24 February 2022
Sleep in. No injections. Relieved. Porridge for breakfast and a chat with Grace. To the barber around the corner. Great cut. Barbers are superior to ‘hair dressers’ for men. This is not open to debate.
We head to our local for coffee. Soon after we leave Shell announces the pain has returned to her finger. I cast my YouTube doctor eyes over the appendage. It looks swollen. Infection returned only 24 hours after the antibiotics finished. Disappointed my injection days are not over. Relieved we are having surgery. Return home for the never-ending Italian prescription.
“Bad news should always come after lunch.. first thing in the morning everything left a bruise.” ― Stephen King
The barista knows our order. I like this. Another cloudless blue sky. Late winter. T-shirts. We walk to the Salavator Mundi International Hospital to pick up the most recent MRI scans. As we walk our hand surgeon, Dr. Piperno, confirms we need to continue antibiotic injections.
Dr Alessandro Piperno. An Italian doctor, trained in the UK and US. All our correspondence is on WhatsApp, his personal number. He has an excellent bedside manner. Alessandro is caring and professional. He is too handsome in my opinion, but I like him regardless. He looks young for his age. I imagine him finishing his homework rather than doing surgery. When I asked his age he assured me 37.
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible….” ― Oscar Wilde
We arrive at the hospital, an easy 3 km from our cafe. Leave the scans for Dr Piperno. We translate the notes. Makes more sense in Italian than it does in English. Send them to Leanda and she paraphrases the Dr to English.
We head to Trastevere to grab some lunch. It is on the way. The walk takes us through Villa Sciarra. A stunning park we had only seen at night previously. Fountains, gardens, and aviaries. It is beautiful. Rome does a lot well. Parks included.
We grab a drink at a Taverna in the sun. There are markets in a piazza next to us. The produce is incredible. It is a shame we are covered for dinner. Farmacia nearby. Grab the antibiotics.
Lunch arrives and we head to Restaurant Ai Spaghettari. The food is excellent. Pesto with tuna. Fried squid and anchovies. The wine is great.
Head home. Injection. Update the blog. Lay about and read.
Dinner is leftovers. Pasta with tuna.
Tomorrow we leave for Tuscany. Two nights in Siena and three nights on a farm near Badia di Passignano. It will be nice to get out of Rome for a few days.
“The sun still beats down warmly over the Sienese countryside in September, and the stubble left by harvest covers the fields with a sort of animal fur. It is one of the most beautiful countrysides in the world” – Maurice Duron