My last few days in Spain have been dictated entirely by my injury.
Whatever plans or ideas we may have had for our final days in Ibiza were foiled by my inability to walk and the level of pain I’ve been experiencing with my road rash. Although the scrape looked smaller than I remember from my last one, it seems to have been much worse in terms of pain and swelling. Perhaps this is because I’ve totally whimped out on proper cleaning and I probably took pain killers the last time.
This time, I got up the next day thinking everything was ok and I could power through a hike down to a gorgeous Cala. I did, because I couldn’t resist, but boy did I pay for it. Not only was going down there a tease because I wasn’t able to swim, it also led to very bad pain later in the evening and me completely giving up on walking.
I’ve been much more cautious the last two days. I spent the day after that entirely at home, in bed with my leg propped up on two pillows. I kept it opened and was probably a little too obsessed with looking at it. If I needed to move, Jo carried me. Getting up and putting pressure on the wound was like a huge rush of blood each time, accompanied by a throbbing pain that I just couldn’t handle. So it was either I stay on it and keep it down all day, or the opposite.
Yesterday, I did the opposite. I chose to keep it down. Rather than stay in the room for another day, I thought our last full day was better spent doing something, seeing more, at the very least. Thankfully, the weather has been cool and gloomy so we didn’t have to be extra saddened by missed chances for anything ocean related, especially with how gorgeous the ocean is here. Instead we did a bit more sightseeing and I opted to stay in the car for most of it. I was happy to be able to see more of the island and I was also happy to be able to stay in the car for it. We didn’t stay out too long, and when we were both satisfied with the journey, we decided to head back to the house.
Being this far out has had its advantages for our finances and health, as we’ve been doing a lot of cooking and eating at home. We’ve gone out and had tapas, of course, but the bulk of our diet has been things we make at home. We also got the chance to see the setup of a rally that was happening on the main road just below us. We didn’t know beforehand to be able to prepare ourselves for it, but it was cool to drive by and see the cars being set up for the race. It made me miss my family and friends, and I had a moment thinking of Daryl and not being able to share this with him. It was a 2-day race, which meant the road was completely closed for the entire weekend. That means we either had to go out for the entire day, or stay in for the entire day. The first day of the race was the day we went hiking, so we stayed out for the entire day with ease, aside from my pain.
On day 2, we stayed in. We got kind of excited to see the rally so we thought maybe we could watch on day 2. But of course, my injury got in the way. And actually where we are is at the end of the race so in order for us to have seen any part of it, we would have had to walk up quite far to find a spot for viewing. This was of course not possible for me so instead we just listened to it from the house.
Another thing that was dictated by my injury.
It’s been a struggle for both of us to come to terms with the whole incident, because he feels guilty about causing me pain and I feel guilty about being in pain. I also notice I haven’t been so brave in facing it. But I’ve accepted this with grace and I’m proud of myself for listening to my body and not pushing myself beyond my limits. Also, I recognise that I’ve been asking to slow down, so this is me getting what I asked for. It’s yet another reminder that plans are just ideas, and that we should always be careful what we wish for.
And at the end of the day, if I die from any one of my adventures or hobbies or lifestyle in general, I just want everyone to know that I was having fun.
