bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- At 11, Bob called Enterprise and they had the car ready for us. So Bob and Charlie went to the Enterprise, about a mile away. Bob picked up a white Ford Focus, with black interior. It is so small, that Bob hits his head getting out of the car!

I stayed home cleaning the MH. Bob went north to Longmont Ford to pick up the Ice Machine that I need for the surgery on Tuesday. It was in the back of the Edge.

When he arrived at Longmont Ford, the original tech was not there. The guy who waited on Bob asked Bob if he was the guy with the Edge with the rear end problem Evidently, our car is the talk of the dealership! Well it is also the talk of the Elks Lodge!

He returned and we ate lunch at almost 2 PM. Bob ran to Walmart Neighborhood Market and bought carrots for the dogs food. He had made the food in the morning but did not have the carrots to put into the food.

At 4, we went to the small pavilion for social hour. At 5 we left and returned to the MH. We fed the dogs, then picked up Charlie and Paula. We had reservations at Westfalen Hof German restaurant in Coal Creek Canyon, which is part of Golden.

We had never been up this road into the foothills. It was a windy two lane road along side a babbling brook. The drive was scenic.

We arrived at the restaurant. The restaurant was a pretty little place with antiques.

We waited awhile for the waitress, but did not think much about it as we were chatting with our friends. We ordered ( Bob did not have any beer because of the winding mountain drive home).

Paula, Charlie and Bob ordered the cream of tomato soup, which was very good. I had the German salad which was marinated corn, green beans and beets. It was very good.

Eventually dinner arrived. Charlie had the Hungarian Goulash, Bob had the brats, I had the Jager Schnitzle. They were all very good. Paula had ordered the beef stroganoff. She could not eat it because it was so salty. We think the cook double salted it. Charlie tasted it and he could not eat it either. They both add salt to everything, so it is very unusual that they did not like the how salty this was.

Paula told the waitress who said” what do you want me to do about it?”. Hmmm., so she went to the kitchen to speak with the cook. The cook did not speak English, only German, but the waitress spoke some German. There were only the two of them present. So far the waitress had been very slow, and there were only 7 table occupied.

The waitress returned, eventually, and told Paula that all the food was that salty. We think the cook was angry because Paula did not like the food. The waitress offered to get Paula some brats, but said that the brats were just as salty, so Bob cut off some of his and gave a piece to Paula and Charlie. They like the sausage, so the waitress went to get them the brat plate. She said it would take 1/2  hour to cook the brats, huh? 1/2 hour?

Any way, we hung out for almost an hour. A nice young couple were seated at the table next to us during this time and they were also having a problem getting served.

Finally, the waitress came to us an apologized and gave Paula two ‘to go boxes’ with the original meal and the brat meal. Then she disappeared for almost an hour. We could not get boxes for our left overs or the check. We spent time talking with the young couple at the next table.

Finally, we got up and walked to the cash resister and she hand wrote the bill, since allegedly the computer went down. After all of this, she had told us she was going to charge us for Paula’s original meal, but she did not bill us for either of Paula’s meals.

Do I need to tell you that we are giving them a bad review on Yelp and will not return there. Julie and Noel had recommended the restaurant, so we will let them know about our poor experience. Our food was good and if the service had been better, we might have returned. Forget that, we can go to Golden Europe where we can have  a less expensive meal (this restaurant was about $5 more for each meal than Golden Europe) and have much better service!

Sunday- We had a busy Sunday. We paid bills, did out budget and  ran to the grocery store. We ate dinner at home.

Monday-  A very busy day as my surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. we ran around doing last minute errands. We ate dinner with Charlie and Paula at a Mexican Restaurant after dropping the dogs off at the Twin Ponds Day Camp and Spa. We are leaving them there until Thursday so that we don’t have to worry about them.

Tuesday-  My surgery is scheduled for 10:45, so I had to arrive at Ortho Colorado Hospital in Lakewood at 8:45.

