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Lynn Beyler L&R
BHR De De Smet, Belgium 2005
What it is Like Having Surgery in Belgium
Other Posts by Lynn
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Hello to all of you who are Belgium Hippy's, or about to
be's,
What a positive experience! The people in Gent are the
kindest I
have ever met. The staff at the hospital was outstanding and
the
DeSmet team fixed me so well I can hardly wait to go back
and have
the other hip done.
To any of you who are wondering if you should do this~ 24
hrs
after surgery the PT nurse was there with crutches. She
gently lifted
my operated leg from the bed to the floor. I eagerly
followed with my
right leg. She gently placed the crutches in my hands. As I
stood,
putting weight on both my legs a surge of joy went through
my entire
body. There was no pain! As Fyn led me out of my room and
into the
hallway I could hardly see through the tears. Speaking was
impossible. My brain was flipping as it looked for the old
familiar
pain and found none. I wanted to shout, " Thank-you God for
creating
Koen DeSmet!" I walked all the way to the end of the hall
and back.
Then next day we did stairs up and down.
Over your head in the bed hangs a triangle so you can pull
yourself
up; then maneuver yourself into a comfy position. Work on
arm
strength now if you are pre-op. In bed, the operated leg is
pretty
much like a log for two days, but standing up it was a
miracle. The
9.5 inch incision, the battleground of my left backside was
impossible to see yet. My hands went over and over the
bandage, trying
to "see" it by feeling the incision. As soon as the morphine
drip ran
out they took it away, sometime about 5 am the next day. I
didn't
miss the thing dangling in my face next to the nurse
ring-a-ding-
thing and the triangle. When it is time to "go" to the
bathroom they come with a bedpan. Do not fear this, they
lift you and they are very careful.
Now never in my life have I sat on a bedpan, but even though
I hardly
drank any water all that IV stuff wanted to come out. Twice
I managed
a little but it seemed like it reproduced faster then I
could go.
DeSmet came and thumped on my tummy and bingo, someone was
there with
a "one-time" catheter. I didn't even know they existed.
After
relieving me of 1.5 liters my tummy went down to normal size
and I
breathed a sigh of relief. After surgery you mainly work on
going #1.
We all know that after #1 comes the dreadful #2. No problem
in
Belgium. In they came with a cute little potty chair.
Plunked it down
and pulled the curtain. Two nurses assisted me out of the
bed and
landed me on THE CHAIR. There I sat for a long time. When it
got to
be to long I was put back in bed. They gave me another
chance though
and this time that little laxative I took the night before
surgery at
11:30pm worked! Yes! In the hospital the small victories
seem so big.
Everybody talks about it too, making it common ground as
everyone has
to do it to leave. The nurses wash you vigorously-
everywhere. I told
them not to touch the TEDS, that I was still perfectly clean
under
there. I was washed and buffed and given a new nightie that
snapped
at the shoulder to accommodate the IV tubes. That went on
for two days
until it was time to leave and I was on my own to wash in
the
bathroom.
This is a girl report so the next bit of info may not apply
to
guys. I took a baseball cap to cover up my hair the last day
as it is
not part of you that they wash. I took satin nighties that
slid with
me in and out of the bed- not PJ's, the TEDS are on both
legs. It
gets HOT in that place so a summer nightie is just
right.Take music
with you to plug in your ears because everyone else in the
ward will
speak in Dutch (unless they are talking to you) and watch
Dutch TV.
The music helped.Books were useless, couldn't focus. Take a
diary to write in. It was great to be able to write down
what you were feeling and experiencing. No one but you ever
has to read it. The therapy of it the night before surgery
was fantastic. My footwear the entire time consisted of slip
on clogs. They were the only shoes I took and I wore them
inside the hospital and out.
