Iceland 2022

 April 8, 2022 I was desperate to have my surgery done as soon as possible knowing that we were scheduled to leave on April 11. I called the hospital in the morning and reminded them that I was on their waiting list.  A little later a woman from the hospital called. I was scheduled for surgery in the evening, possibly around 7 pm; I should reach the hospital by 5 pm.  Being driven to the hospital in the evening all kinds of thoughts came to my mind.  How will it work out?  Will I be refused surgery because of the financial matters?  Will I be able to convince the hospital administration I will be paying the hospital after the surgery.  And what about the surgery itself?  What kind of surgeons I am dealing with them.  I know nothing about their track record.  Will I be able to put to sleep for the surgery and I will never get up again. Leaving for the hospital I had recorded a short video about what the family members should do in case I ...

 April 7, 2022 A good part of the day was spent communicating with the insurance agent in California.  No, any surgery done outside USA will not be covered.  After finishing the conversation with them I seriously thought about delaying the surgery till I reach California.  But then realized it will take a long time to schedule surgery--because we live in a rural area.  Talked to parents in Pakistan who wanted me to fly business class to Karachi and then get the surgery done there.  Talked to the Landspitali Hospital who put me on the list for surgery on April 7 but later said they could not do it; I was asked to try the following day.  Should I stay in Reykjavik till I am finally called for surgery?  Will it take several days?  What should the family members meanwhile?  Our return ticket was for April 11.  If Landspitali does not schedule me till April 11, should I leave for San Francisco, but on reaching California stay in the Bay ...

April 6, 2022.  What an eventful day it was.   But it started as a normal day, with a beautiful morning.  We walked to the famous Brauð & Co bakery in downtown Reykjavik and bought their out-of-this-world bread.  There is something special about the Icelandic wheat, and that is why the Icelandic bread in general tastes so good.  May be the very long summer days give some extra flavor to the wheat crop.  After having a good breakfast at our Airbnb apartment we took the road.  The plan was to drop the young man at the ski slope and the other three to go to the hot springs.  But at the Bláfjöll ski resort I got busy making video of the young man coming down on the slope, on a snowboard.  After two runs he needed to use the toilet so he put the snowboard in front of me.  As I saw him walking to the toilet, I put my right foot in the snowboard--the snowboard started moving...I panicked.  I was determined to not let my right foot go t...