We arrived at about 8:30. I checked in and was taken to the financial area where they  confirmed all our financial information and we paid 1/2 the co-pay. We went back to the waiting room, and the nurse called my name. I was taken back to the pre-op area while Bob stayed in the waiting room.

The admitting aid took vital signs, had me change my clothes, and put in the IV. Then the admitting nurse came in and asked me a lot of questions, then the anesthesiologist and the pharmacist came in and asked many of the same questions. The PA, Jeff showed up and wrote ‘injection only ‘ on my right leg and put his initials on my left leg. After the surgery they were injecting cortisone in my right leg.

Finally, after about 30 minutes, Bob was brought back in. Dr. Foran stopped by to say hello. Then at about 11:10, I waved good-bye to Bob. The anesthesiologist must have pushed some medication, as the stretcher turned a corner and the next thing I remember was walking up in the PACU.

I had a total knee replacement in the left knee. I had hoped for a partial,but oh well. The surgery was done under spinal anesthetic with conscious sedation. I don’t remember any of the procedure, which was fine with me!

Bob was brought to the PACU, and after X-rays, they put on the ice machine. I was taken to my room, 387, in the hospital bed.

I was allowed to rest for about an hour and half, before the therapist came in to walk me. I walked about 200 ft., past the nurses station, before returning to my bed. I was able to order dinner, but the selection was limited to a post surgical meal. Bob had ordered a meal. He ordered the chicken, which was pretty bad. I had the pot roast, which was very good! For some reason pot roast was on the diet where as the chicken was not.

Bob left around 9:00, to head home to bed. At round 10, they had me up and walking again. I walked the other direction this time, around the nurses station, about twice as far.

Wednesday-  Breakfast was excellent. I had an omelet  with onion, mushrooms, and tomatoes and cheese. I also had a muffin and a fruit cup. After Bob arrived at around 9, we walked around the entire floor.

After lunch, the PT came and we walked to the therapy room. I walked up and down the stairs. The OT arrived and showed me how to dress and gave me tips on getting in the car. The pain up until this time had been bearable, but evidently the numbness wore off and I had a pain spike.  That ended our plans to go home today. So they kept me another night to get the pain under control, giving me IV Dilaudid.

One thing we found was that the Dilaudid was depressing my respiratory system. As a result, they ordered Oxygen for me to take home and use. The local pharmacy, Peoples, delivered my medications to the room, including the Lovenox blood thinner. Bob stopped at Walgreens and picked up an Oxygen Saturation monitor for us to keep track of oxygen level.

Bob stayed through dinner( he has gone to the cafeteria for lunch and dinner). He left around 8, to go home and get some sleep.  I walked a few more times and basically slept well.

Thursday- I walked some more and after lunch, Bob took me home, as  the pain was now controlled with pain pills. Getting into and out of the Ford Focus was a struggle. The car was so small that we had to put the seat all the way down, and I had to sit down, then shimmy my butt back far enough to be able to get my leg into the car without bending the knee.

At home, getting back out was also a struggle. Bob had to back the car into the parking space so that I was tilted downhill. We managed. The steps getting into the MH were a breeze, as it is close and I could use the railing and the passenger seat to boost myself up the steps.

We set up the ice machine and I spent most of the day in the recliner or bed.

We had a rough night, with me having to get up to the bathroom several times and to take medications.

Friday- We were both really tired this morning. When I got up I weighed myself. I had gotten on the scale on Tuesday, before we left for surgery. This morning I was up 9 lbs. Obviously, swelling,as I had not eaten very much while in the hospital.

The Home Health PT arrived at 10 and had me do exercises. I have a routine that I have to do 3x a day.

Most of the day was spent between the bed and the recliner, with me walking every hour and doing my exercise routine. Nights have been rough, as I have to go to the bathroom every couple of hours as I am dumping all that fluid.

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