[Artificial Disc Replacement / Lumbar] Lumbar L4/L5 & L5/L6 (S1) Prodisc-L - Cathy......Dr. Bertagnoli May 26, 2009

[Gilbert P]

Hi Cathy

Glad you made it to Germany. Enjoy the country, Best wishes on Monday,

Take Care
Gilbert P

[Justin]

Hey Cathy,

Thanks for the update. Congrats on getting there! Funny you mention the rain storm. On Thursday night, it did the same thing while we were eating: 10 minutes of insane rain, then it stopped and it did that periodically throughout the night. Luckily, we were inside when it happened each time. Good luck with the meds...you should get back on track relatively quick.

Let me know how Straubing is. Good idea about the snacks and sodas--here's a tip, we just removed all the minibar sodas from the refrigerator and put our stuff in there (this was in Munich...much cheaper and it's always good to have something in the room).

I just got home from Munich, and I agree with your advice about the wheelchairs. Just a heads up: Munich was really slow with the whole wheelchair thing, so Tiff and I just walked it. Our gate wasn't that far.

Before you fly home, I would suggest calling your airline to make sure you have arrangements for wheelchair assistance in Munich and any connecting / final destination airports. Despite doing this (and checking 101 times because I'm Type A), Munich still had a hard time. Philly was great and the wheelchair was a life-saver.

Keep us posted! We want to hear about your "exploration of Straubing."

EDIT: We flew US Airways -- $950 roundtrip, non-stop for 2 people.

[treefrog]

It is Sunday, and by tonight my med schedule will be back on track. Even now, it is tolerable, no more middle of the night doses, and no more interruptions of meals (the Opana-ER has to be taken on an empty stomach). Last night we ate "dinner" early, around 5:30, because I had to stop eating by 60. And wouldn't you know it, Jessica and Mark Mintzer and some other spine patients and loved ones were all going out for dinner. We could have gone, just for the company, but I wasn't sure I could stand sitting that long (more details about why, coming up).

Anyway, yesterday morning, my boyfriend Bob woke me up asking if I wanted to go have breakfast. This is a very rare occurrence, he is not a morning person, or a breakfast eater. But with all the sleep we got, he was raring to go. We were so wiped out Friday evening, that we went to sleep around 50 pm. We woke up for a couple of hours around midnight, but went back to sleep.

When I woke up at midnight, I was really sore all over . I realized I had forgotten to take my Opana-ER. So, I took that, and some oxycodone along with lorazapan (muscle relaxer and sleep aid). That put me out, and my body felt much more normal the next day.

So, we had breakfast. Then chilled in our room for a little while, before venturing out. We decided to walk to the hospital, to see how far of a walk it would be for Bob to do every day. The sun was shining, though there was a chill in the wind, and I hadn't brought my jacket. We walked through the Stadtplatz (main town area), making note of where specific things were, bank, restaurants, and we were also looking for a grocery store that Peter Hoch had mentioned being very close, though we didn't see. Anyway, we made our way toward the Donau (Danube), where Mark had said there was a path that went toward the hospital. The chill in the wind started to dissipate, and the sun was warming things up. It was a beautiful walk. We found the hospital, and it will be a pleasant enough walk in good weather.

Then we started back. By this time though, I was starting to feel pain in my feet, and my back, and some shooting pains into my legs. We were both thirsty, so we stopped into a bakery, and got bottled water's and a pastry to share. The water was carbonated, but I got used to it fairly quickly. Bob's water was a lemon flavor, and was closer to a light Sprite or similar flavor soda. This was another instance where we really felt like stupid American's, not understanding the German, the woman behind the counter was speaking to us . Though we managed to get what we wanted. Sitting for that short period, allowed me to rest enough to continue on, though I still was having pain.

We made our way back to the Stadtplatz, in a roundabout way. And we finally found a bank that recognized Bob's ATM card, and let us into the vestibule where the ATM machine was located. We came back to the hotel and rested for a couple of hours.