The camera I took with me was used constantly and those
pictures
will always be a treasure to me. Don't forget to ask someone
to take
pictures! The hospital gives you a phone card for your room,
which you
shove into the back of the phone and you can call straight
to the USA
from your room as much as you want. I had to come up out of
the 24hr
post-op fog to remind my husband to call home and tell our
kids and
parents that I was okay. Seemed like those watching me be
"duh" were
really worried and could hardly think. I got tired of them
starring
at me and sent them to the hospital cafe which has the best
sandwiches and spaghetti, not to mention 2 beers on tap and
wine. I
think they were glad to get out of my room for a while. I
was DeSmets second surgery on Feb. 25th. He told Mike and
Gloria to stay at the Holiday Inn and come to see me at 4pm.
That was so right, I hardly was a conversationalist when I
got back from recovery.
Well, more later. Better stop before this gets to big to
post.More
notes tomorrow. I don't have to go to work yet~
Lovies,
Lynn
Dear Friends,
So much for not going back to work. It was impossible to
stay
home. But by noon, I had my husband take me back because I
suddenly
was really tired. I have not been able to take a nap in the
afternoon
for 3 years, mostly because if I do I never sleep at night.
That part
of my life seems to be over. With my legs stretched out,
lying on
the couch, a fire roaring in the fireplace and a blizzard
going on
outside, I FELL ASLEEP! It was wonderful.
Now back to the history of my BHR by DeSmet. Coming fully
out of the
anesthesia is vague to me now, 15 days later. I remember
being
incredibly thirsty and asking for ice cubes, which didn't do
much for
the thirst. I don't think anything does. You just live
through it and
forget it. I can't remember the pain, but there must have
been some.
When I came around and food was put in front of me I tried a
bite of
bread and stopped. YUCK. Eating nothing is better then
having heartburn. My husband and friend smuggled yogurt in
from the Holiday Inn and I lived on that for 2 days. It
didn't take much, you aren't really hungry.
PT in Belgium is taken MOST seriously; as it should be.Fyn
put my operated leg in a sling and rigged with a pulley and
a weight. For 30 minutes you work that baby and if you do it
right you are sweating when it is over. The best part of the
whole hospital experience is that the
clock never stops, it keeps right on ticking and you are
closer and
closer to the Holiday Inn.
I celebrated my 51st birthday on Sunday in the hospital. No
birthday cake but the gift of the BHR was outstanding. The
next day I
was up packing, the washing nurses having left me for fresh
meat
elsewhere. I thought the sink in the bathroom seemed loose,
probably
from people leaning heavily on it like I was. At 11am Hugo
arrived
for me, scooped up my suitcase while I eagerly put on my
coat and
followed him down the hall on my crutches. I was smiling
from ear to
ear. He brought his personal van to the door of the hospital
and
carefully loaded his precious cargo. There were three of us.
Myself, Maureen from England and Doug from California who
had developed a hemotoma. A blood vessel had burst inside
and caused a huge swelling. This all happened 3 hours before
he was supposed to fly home to the US. DeSmet had an
ambulance pick him up at the Holiday Inn and rushed him to
the hospital. Koen met him there and drained it. He stayed
in the hospital and after a few days he was as good as new.
It has never happened to anyone before, not in over 1800
operations. I decided there was a lot to pray about. His
attitude was great though and I was impressed by that. Never
let anything get you down. A positive attitude and patience
are well rewarded.
The Holiday Inn looked like heaven to me. I hope there is no
smoking in heaven because unfortunately at the Holiday Inn,
there is
smoking. Be sure to book a non-smoking room if you are going
there.
It is the only reprieve you will have. We settled me into
the room
and my friend Gloria wanted to tape me to the bed to rest,
but my
hair was so dirty that I begged her into a shampoo in the
sink. Wow
did that feel good!After that I was anxious to get on the
computer in
the lobby and talk to my family and friends. For 12 Euros
you can buy a card for 90 minutes of Internet time. I blew
through 4 of those cards
because the time starts when you start typing.
