New at this

@-Millie- thank you for your kind words. I know you're right about having someone with me but there is so little I can control in this process, keeping my independence is important to me. I think I will pack for going to my friend's place and see how I feel on the day. I have meals frozen which will only require reheating so I am prepared but I guess I won't know until the day comes which is the scary part. Thank you for giving me hope that I will still be able to go on my trip, I think that is my biggest fear out of all of this is that I will have to cancel as it is something I am certainly looking forward too. I do not have private health insurance, up until this point I have never had any major health issues to justify it but the public system seems to be working fairly quickly for me.

@arpie - thank you too, it's nice to know I am not alone on this journey and that there is hope that I may still be able to travel. I will think of it as a reward, it hasn't been a good start to the year and I will need it even if I have to take it a bit easier than I had planned. Thank you for confirming it is totally normally to have these feelings, I have been very up and down and I am finding the toughest part is dealing with other people's emotions and expectations, it's exhausting. Kind of hoping I had kept it to myself until after the surgeon's appointment. My family are all on the mid north coast as well, Lake Cathie and Port Macquarie so it's a bit difficult to get up there for a few days for recovery.

Thank you both so much for the support and advice