Then I needed to get something to eat, before 60 pm (so I could take the Opana at 80). We headed out, looking for something we wanted to eat, not too heavy, since we weren't that hungry. I think this is when we found the grocery store (the different events are running together, and I can't remember if we found the grocery store on this outing, or the earlier one)...but anyway... if you turn left out of the hotel, instead of heading into the Stadtplatz, and go across the first street. You see two cafe's/restaurants on either side of a large expanse of walkway, and just past this on the left there is an entrance which looks like a shopping mall. There are retailers on either side, and it is a shopping mall of sorts, it is just very small compared to what we are used to in the US. But if you go all the way toward the back of the shopping mall, there is a grocery store. It would be considered a small grocery store in the US, but for Europe, may be quite large. They had a nice selection of fruits and vegetables, bakery, meats, canned goods, just about anything...and they had a salad bar (this might come in handy for patients looking for something to have handy in their room).

We headed back to the Stadtplatz, as there weren't any other restaurants (besides the two I mentioned, and one looked more like a bakery, but we didn't look up close) on this side of the street. We had a difficult time figuring out what to eat, all of the menu's outside the restaurants or cafe's are in German, so we couldn't discern much of what was available. Finally, I decided we were going to eat at the Italian restaurant we had seen, at least there we recognized Italian dishes (and would know what we were getting). But by the time we headed back that way, I realized we might not get there in time, for them to prepare food and eat before 6. We ended up eating at McDonald's . But Bob was happy to get a Big Mac, fries and a bier. Ever since high school when he heard they served beer in McDonald's in Germany, he wanted to have a beer at McDonald's. Oh well.

I started talking about then wanting to come back out after 90 pm, when I could eat again, to have an ice cream at the place we had eaten on Friday afternoon (where we met Mark Mintzer). Their ice cream creations are incredible looking, and we were dying to try one of them.

After eating we decided to see if we could locate the gym, that the hotel gives passes to guests to use. I knew approximately where it was, and we had the address. Bob put the address into his GPS, and we used that to locate the gym. It is about 3/4 mile from the hotel. I have to tell you, the earlier walk to the hospital and this walk to the gym, I haven't done that much walking around in over a year. And this time, it was quite warm out.

We stopped on the way back at Malloy's Irish bar, just on the Stadtplatz. Bob works at an Irish bar, part time, back at home. He was curious what an Irish bar in Germany would be like.....pretty much the same, except cleaner LOL, he said it needed the smell of stale beer. I had a water, but my back was really starting to bother me, so I made Bob finish his beer.

We headed back to the hotel, where shortly after Mark and then Jessica called to invite us to dinner with them. Since we had already eaten, and I was still physically tired and sore from all the walking around, we told them to call us when they returned from dinner. And told them we were planning on going out for ice cream after 9.

I watched a movie on my laptop, while Bob took a nap, after drinking two beers.

Well, we must have missed them, or they were too tired when they got back from dinner. I'm sure Jessica and her husband were probably beat, since they just got in to Germany earlier in the afternoon/evening. But, I really enjoyed the ice cream (I'll have to remember the name of the ice cream place***, it's the one people on the other forum about having iced coffee's, a place owned and run by Italian's). We took a little walk along a path (if you head out of the hotel, go across the Stadtplatz to the other side of the street, I think the Polizei station is there, there is a path that starts next to that building), we thought it went down to the Donau, but if it does, we didn't go far enough. We headed back to the hotel, it was around 110 pm, and we were both getting tired.

I finished watching the movie I had started, decided if Jessica didn't call by midnight, I'd go to bed. And here we are Sunday morning, well, it's just after noon now, after all this writing.

I will try to upload some pictures, but the pictures from my camera are very large, and I might have to resize them before uploading them to the forum.

***The Italian place where we had the ice cream (or gelato, I'm not sure, but I think it's ice cream) is called Ital. Eis-Cafe Florenz, and it is the next eatery after Zum Geiss on the right side of the Stadtplatz.

[Justin]

Cathy... my computer is about to die (battery) and it's down stairs, so I'll have to hop on in a bit to reply to your post.....sorry!!!

Best

[Justin]

Hey Cathy,

Well it sounds like you are getting settled and find your way around quite nice. Tiff and I made sure to consume as much gelato as we could--it's so good!

