Prague on Crutches

doing rehab in our apartment

    On February 7 our two-month sojourn in Prague was brutally interrupted by a fall in which I fractured the femur in my left leg. I described the incident in earlier blog posts. I underwent surgery wherein a titanium pin and screws were inserted in my left femur and I was released from hospital after 12 days in which I started to relearn how to walk again with crutches and the encouragement of the physical therapist who pushed me just a little harder than I would probably have done myself.

apt. as rehab clinic

      When I was at my weakest low point I felt that I would need to go to a rehab clinic after discharge from the hospital, but both the surgeon and the therapist dissuaded me, saying that I could profit more from doing my own rehab and, as my therapist put it: “You can go to the opera.” That sounded better than lying around some rehab clinic whiling away the hours when not working with a therapist—probably only twice a day as I later heard from a friend here in Prague who had hip replacement surgery and spent some time in a rehab clinic last year.

at Rudolfinum for Baroque concert

      It has been almost a month since the day I broke my leg and two weeks since my discharge from hospital. Have been working at my exercises and walking practice at first only in the apartment, but soon began to go out walking in the streets and parks around town increasing the distances and length of time out as I felt my leg getting stronger and more flexible. Road buddy, who has been magnificent in handling this crisis, and I've been going out just for walks at times, out to restaurants, to the opera and concerts, taking the newer trams that are easy on and off for handicapped people like me.

taken at camera shop with the Lumix I bought

      My old point and shoot camera, which I have never been happy with because of the inadequate quality of the pictures, has been malfunctioning with the lens not opening and closing properly. So I bought a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30 that, so far, I am very happy with, especially the quality of the pictures I have taken with it. My camera is never very far from my pocket and, even though a little handicapped, I continue recording my impressions of Prague from the perspective of someone on crutches.

      Hey, maybe this could lead to a niche business, offering guided tours of Prague for handicapped people. :)

at farmers' market on banks of the Moldau River

children at the playground with sunny weather

Old Town on left with the many bridges spanning the Moldau

Frantisku Hospital on left with red roofs

Frantisku Hospital where my surgery was done

Hanavsky Pavilion - enticingly visible from my hospital room window

clean plates, an obviously delicious Chinese dinner

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle illuminated at night

Theater of the Estates - oldest opera house in Europe

intermission of Mozart's Don Giovanni

principal cast of Don Giovanni - Svatopluk Sem in title role

after Don Giovanni at McDonalds

Wenceslaus Square at night