The Color of Snooki

Alright.  This is a bit cumbersome and slow, so please forgive typos and unadorned prose.  But, I figured I might share a few observations from my last couple days of experiences.

I have had the privilege of spending a few quality days in US hospitals over the years.   2  childbirths, a benign tumor removed, and fibroid embolization each afforded me glimpses of the US medical system from a decidedly patient-oriented perspective.  It may be worth noting that the ovarian tumor removal was the only procedure done on an out-patient basis!  That procedure was done on 9/9/2001 and the next two weeks spent in bed trying to recover were among the most grim in my, or indeed, US history.

Luckily, almost nothing about my German experience has reminded me much of those past medical encounters.

To begin with, all those other events occurred in large, urban hospitals.  Superficially sterile, white, busy, and intimidating.  There were lots of papers, lots of noise, lots of people, lots of interruption, and lots of instructions.

This procedure, on the other hand, took place in a small "Surgical Clinic"- so well integrated into its picturesque village that at first we could not find it at all.  When we arrived at 7:30 AM we were greeted with a petite waiting room and a buzzer instructing us to ring.  Once we did, a cheerful matron in surgical scrubs came bustling out.  Central casting could just as easily have sent her for a role as the  kindly mother superior or a Victorian household Cook, but she fit well as the head nurse.  She knew who I was before I introduced myself, apologized for her limited English and reassuringly patted my arm as she whisked me back to change into a hospital gown.

There was no waiting.  Well, David waited, but they took me right into an open ward with maybe 6 beds in it.  There was only one other patient when I arrived.  The anesthesiologist appeared within moments, and we were off!  He reviewed my anesthesia plan which involved a block of all the nerves in my shoulder followed by general anesthesia.  The nurses were all amused that I recognized propofol as Michael Jackson's drug. The doctor told me I had the EKG of a young girl.  The IV was expertly inserted and as comfortable as such things can be.  "The block" was probably also done well, but it was painful and weird as it caused every nerve in my neck and shoulder to fire before numbing them.  I was grateful for it later that night, but at the time, I hated it.  If I had realized it went in that high on my neck I probably also would have fainted.  When I awoke I had a bandaid that would be suited for a vampire movie.

Literally as soon as it was done, though, they injected the propofol (white!) and I was out until recovery.  I never even saw the operating room.  No scary instruments were ever in my view.

As soon as I awoke, in the same room, David was by my side.  I looked at my arm, chest and shoulder and realized I looked like an oompa-loompa, or a certain guidette.  They had painted me orange with the surgical antiseptic.  They asked me to sit up, but, I fell over, so they had me lay down again.  ;-)  It apparently took quite a while to get my blood pressure back to normal, so we were in the recovery room for a few hours.  Then they moved me here:

David didn't get a photo of it, but there was a mini breakfast nook at the end of the room by my feet.  A nice plate of fruit and a yellow table cloth on it.  The cabinet next to me was a fridge.  Around 5, my nurse came with a calligraphied menu card with about a dozen dinner selections to choose from.  They had chicken, beef steak and salmon.  Her English was not great, so I went for simple- chicken, baguette, salad.  It was wonderful!  They had cut everything into manageable chunks, the chicken was seasoned well and had a crisp top crust.  The salad was lovely.  And I could only eat about 12 bites.  I just had no appetite.  Ah well!  The anesthesiologist made his evening rounds and teased me about not liking their food. But, really, it was one of the best meals I had had in Germany!

Overnight they (gasp) let me sleep.  And in the morning the bustling Head nurse was back.  She left me with the youngest girl on staff whose job it was to help me with breakfast.  "What do you want to eat?" she asked.  I got the impression I could ask for any normal German breakfast items, but after quizzing her, I asked for ham and bread.  She came back with a tray piled with cheese, 2 rolls, coffee, ham, jam, butter and cream cheese.  Then she proceeded to wait on me like I was in some Merchant Ivory film.  I finally got so self conscious that I politely send her away.  She was back soon enough to clear things up.

Next a doctor arrived to take out my "rope" (drain tube... shiver).  Then they re-bandaged me and got me dressed to go home.  David arrived an hour later, and we left.  No paperwork, just a friendly handshake and well-wishes.

