If a good night’s sleep was needed for us both then that is not what transpired.
Karen did not get to sleep until around 5.30am. She woke me with her cries out in pain around 1.10am and trying to sort her out meant I didn’t get back to sleep myself until around 4am. The problem was she could not a position in which she was comfortable. Laying hurt, sitting hurt and standing was impossible.
When you are tired and its dark and it’s the middle of the night everything always seems worse. Tempers started to fray as I tried my best to help but really didn’t know what to do. Karen was in pain and not thinking straight at all.
Eventually she started to get some relief from the painkillers and tiredness finally overcame her and she fell asleep for a short few hours.
All too soon we were awake again and after taking off the night splint that I am still having to use, I hobbled around to get some breakfast for us both.
At 8.20am we had the scheduled video call with the Vitality GP. Karen felt a bit reassured afterwards after getting his advice about pain relief and getting onto the plane. He recommended I request wheelchair assistance at the airport which I duly arranged. We had both feared that he may have said that flying was out of the question.
After this everything seemed brighter and Karen’s mood lifted. We decided to push ahead with plans to visit Sawgrass Mills Outlets – the largest in the US, as they advertised complimentary wheelchairs.
The plan was to park, and for me to go and fetch one. Then visit a couple of shops, have a Starbucks break in the sunshine, before 2 more shops and then a leisurely lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.
Before that I went to the CVS store to get a whole lots of medical things like ice packs, heat pads, pain relieving gel as suggested by the GP and a knee strap for me.
We set off in good spirits. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was perfect. Due to confusion with roadworks hiding road signs I managed to take a couple of wrong turnings and so we pulled in the first car park about 8 minutes behind the initial predicted time.
I left Karen to walk into the outlet centre to collect a wheelchair. I walked. Then I walked further and further again. This place was enormous and was not easy to navigate. After 25 minutes on my dodgy foot and knee I got to the booth where you collect the wheelchairs from. It was ‘temporarily closed’ I swore. I waited a while as I did not if how temporary ‘temporarily’ meant. It said as an alternative to contact a security officer. I could not find one.
I messaged Karen to let her know that we would need to abort and started to make my way back. I got back into the car park without any idea what direction to walk in. Good job I remembered that Apple Maps remembers where you have parked and it directed me the 0.3 miles back to it.
Karen was very grumpy when I returned as apparently, I should have at least brought with me some water so she could take more painkillers.
So abandoning our plans we drove around to the other side of the mall where the Cheesecake Factory was located. I dropped Karen at the valet parking slot and then went off and parked what seemed like ½ mile away again. By the time I found her inside the restaurant the tablets she has just taken had not yet kicked in and so the atmosphere was fraught for a while. Karen had an appetiser of sliders whilst I went for the Breakfast Brioche. Karen’s choice was better than mine and she also had some Cheesecake to take away.
I went and fetched the car and we drove a short distance till we came to a Starbucks. I dropped Karen at a table outside whilst I parked this time not too far away. I had to queue up for the drinks and was not getting a very sore foot again and even more painful knee doing so.
The seating area was not great outside but we lingered a while so I could rest.
Back at the motel we sat outside for a couple of hours until Karen started to feel the midges biting her as the light started to fade. Whilst we were there we were joined by Harry the Lizard from Death in Paradise and his Mum.
As Karen was still full from lunch and also still had her cheesecake to eat, we decided I was to be sent out to do some chores in the mall and then bring myself something in to eat, whilst she rested.
I went back into Target and also this time walked into the Marshalls next door. Then I drove to the nearest Dollar Tree to pick up other things we needed and diverted back via a Shake Shack for a burger and chips takeaway. Amusingly they initially gave me an order for another ‘Karl’ but called me back before I had left the building.
Back in our room Karen was already watching Shark Tank and already counting down the time until she could take more pain relief. I expressed my concern that she may already be getting addicted which elicited a suitable response. She reminded me that in one of her messages to a friend she had described the pain she was suffering as worse than childbirth without any pain relief.
This has not been the end to out trip as planned. It is such a shame (ignoring the pain for a moment) as Fort Lauderdale is our type of place and the weather is lovely.
Oh well there is always tomorrow which is our last full day.