At 7pm Jan the nurse arrived and said drop your pants
please. I
got so I did that for anyone who looked remotely like a
doctor or a
nurse. I had basketball "snap" pants. I got them at the
chain
store "Dicks" sporting goods before I left. I bought a
child's size
large. They are slippery which helps you maneuver, plus you
can stop
dropping your entire pants for each examination. He took out
my 4
staples and admired DeSmets work. My drain tube site was 2
inches
lower then the incision. It is about 10 inches long. He
cleaned it
up, put steri-strips on it, applied a water proof bandage.
As soon as he finished he dramatically raised his hands into
the air and said,"Voila!" He did that every time he changed
my bandage.
A call to the front desk for a bathtub bench was our next
move. They brought that and a raised toilet seat right away.
They had already made my bed 2 mattresses high. Jan opened a
big bag of various drugs and
offered me anything I needed. Eventually I couldn't take the
codeine
anymore. I didn't really need it as the surgical pain was
gone so I returned most of that to him before I left. He
snapped me back up and we were on our way down stairs for
the best meal I had the entire time I was there.
The restaurant is expensive but worth it for convenient and
5 star
gourmet quality. Pray no one is smoking ~ of course unless
you smoke.
The choices were far out, not like America. Lamb, mackerel,
rabbit,etc.
Stuffed for the first time in 3 days I was worn out. I was
glad my
room was only one floor away.
The next morning Marc the best PT in the universe arrived.
Snap
pants quickly revealed what he had come to work on. I
memorized every
movement he made so I could teach it to my husband when I
got home.
For 7 days he worked on me 45 min to an hour each day. He
patiently
answered questions along the way. It is because of him that
my
recovery was so fast. He was a drillmaster. "Be straight
Lynn! one-
tooc, one-tooc, one-tooc. Lock your knee, it hasn't been
locked for 3
years. When you step use the operated leg first, lock your
knee. He
explained that to accommodate the hip I was forced to unlock
my knee,
throwing it out to the side. No more. Be straight, walk like
a
soldier, and lock your knee. Operated leg and crutches went
first
followed by the other leg. At the end of the hall were the
stairs.
They loomed in front of me. No matter, he made it a piece of
cake. I
was up and down with 2 crutches, then with one. Comes in
handy later
at curbs and restaurants, knowing to go up on the other leg
and down
on the operated leg. That mans voice will stay with me
forever.
After he visited everyone and spent an hour with each of us;
he
left the Holiday Inn. Another hippy, Maureen from England
was there
with her husband and a CAR! We were off! Plastic bags placed
on our
seats we each took a spot that accommodated our
un-infiltrated bum.
Crutches in the trunk we were off to downtown. We had to
keep asking
people if they spoke English to ask our questions. We found
a parking
place that looked to good to be true. It was a good thing we
asked,
we were right outside some government building and the place
belonged
to a senator or something. We had to find wool socks,
Maureen didn't
like the look of her white TEDS with her skirts and I was
freezing.
The next stop was the first of many chocolate shops, then
back in
the car to the GB grocery store. We found The Lunch Garden
first
though and ate a wonderful lunch for about 7 Euros; one of
the best
food deals there is that cafeteria. They had great French
fries and salads. After that we went home for a rest and the
7 pm nurse appointment. Make sure you have your helper
poised with a camera for this moment. I have a day-by-day
collection of photos of the battleground of my butt and I
will treasure them forever. Digital is great because then
you can see it.
It is a little hard to view yourself, as it is so "behind"
you! Truely,
it is the pain and suffering that is behind you. As soon as
Jan
pronounced everything wonderful and gave us new bandages we
were off
again in the car. I am 4 days post-op! We went down the
street to a
Chinese restaurant called "Keep Wokking" which I took as a
prophetic
word! It was delicious. The owner is from Hong Kong and he
and his
family live upstairs. They were so kind and the food so good
that we
went back our last night there. I better stop there. I'll
write
Belgium 3 soon. Keep Wokking!
