Things have changed significantly here in Perth since the last time I updated this blog, and I am happy to say that almost everything has changed for the better.

First and foremost, I resigned from my job last week. Most of you know that I was not happy in the job; it just wasn’t what I saw myself doing when I accepted it last winter. I want to do software development and design, and get my hands dirty in the actual codebase. I want to help create user interfaces and be able to see my work on the screen and know that people are using the program to their advantage. I couldn’t see any of this in my future at my company unless I went back to the development centre in Houston, which I don’t want to do because I’ve already made the big move out to Australia already. There were also circumstances that were beyond my control that contributed to this decision and made me choose to leave (within my contract) immediately, rather than serving out my 30 days’ notice.

In the few days since I made this decision, I’ve felt like a whole new person. A huge amount of tension has been lifted off of my back–literally–and the physiotherapist was very happy on Thursday, as opposed to Monday and Tuesday when I appeared to be backtracking. He was able to get me to do a lot of exercises I couldn’t have done 10 days ago before he left for vacation. The doctor echoed his feelings and feels that I’ve finally “turned the corner” in my recovery. I really don’t feel like I would have been able to do that had I stayed in my job, since I felt like the stress there was really keeping me in a holding pattern of slight progress followed by continual backtracking.

So, overall, things are looking up finally. I am now officially a tourist in Australia–I got a 3-month visa granted to me on Friday–and I’m planning on staying in Perth for another 3 weeks before heading to Brisbane in the middle of September. Hopefully that’ll give me time to get everything sorted out here and for me to see all the people that have been so great to me in my fleeting time in Perth a few more times. Then, I’ll get to be in Brisbane for a while with my Australian family, which will be great. From there, there’s a few different courses of action I may take, depending on my back’s progress; one of which is going home for a while and then coming back to do a master’s degree at the University of Queensland next year. Anyone that spent much time with me at all during my time at Rice has probably lost all feeling in their jaw as it hit the floor, but I’ve found a program that looks really good and would really fit me since it’s centred much more around the aspects of computer science that I’m interested in (user interface design, etc).

I’m feeling much better in myself and have my fingers crossed that the worst is finally behind me. I’m not exactly ready to get back out on the tennis court again, but it’s just so great to be able to do normal day-to-day activities without being in constant pain. I guess you really never know how lucky you are until something is taken away from you!

And of course, I’m sure you expected this post to me littered with flower photos so I will not disappoint. I’m still taking lots of walks and still taking the camera along, although perhaps I’ll change my photo subjects shortly so as to not get too boring…and yes, that orchid was still living as of a few days ago, 5 weeks after James sent me the bouquet. Unfortunately the last flower fell off yesterday, but I’m still pretty proud of myself for keeping them going that long when they were cut to begin with!

There’s been quite a few developments since I posted last; some are good, some aren’t quite so good.

On the good side: James was here for the weekend. It’s great to see him normally, but it was even better to see him standing on the doorstep this time because I really just needed him here…even if he was sick and possibly passed it on to me. It wasn’t that he was here to wait on me hand and foot; it was just nice to have someone there for me, especially someone with a rental car that could take me to physio and hydrotherapy! We definitely had a quiet weekend (I’m not in any state to do anything more really) but we did get out and see a bit of Perth, both for his sake and mine. I wanted a bit of a change of scenery for my daily walks so we went to Kings Park, so James got to see Perth and the Swan River and marvel at just how much it looks like a harbour rather than a river. On Sunday we went to Fremantle (which is really a must for anyone coming to Perth) and had a great meal at the Mexican Kitchen with some friends…followed by a short visit to Little Creatures (the brewery in Freo) so James could have his obligatory drink there. On the way home, we drove past Cottesloe so he could see Perth’s “main beach” and the Indian Ocean. Needless to say, he was thoroughly surprised to see that it looks much like the Indian Ocean.

My back steadily improved as the weekend went on. My physio appointment on Saturday had mixed results; he told me that he wasn’t expecting a lot of improvement from the previous visit and he didn’t get much. My range of movement was still very limited and the muscles tight as ever, so he resorted to sticking needles in my back to get the blood flowing to the muscles with “microtears” in them. Luckily I don’t really have a fear of needles if I can’t see them, but I could definitely feel the throbbing in my back afterwards. I felt that as I did my stretches through the weekend my range of movement did slightly improve, and James agreed that I seemed to be moving better by the time he left. Sitting in the chairs at the restaurant in Freo pretty much killed my back though–I was pretty miserable in the car on the way home–which made me wary about my chances of being able to work and make that all-important trip to England.

Monday was D-Day. I didn’t go to work because James took me to a hydrotherapy pool in the morning before he got on the plane and then I had physio and doctor’s appointments in the afternoon. The hydrotherapy felt good when I was in the pool, which was really just a lukewarm pool full of mothers with babies learning to swim, since I could actually move around much better since I had much less weight on my back. It kind of hits you when you get out of the pool though! The physio appointment went much better than that on Saturday since I’d regained much more range of movement, even though there was still a lot of pain and the muscles hadn’t loosened up at all. However, the physio thought that going to England would be too much too soon and unless I found a physio over there to go to twice a week, I would undo all of the good that I’d done so far. The doctor concurred after doing an exam where he still managed to make me jump after prodding that one certain point in the middle of my back. So, this means no trip to England at all for me, after four long months of waiting for it.  Unfortunately this means that I now have to wait until November to do my training, which will be in Kuala Lumpur. However, I do agree with the doctor and think this is for the best; I really don’t think my body is up to the strain of traveling for 24 hours, much less doing training for 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, plus all the mandatory networking dinners, etc, that come along with such a training course. As the doctor said, it would be setting me up for disaster, and I wouldn’t want to go to training if I wasn’t able to fully utilize it because I was distracted by pain. It just makes things a bit difficult since I’ve already been waiting for this training for so long. I’m just hoping that things work out for the best in the long run, and at this point, “for the best” to me means that my back heals as quickly as possible with no lasting effects. I want to be able to just do daily activities without pain; I want to get back into tennis like I was in the weeks before the accident; I want to have the ability to do another trip like I did earlier this year and carry my backpack everywhere; I do not want to be like the many taxi drivers that have empathized with my situation and told me that 2, 3, 5 years after their accidents they still experience constant daily pain.

The doctor also declared me unfit for work for the next two weeks. I’m instead to concentrate on physio and my exercises, which I think is a good idea because I just want this to get better as quickly as possible. It’s also good that the Olympics start this Friday because it will give me something to do! Not that I’ve been lacking for things to do really; I’ve managed to occupy my time pretty well and have even begun work on another travel journal because my mind isn’t feeling nearly as addled.

A funny thing happened two days ago now when I went on my walk. As you’ve noticed, this post is littered with flower pictures, because it gives me something to photograph when I’m on my walks. Well, I went on a walk that was in the general direction of my doctor’s office, and I started taking pictures of some African daisies when I heard “Oh! It’s the flower girl!” I couldn’t believe that someone recognized me after having only walked in that direction a couple times, but apparently this man did. He was a retiree who was gardening with his wife and wanted to know if I’d seen any camellias around. I told him no, so he showed me some that lined his driveway and started picking them and giving them to me! He told me to keep them and take them somewhere where I could get good light and take nice photos of them. I ended up juggling 6 different flowers–white, pink, and red–on the way home. What a nice guy.