So there I was in my hospital bed, hooked up to a Patient Controlled Analgesia, morphine pumping through me every 15 minutes, oxygen tube in, drip in, catheter in, DVT stockings and footpumps to keep the blood circulating. And honestly, it really didn’t feel that bad – although now I’m sure that was just the … More Hip Hip Hooray! Post Operation-Day
After politely declining the the offer from the Thai surgeon to blindly hack into me, I found myself teetering on the brink of despair and hopelessness. It would be here that my Buddhist father would tell me not to panic about things that are outside my control. And he was right. After months of a … More Operation: Lon-done
In my third year, I finally got an MRI arthrogram (where they inject special dye into the hip region to get a more accurate MRI image) scheduled by the NHS. They told me that I had developed severe tears in my labrum and a large cyst, which was caused by the dysplasia, and aggravated by … More Where in the world can I get a new hip?
“Dysplasia…” “shallow hips…” “…dislocation…” “…torn labrum…” “arthritis” These words swam around my head as I walked out of the doctor’s office, filled with disbelief, incomprehension and eyes brimming with tears. I was diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplasia at the age of 18. For those of you unfamiliar with this condition, hip dysplasia describes a … More 18 going on 80? Arthritis, Hip Dysplasia and Hip Replacements
And just like that, it was all over. We were standing in Jakarta airport, about to board our separate flights and a deep melancholic feeling settled over me. We had spent every moment of every day for the last 27 days together (miraculously without a single cross word being said) and separating from my “drunken, … More The End of an Era
There’s a joke in Sulawesi that the Torajans live their whole life preparing for their death. It isn’t too far from the truth. When a Torajan dies, their death is not acknowledged until the funeral ceremony. This takes place over 6 days – 3 days of bull fighting and 3 days for the actual ceremony, … More The Cult of Death
We arrived in Makassar and as we looked out of the window of our guesthouse, a sickening sense of dread descended on us both – there, not 5 metres away was a loudspeaker attached to a mosque. The call to prayer starts at 4am! As we settled in, the last call to prayer erupted from … More Down on my cluck!
After my malaria diagnosis, I sweated my way through the next three days, almost entirely bed bound, and we abandoned our original plan to proceed further into the interior of West Papua – exploring areas devoid of tourists and largely impossible to get to. Manado would be a much better destination for rest and recuperation, … More Escape from West Papua
Things were not quite right when I woke up. My head was splitting and I had a slight fever – and when I pushed my breakfast away untasted, dad was concerned. I love breakfast. Luckily, there was a boat leaving for the mainland that morning and he decided to go to a doctor to get … More Ellie gets malaria
We set off that morning in high spirits. We started walking towards the pier after being assured it was less than 500m down the road. However after what seemed like hours of walking in the mid-day heat we caved and flagged down a little microlet, piling in all our backpacks and just managing to squeeze … More Raja Ampat – the gem of the Pacific Ocean
Musings and Wanderlust 