Lovies,
Lynn
Dear Friends,
Dr. DeSmet comes to the Holiday Inn after he is done with
surgery
to sit and talk with YOU! Wednesday night he arrived at 6pm
to see
me. I had a swollen ankle. I confessed the shopping trip on
the 4th
day after surgery. His response," If you vant to have an
embolism, go
shopping again tomorrow!" YIKES! he gives you a choice
doesn't he? No
matter what you ask him, if you can not take the little
yellow pills
or not wear the TEDS, the reply is the same. If you vant an
embolism,
do what ever you vant. I figured out early on that the
Belgium choice
and the payment of it includes many many things. If you
chose to not
do them, it's your loss and believe me you paid for it
already! From
the awesome crutches called VilGo, to the one pair of TEDS
that you
wash out at night and return to the next morning, to the
faithful PT
care and nurse, it is all part of the package. I thought to
myself, I
am going to get it all. Wednesday I stayed in bed with my
swollen
ankle up on two pillows, dreaming about going out again on
Thursday-
can you believe it! The rest paid off and I wasn't swollen
in the
morning. By the time I had worked with Marc and rested it
was noon.
Maureen's husband Glen pulled up the car and we swiveled
into the seat
on our plastic bags for an hour ride to the city of Bruge.
It had snowed there which was a big bad "no-no" for surface
hippy's on crutches. We drove through the city, touring by
car what we couldn't do in the snow.
Cobblestones and street grates gobble up crutches. We did
get out
once to eat at Dollie Dries a quaint pub that served us warm
soup,
bread and beer. I asked to buy a beer glass for our oldest
son and
was told he couldn't spare any. A few minutes later he
returned
saying he had a present for me! He opened a tiny door and
disappeared
into the cellar. Before I knew it he popped out again with a
gift box
that had two glasses in it and 4 bottles of beer! I was
constantly
delighted at the sweetness of the people there. After our
thankful
goodbyes we inched our way though the snow to the car. I was
glad
when we were all loaded up and on our way back. I have never
seen
bicycles with snow on them before, but they were everywhere,
propped
up against buildings. We went around and around trying to
find our
way out and back to the Holiday Inn. It was definitely nap
time.
After we had our bandages checked and changed we were rested
up
enough to think about going out for dinner. We went back
through the
car routine. I have to applaud our helpers, Glen and Gloria.
They
would get us settled in our seats, shut the door, put the
crutches in
the trunk and repeat the whole process three more times
before we
were home! The Pizza Hut in Gent makes excellent pizza, the
cheese
runneth over.
I never did get into the pool at the Holiday Inn. There was
never
time to do something as mundane as swimming when there was
so much to
be explored. But remember, I am the one who needed to be
taped to the bed to get some rest!
Friday after PT we were off again but it was a windy cold
day and we about froze. We went inside the big cathedral
with the famous picture in it and saw that. It was worth it,
Van Ecke and his brother really could paint. The church is a
monument made of somebody's money and alot of it. The square
where this is located is full of chocolate stores, places to
eat and more beautiful stores then you can possibly find
time to go in. It started to snow and we hurried back to our
car in time to get stuck in a traffic jam. We were back in
time for Jan to check our incisions. After that big day we
settled for a bowl of soup in the bar and a beer. Your bed
never fails to look good at night. All the fresh air and
exercise really makes you sleep well. We said goodbye to
Maureen and Glen. They were leaving at 3am for their ferry
ride back across the English Channel.
Lots of pictures were taken and promises made to keep in
touch.
By Saturday morning I am functioning with one crutch, and
occasionally forgetting that in the bathroom! We had to have
a
packing run through to see if all the beer and chocolate
would fit in
the suitcases. At the end of that we realized there would be
no more
shopping. Hugo arrived at 11am with my documents and x-rays.
