No Boundaries

Ben is scheduled for spinal fusion surgery on April 4. We’ve known this was going to happen since last August, but willingly blocked it out of our minds until this year. Since January, however, we’ve had to face reality: we’ve had school and therapist meetings to prepare for Ben’s 6 weeks away from school, we’ve scheduled necessary pre-op appointments and have successfully coordinated an eye exam under anesthesia just before the spine surgery takes place, and I’ve been working overtime so that I can more easily take time off work to concentrate on Ben.

But for this surgery, which will be number 24 for Ben and his most trying one to date, we added a very important prepratory step–that of a family trip to Iceland! We wanted to do something fun and different before something challenging and difficult.

Elwy kids at Keflavik Aiport map

Iceland in February sounded different (but fun?), and as one Icelander said to us, “as long as you can handle the wind and the sideways rain” you’ll be fine! But we didn’t expect the accessibility of a country of only 300,000 people, two-thirds of whom live in its capital city Reykjavik, to rival every other place we’ve ever been.

We visited the Sun Voyager in Reykjavik, to no avail!

Upon arrival in Keflavik International Airport, Icelandair staff met us at the gate with a wheelchair for Ben and personally guided our family through immigration to the baggage claim. While getting our rental car, Thor, our first Icelandic friend, gave us a history of the country, told us key facts about certain towns and cities, explained all the movies made in Iceland, and told us where to take Ben.

The apartment we rented on Vatnisstigur in Reykjavik was an accessible dream, with wide, open areas and hallways, a roll-in shower, and not one step, anywhere, inside or outside the building. Elding Whale Watch Cruise staff took me on a brief tour of their two ships so that we could figure out which one would be most accessible for Ben.

On the Elding Whale Watch Cruise, Reykjavik

Separate, disabled bathrooms (favorite Icelandic word–snyrthingar) are everywhere, including the tiny Volcano House museum.

Slatted walkways allow visitors using wheelchairs or walkers to get close to Gullfoss, the gorgeous (but windy!) waterfall in the Golden Triangle.

Ben, Lucy and Charlotte brave the winds at Gullfoss, Iceland

City planners in Reykjavik have added stone ramps to every public area where steps abound.

Ben (and Sherin) loving the ramps at Austurvollur square, Reykjavik

I’m not sure if they use the words “universal design” in Iceland, but they epitomize it.

Sure, there were things we couldn’t do, like 10 hour treks across glaciers, and in some areas, Sherin was forced to carry Ben while I lifted the walker. But what Ben could do in Iceland was much more than what he couldn’t do. And we lifted him less on this trip then any other one I can remember.

Despite the wind, I will never forget the beauty of Iceland, and I have stored these serene images in my head. When Ben is recovering in the ICU following his spine surgery, and critical care providers are working as hard as possible to control his pain (which may nor may not work, we’ve been there before), I’ll at least be able to conjure up images of lakes and mountains in Thingvellir National Park, the shooting Strokkur geyser in Geysir, the beauty of rain crystals on Ben’s eyelashes as he soaked in the milky blue-white silica geothermal spring Blue Lagoon in Grindavik, and his joy of being under the hot waterfall there.

Basking in the Blue Lagoon

I’ll be able to help Ben visualize these images as well, as a meditative practice on all things beautiful and good, and we’ll make a mantram out of them for dealing with pain, anxiety, stress and impatience.

In April, just say the word Iceland to me, and I’ll remember my mantram. Here’s hoping that this trip, which has done our family so much good already, will also be the coping mechanism that I need it to be later on.