Home

Home yesterday evening, after a straightforward journey. Home to a blaze of plum and damson blossom in the garden. However, the hoverfly on the dandelions (of which there are many) got my attention for today's shot.
Unfortunately, on our last day with Yannis and Liana, Liana fell while walking the dog. The pavements around Nikaia (their hilly neighbourhood in Piraeus) are very uneven in places, and she tripped and fell heavily. There are broken bones in her upper arm and her shoulder, which will need surgery to fix. She really was in considerable pain, though she did her best to mask it.  She does have osteoporosis too, another complication.
Liana is a doctor herself, and so knew what to do for immediate care. She immobilised the arm in a supportive sling, and Yannis drove her to the nearest hospital (a private one) for x-rays. 
However, the doctors there didn't see a need to operate immediately (something that I found very confusing - won't bones heal more easily if treatment is quick, before inevitable movements risk more displacement?) Anyway, the Greek health care system is a complex mix of private and public. Liana has opted to wait for treatment in one of the big public hospitals. As she explained, the private ones tend to maximise income (eg by carrying out extra tests and x-rays), rather than focusing entirely on clinical need.
This left all of us with a rather different final day together from the one we'd planned.  I know that Marianna found it very hard to leave her Mum, though recognising that she had to do it.  She's just about OK to fly now, but very soon will be too far on in pregnancy to do it.
My blip catch-up for the last part of the week in Greece will take a while, I think. But I have some nice images, and will upload them in stages over the next few days.