Back home

The color of Snooki (no bathing for another week, but we managed to sponge some off!)

 Next up, titanium, sugar and the mechanical chair!

Surgery Tomorrow

Looks like a kid with a buzz cut for the summer-  Only, you know, that is not a summer sky!

Hey all.  SO, I am scheduled to get my shoulder fixed tomorrow morning.  After that, I am not sure how long it will be before I can get on to post.  I will be left-handed for about 6 weeks, wearing a fun and stylish pillow brace on the right!  Honestly, I was less nervous about the surgery itself and more about the recovery- until I saw the images of the injections they will give me to numb the shoulder.  I am not sure why they need to do that since I will be under general anesthesia, but,  eww.. Just don't wanna think about it.  I generally like more information, but I think in this case I could have passed on the pictures!  In any case, I am sure there will be plenty of stories to be told about my adventures, if I can manage to type them in to tell them... left handed.  Wish me luck and good meds!

Oh, before I go, here is a quicky update for those of you who don't follow me on Facebook:

Thursday sucked.  

Seriously.  It was "one of those days" on steroids. Here is how I described it to my family.

"My day so far: Woke up at 4 AM for no good reason and couldn't fall back asleep. Went to the doctor for a blood test. The girl missed my vein. Got an EKG- they use *suction cups*- felt like someone pinching me in 6 places- vaguely uncomfy. Skin has marks still, 7 hours later. Picked up DS to learn he got into a "tussle" with some older boys at school. The teachers are still trying to sort out what happened. As I am driving home, the gas light comes on. So I get gas. On my way to run errands, the car dies and won't restart. Some burly German guys help me and the kids push it off the road. David walks over from work to get us. The 24-hour auto service number that VW insisted we use should we break down transfers us twice, then just gives us the number of a tow service- who charges us 130 EU to tow us about a mile. While David awaits the tow service, the kids and I walk the couple miles back home in 40 degree weather. Once we arrive, I call David who informs me that the reason the car died is that I put the wrong gas in it! They found the receipt on the seat. I put benzine in a diesel engine. David says it will cost about 500 EU to flush the tank and replace the important parts.  But, they should get it back to us Monday (knock wood) so we will have it for my operation Tuesday.  Honestly, I am not really upset.  Just kindof wiped.  Can I go back to bed now?"
(Editor note- an earlier version of that section said that DH had gotten into a tussle.  While DH did his fair share of tussling back in the day, in this case, DS was the one involved in some miscommunication-fueled over-exuberant jostling with German Teens.  No one was injured beyond a mildly bruised arm and hands were shaken in the end.)

So, yeah, all that happened.  Car is back today and seems fine, knock wood.  The suction cup marks eventually went away.  I really did look like the Salt Monster from Star Trek had gotten me, though.  This picture doesn't really do it justice, but gives an idea.  There were, I think, 6 of these all over my torso, and the raised middle section was about 2-3 mm above the rest of the skin:

Speaking of pictures, here are a few other things from the last week or so:

The green pumpkins were yellow inside- interestingly, the orange pumpkins were tinged with green inside, though!

Roasted and ready for mashing

Finished Pie!  Turned out great!

The tree in front of our apartment was covered with all different lady bug varieties.  I always think the black ones are pretty nifty.

But there were varieties with all different numbers of spots and colors ranging from red to orange to yellow to black and in between.  When I opened the car door later, three tried to fly in and had to be discouraged!

The final strip of corn. 

We were working on Halloween/Day of the Dead decorations- DD made a dragon skull, of course!

DS working on a skeletal arm/hand (you can see the radius and ulna lined up with his own- you can also see his missing tooth to the upper right of his smile- lost that this week :)

Finished Dragon Skull

My Dia De Los Muertos inspired skull.

Addendum- Orcish War Machine

Schwartzwald in Autumn

A logging company on the northern end of the Black Forest.

So, after last week's dismal weekend, we decided this week needed a bit of sparkle!  The trees aren't quite in full color, yet, but the Schwartzwald is still beautiful.  So, we decided to take a Sunday Drive up to Freudenstadt, a town known for its huge marktplatz (largest in Germany), clean air, and scenic vistas.

