Day 13

Poor sleep patterns over night, unable to get comfortable and eventually giving way to a double dose of painkillers at 04:00. In the early hours I had listened to music and then researched some information on the history of Mining and Minerals around North Wales, the subject of some discussions last night with Mike and Hazel.

I had set my alarm to 07:15 thinking I would need some time to wake up. I woke up with the alarm but then dropped back to sleep finally waking up at 07:48 so once again a bit under the weather and stressed getting ready for breakfast. Sugar levels were a little high at 9:5 so I injected 8 and 20 units before going to breakfast.


No sign of John, as anticipated, but Mike and Hazel, who had not had a good night either, and Mark and Kelli were present and bullish about their impending departure. As I had a long gap to my first appointment at 10:50 I retired to room 219 and chilled before going to physiotherapy.


It is still snowy outside and forecast for -2°c for today. That, my uncomfortable condition, the very depressing news on the situation with Ukraine, the DUP, the NI Protocol and the fact that Boris Johnson has not had the decency to step down are just all getting to me this morning. Hywel shared this to the speech by Zarah Sultana, which was encouraging that some politicians are showing more about how corrupt our democratic government system is. I must become more positive going forward; it is now just a week left here in Druskininkai.


Physiotherapy was with a different guy who was very good at stopping us from doing too much too soon. Reminding us that we need to listen to our bodies and the concept of not increasing pain levels was the key to success. John and I met up after his cryotherapy so we had a coffee and a relax before it was time to say goodbye to Mark and Kelli as they were collected by the logistics department for the start of their homeward journey via Vilnius. It was then time for my massage session. I have to say these are really great and one comes away feeling very relaxed; especially when followed closely by cryotherapy.


So straight into lunch where we sat with Mike and Hazel who have now sorted out most of their bits and bobs for their early start tomorrow. John too has now got his two ‘Travel locator forms’ for his journey home tomorrow via Vilnius, Dublin and Manchester.


This was the view from a different window on my way back from lunch:

After lunch I retired to my bed and dozed off for a while watching Euro.news! I won’t say any more! A little housekeeping; I folded my hand washing from yesterday and tidied up the room.

It is now 15:10 and I am planning to go for a wander around and meet John again at 15:30 for a brew.

At 15:30 I had a chat with William from PortRush before joining John in reception. I was on green tea and he had coffee while we chatted and noticed a reduction in footfall around the area. After about an hour we needed to get mobilised before going for dinner and so we returned to our rooms and I took the opportunity to ice the knee and elevate the leg.

Tonight it will be the last evening gathering for Mike and Hazel who leave at 07:00 tomorrow and John who is due to be collected at 12:30. So we are meeting at 20:00 for the last hour of the service during week day evenings.