Your pain sounds like it has been manageable and you have been going out on some pretty long outings (and increased distances that you haven't done in quite some time).

A tip about the food: a lot of places have an English menu. If not, Tiff and I found that at least 1 person on the waitstaff at most restaurants know enough English to explain the menu and help you order what you want. Tiff ending up getting McDonald's last Thursday because it was Father's Day in Munich and nothing was open, but outdoor cafes and I was in the room relaxing. Now, I have had McDonald's in close to 15 years--it wasn't half bad--I had a side salad and a grilled chicken thingy. I actually didn't feel like I bathed in a bucket of grease afterward. I'm glad Bob got to get a beer there too. Funny stuff.

I'm guessing you are being admitted tomorrow for your surgery on 5/26. How are you feeling about everything? Can you believe that your surgery date is actually here? It's amazing how many of us suffer and suffer for months, years, etc. in pain and then--bam!--your surgery date hits you straight in the face like you haven't been waiting and waiting forever for "your turn."

It's good to hear that you and Bob are having a good time. I'm looking forward to updates and pictures...

[KBear]

Cathy,
Sounds like you are having fun. Germany sounds beautiful, I would love to go sometime. Not sure if you are like me; but I am not big into trying new things at restraunts. So, the language barrier could be a good thing, make you try new stuff and you might just like it That is good that you are finding so many places to walk, will be nice after surgery to know about how long it will take you to walk to various places. Thanks for the update,
Kathy

[treefrog]

Yes, I have been walking much more than I have in a very long time. But I am definitely feeling it today. My legs and hips are sore. I don't know if this was a bad thing, or good thing. We'll see.

This morning at breakfast, we ran into Mark Mintzer again, and also Katherine (from the iSpine forum) and her mom, and the mother of another lumbar patient, Heather (who is apparently not a morning person - her mom was taking her breakfast to her room).

Bob decided to go to the gym early in the afternoon, and I had read a post that Jessica wrote last night, and really wanted to try connecting with her, so I could get her out of the room. But, I guess she and her husband had gone out. It's kind of funny that we still haven't met.

Anyway, I called Katherine, her mom had gone on the glass blowing tour, with Mark. So, I went up to her room, so she could lay in bed, and we had a nice chat. About what to expect, compared our spine situations, etc. It felt really good to talk to a patient who is a week ahead, and find out what to expect. She is doing really well, and said she is very happy she had the surgery.

Then I left her to get some rest, because tonight for dinner, we are all going to meet for pizza on the patio of Katherine's room. So, I will finally get to meet Jessica. And hopefully Heather, and maybe other patients (I think there are some other patients here in the hotel).

Bob came back from the gym, and wanted to go see if we could find some soda to bring back to the room. But, we couldn't find any open shops, since it is Sunday, only restaurants. But Bob had seen an American Diner, on his way to the gym, and wanted to go in there. So, we walked down to the Town Tower, turned right onto Steinergasse, and about 3/4 of the way down the block is the Diner. We ordered Coke Light's, which are the equivalent of Diet Coke, and Bob had some onion rings (which he said were good). I couldn't eat, because of my medication, once again.

All right, well we need to head upstairs to meet everyone for pizza.
Be back later.

[Justin]

Yum, pizza! It should be really good. Have a great night and the increased soreness from walking is normal--I experienced the same thing post-op for a couple days when I was walking all over the place.

It should be great to meet Jessica. Please give her my regards and best wishes for a successful surgery!

BTW, the Coke Light is pretty good. Tiff and I had Coke Light in Tahiti once and it was completely different and disgusting!

[Justin]

Hey Cathy,

I just wanted to wish you well with your surgery tomorrow. It's about 4pm in Straubing, so I'm guessing you are already checked in to the hospital for your surgery.

I know your surgery with be nothing short of a complete success! You'll be on the other side in no time...

Keep us posted on your progress!

PS Do you know what time your surgery is tomorrow?

[Terry Newton]

Cathy

Good-luck on your surgery tomorrow. I pray that everything goes well and that you get the relief you are looking for. You are in good (God's) hands.