

Maxamillian Von Schnabel (Austrian)
Lootrecht (Dutch)
Trechtobal Gomez (Colombian)
Lucatoni (Italian)
Loot Podolski (German)
Basil (British)
Alfie Vismeer (Afrikaans)

More to follow.......................................

Carpe Diem.

Thunder is home

This is another one of those weird stories.

My good friend Larry (lunch with Larry), who lives in the neighborhood, called me this morning to tell me his dog Thunder had run away last night. Needless to say, he and his family were devastated and he had spent most of the night looking for her. I was very upset for him and their family as I could well imagine that if Max ran away how flipped out we would be! I asked if there was anything I could do and he just asked if he could drop off a flyer and if I would keep an eye open for her. I obviously said yes to both requests. While he was on the phone with me I told him I was going to look in our back yard on the off chance I would see her. Well...............lo and behold, she was there, all curled up in one of our flowerbeds by the pool. I got her inside and told Larry to get over right away. He got to us in about 3 minutes and what a great reunion. He got in touch with his wife and kids to give them the great news and then took her to the vet to make sure all was well.

Now this is what is so weird. Even though we are in the same "hood", Larry lives about 3/4 of a mile from us. How Thunder ended up at our house is a mystery, albeit a positive mystery. How she got into our backyard is interesting considering we have a fence to keep out the deer. Why was I home at the time Larry called and what possessed me to go and look in the back yard ??? Of all the backyards Thunder chose ours!

Larry and I have had some wonderful lunches together and he has given me some great advice on everything from home buying (Boca Raton) to home plumbing questions. He has also been available and around if I needed him during my ordeal. So I was delighted and thrilled that I was able to be actively involved in finding his dog. This was meant to be!!!

Carpe Diem.