After a hiatus of a few days, I am back. With a fractured bone though! Since my fall down the stairs a week ago, the pain wasn’t getting any better – rather, it got worse – so I went to the emergency room where an ex-ray showed a broken bone at the bottom of my spine. It was good luck in bad luck! If it were the bone right above, I would have had to go for surgery. As is, I need to wait for the bone to heal by itself, which may take anywhere from two weeks up to three months. Believe me, I now know a new meaning of the expression – “a pain in the ass”. Literally! I even had to get an orthopedic pillow so I can sit down for hours on end trying to meet all the many deadlines dangerously looming on the horizon.

I am going through serious ups and downs. At moments, I feel lucky the fall ended the way it did and optimistic about my quick recovery. And then waves of intense physical pain overwhelm me and I sit here in my Lisbon living room wandering how my adventurous trip turned into this absurd episode. I am mobile (but also very slow!) though so will try to venture out every now and then, after the deadline danger eases down.