This style of architecture is common

As are small towns with pretty churches

The Schwartzwald was a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees.

Conifers with heavy crops of cones on their upper limbs.  We are surprised by the lack of obvious squirrel activity.

Not a bad view!  There were parasailers enjoying the far side of the valley, but I never could get a good photo of them.

Right at the peak

Unable to see

Enjoying the view, er behind them!

Trying not to crack up.

Hey, where does that go?  (it was too steep for me, I will never know!)

Another Hotel Dreikönig- this one in Freudenstadt

In Freudenstadt- not something we would be likely to see in LA! The dog is easily as big as a small pony!

We stopped at McD's (Sunday, not much open)- He meandered on through!  (Actually, we discovered a lot of restaurants open in the very touristy town square, but we didn't know that at this point)

Part of the main square- that church was built in 1601

Pretty details on the old church

I think the fountain was added later ;-)

Nice playground- this structure had a working water pump and pathways- DS couldn't resist!

Coolest lawn "weed" ever!!

You can see them all over among the fallen leaves

One of the more modern sculptures in town.

On the way back, we stopped at a roadside veggie stand

This one was larger than most and had some accessories

Dragon Fruit?

For some reason, these cows seem to wander around near tourist traps

More fun stuff in the bins

I have been unable to find canned pumpkin, so I decided to try fresh- even though past attempts have failed- This one said it was good for pie, so we got one.  Green pumpkin pie may be a bit odd, though!  We also got.....

 the last one of these...  I am hoping to have gotten enough for two pies.  We shall see.

Nice display!

Our two pumpkins.  Now I need to figure out what to do with them to make them pie ready.  Other fresh pumpkin pies have been stringy, and, honestly, I never really liked the butternut squash pies as much as canned pumpkin.  So, we will see what we can do before my shoulder is out of service!

We arrived home to the discovery that they have harvested some of "our" corn field! 

Quick Update of Other Stuff:

We had already had a "Strike Day" for France, so this week we took a "Paperwork Day" in Germany.  The Ausländer Büro is only open from 8-12 each day, so we had to pull both children out of school to go down and apply for our visa renewals.  Took about 2 hours, then we went to the county offices to file our next set of paperwork for our Driver's licenses.  They sent us to the City offices, where they told us they would just be sending it back to the County office!  At each step we tried to pay, and we finally got the City lady to take 7 EU.... So, of course, yesterday we got notice that we owe them about 70 EU and they won't move forward until we pay.  I guess some things are the same everywhere!

Ordered furniture!  Next week we should get two large wardrobes for the master bedroom, and a few days later we will receive a large bookshelf for the livingroom.  One of these days soonish we may actually get all our boxes unpacked and stop living out of suitcases!  Woot!

Kids are doing well.  DD seems to be especially thriving right now, knock wood.  She has discovered that her art skills translate well across culture and that her willingness to assist other students with their math and technology work is also much appreciated.  Likewise, her unwillingness to brook BS from anyone means that she is able to stand up to the few obnoxious bullies who do wander the halls of hogwarts.  She sent a group of burly French boys packing when they were getting in the face of another girl with her and herself. But not before, she says, they showed appreciation for her art, which she found amusing.  Way to go DD!

DS is still struggling a bit more, but he is likewise discovering that his superior size aids in many tricky situations. He also is rather surprised to discover that he *is* actually pretty good at soccer!  Who knew? Right now we are working with him so he will be able to take the train more often on his own when I am unable to drive.  Honestly, this freaks me out, but there is a lot of growth opportunity there.  Knock wood.

Here are couple new fun signs- think of them as my moment of Zen:

We get a LOT of silly little bands and acts wandering through.  Most look like this (looked these guys up, their latest single is "God's Pimp" on their CD "Pussy Lounge"  Classy!!!)

But things like this are equally common- note, the guy with what appears to be a red VELVET bagpipe.

Obi is celebrating "Beaver Bonus Week", this display advertises their bonus book.

Here is Beaver and friends!