July 2025 Update
The first day of July began with me at Dubai Airport, en route to my favorite destination—Greece. The last day of the month found me back in Sydney, receiving the results of my latest PET scan and scope.
The Health
One of my biggest motivations for going to Greece is to feel healthy, and that was truly put to the test over the month.
The journey there was difficult. I felt exhausted, sore, and couldn’t control the saliva flow. By the time I arrived at the village, I felt awful, but then the Greek mountains began working their magic.
Improvement came quickly. Within the first week, my colitis stopped being a problem so after ten months of unpredictable diarrhea as you can imagine the relief was welcomed!
As the month went on, I continued to feel better. My Fitbit confirmed it: my resting heart rate dropped from 73 to 61, and my heart rate variability improved from 16 to 25.
However, I did spend a few hours in Lefkada Hospital when the feeding tube in my stomach suddenly exploded. I was just standing around, doing nothing in particular, when there was a loud BANG. Those nearby thought I had bumped into some furniture, but no – it came from inside me. Although initially shocked, I knew what had happened and quickly made my way with family in tow to the nearest hospital to get it replaced. Thankfully, I had a spare with me, so the process was straightforward. But it left me anxious for the rest of the trip, knowing how hard it would be to find another one if it happened again.
I’m still unsure why it exploded, but one thing’s clear – next time, I’ll be packing more than one spare!
The last day of the month was the best. After a PET scan and a scope review, the results showed currently no signs of cancer and a healthy throat. After immunotherapy treatment, the plan is to head straight back to the Greek mountains for more healing.
The Personal
I arrived in Greece a week before the girls, spending the first night in Athens with my cousin, Spiros Kotsialos, and his family. There’s a special feeling of being home when I see the smiling faces of Forteni, Mary, Spiros, Yougous, Dimitri, and Vegali.
The next day, I caught a bus to the village and began a healing routine: sleeping in a cool dark room, sitting in the sun on the balcony, and feeding. I repeated this at least twice a day and by week’s end, I was ready to drive to Athens to pick up the girls.
The drive from the village to Athens takes about five hours. It’s easy, but I left the day before and stayed another night with Spiros and Forteni before collecting three exhausted girls from the airport and driving through the night back to the village.
The first few days were magical. It’s hard to describe the village’s charm – it’s more a feeling than something tangible. Things slow down, the warmth returns to your body, the darkness fades from under your eyes, and connections with family and friends rekindle. Smiles become contagious.
Before we knew it, the week had flown by and it was Sunday and we were heading to Corfu, my favorite island. The trip takes about four hours, including an hour-long ferry ride. Whenever we book a new place, I get a little anxious. But when we arrived at our home for the next four days, I was relieved, we had hit the jackpot! It opened right onto the beach. Within ten minutes, the girls were under an umbrella, taking their first swim. I, meanwhile, headed off for a much-needed siesta.
Three of the four days followed the same rhythm: breakfast, beach, lunch, beach, siesta, beach, dinner, sleep. The routine was broken by a visit to Aqualand which is a fantastic water park with great rides, room to relax, and best of all, short lines. Unlike previous years, I was able to join the girls on all the tube rides. We had a blast racing each other and trying as many rides as we could.
Then came a curveball. After a lovely lunch in Corfu Town with the wonderful Panagiota, we tried to get our ferry tickets but the car wouldn’t start. We were stranded in the heat late on a Thursday afternoon with only one day left of my food supply.
Plan A was activated. The breakdown service diagnosed the fuel pump as the issue and towed the car. I joined the mechanics while the girls found refuge from the 38°C heat. After a valiant but failed repair attempt, they left me with four bags and no taxi in sight. Eventually, I rigged up the bags and walked over the hill to reunite with the girls, who had taken over a local café.
Kirsten managed to book an apartment for an unexpected extra night in Corfu. While the girls explored town, I collapsed into sleep, hoping the car would be fixed by morning.
Instead, things got murkier. One minute, the car was nearly fixed. Then they had the wrong part. Then it was discontinued. Then a new one could be shipped from Athens. Meanwhile, we had to leave our gorgeous (and allegedly haunted) apartment. At a nearby café, we concluded we had to get back to the village—I had run out of food.
Enter our hero: Christos, my retired police captain cousin, whose generosity has no limits. Upon hearing our situation, he drove all the way to the port to bring us back to the village. But his kindness didn’t end there. Four days later, he rode a bus back to Corfu at 4pm, collected the car, navigated the chaotic ferry and bus schedules, arrived home at 4am, rested briefly, then delivered the car to us. I and the rest of the family cannot thank him enough.
We spent five lovely days in the village while waiting for the car. Then we made our way to our next destination Lefkada, a small island connected to mainland Greece. Again, we lucked out with our accommodation and slipped right back into our routine: breakfast, beach, lunch, beach, siesta, beach, dinner, sleep. It was extremely hot—up to 44°C—but with the cool Mediterranean breeze we weren’t complaining.
Our time in Lefkada flew by, and before we knew it, we were back in the car for two beautiful days in Athens with family. Then came the long flight back to Sydney, where we were greeted—unsurprisingly—by a rainy, 10°C day. But when my test results came back, revealing good news, it felt like sunshine had returned. It would only be a few days before I was back in Greece again.