There
were receipts for everything. He answered questions
patiently. He
reached into his pocket and came out with the Birmingham
Resurfacing
Prosthesis! I held it in one hand and spun it with the
other. It
whirrrrrrred like a top. Gloria took pictures of my
amazement. How
could that be in me? It was a miracle. It carried my weight;
it
turned for me as if it had always been there. Best of all it
had
taken away my pain. As soon as he left I looked at my x-rays
~ yes,
it was really in there! I felt like the most blessed person
on
earth. Back from Belgium4 soon ~
Lovies,
Lynn Beyler
Dear Friends,
Saturday morning at 8:30 there came a knock on our door. I
opened it and there stood Dr. DeSmet. He hadn't come the
night before at 6:30 because he had a difficult surgery. He
stood there explaining while I told him I understood
perfectly. If that man doesn't show up you know something of
utmost importance has his attention. He looked at my ankle
and declared," Too much!" I was back on the bed, op leg on a
pillow until 4pm. I decided 7 hours was enough. The swelling
had gone down considerably (according to me) so off we went
to downtown Gent.
There is a fantastic taxi driver in Gent named Marc. Take
your cell phone with you, if it is a world phone or GSM you
can use it there. I never was able to get it to call home,
but it was helpful to have it for taxis. Here is TAXI MARC's
number. It is 0475-67-37-33. Tell him you are at the Holiday
Inn and had hip surgery. He will drive up in his black
Mercedes station wagon and take you anywhere. He took us to
the hospital were he got out of the taxi and came in to help
us check into the hospital! We had no idea we had to push a
computer screen and take a number! Saturday night when we
needed to know where Amadeus Rib Restaurant was he drove us
there to show us how to find it, then took us over the
bridge to the main street. I was 8 days post-op. Before I
knew it I was standing on cobblestones eating a Belgian
waffle covered with cinnamon sugar and loaded with whipped
cream! I didn't know what to do with my crutches! Then there
was a huge olive stand across the street. I bet there were
olives 50 different ways there. There was another stand of
just sausages. I could have eaten more, but we had dinner
reservations at 6. Never think you are going to Amadeus
without reservations. Have someone at the desk at the
Holiday Inn make them for you; they are more than happy to.
After eating and shopping my new leg and old one (still
needing a resurf) were starting to tire. My friend Gloria
could shop so much more effectively then I could with the
two crutches. She had to carry everything. We started
walking to where the restaurant was. I was wondering how I
would ever make it. When you crutch around in Gent you
mostly look at the cobblestones and look out for grates that
would be the end of you. I didn't see him right away but
when we got to the end of the street there sat TAXI MARC in
the familiar black station wagon. At that point I was sure
he was an angel! We got in and he wove back and forth
through the narrow streets to The Amadeus. I tried to pay
him and he said, no, it was his pleasure! Where did these
people come from? We got out telling him we would call again
for the ride back to the Holiday Inn. We were early and the
door was locked. We knocked on the windows until someone
came to the door and took pity on us. The crutches go a long
way, almost as far as your American accent. The whole place
looked like a fairy tale. There were wine bottles on the
table that were compliments of the house. I didn't know that
I would not be charged for the two small glasses I served
myself. It said that somewhere in Dutch, but it was Greek to
me! After you are stuffed with ribs and baked potatoes they
come around with seconds. Left and right people tried to
walk in for dinner and there was no room. Make sure you save
this til the last day or two you are there, but don't miss
it! I can't wait to go back.
Taxi Marc came and picked us up and returned us to the
Holiday Inn. We asked him about church tomorrow. He said,
"Sunday in Belgium is like any other day of the week." I
never saw one church unless it was open as a historical
place. Instead he advised us to go to the flower market and
the bird market. He was willing to pick us up but Marc the
PT doctor was coming at 11am. By now there was nothing that
would make me miss those appointments, so we politely turned
him down. It would have been beautiful though. Every Friday
the Holiday Inn has a change of flowers. They are nothing
short of incredible and they are everywhere, even by the
elevator!
Sunday was another slow, down day. The nurse, Jan doesn't
come during the weekend, but Marc came everyday. We read and
rested as a snowstorm blew outside the window. I was tired
from the night before and my ankle needed another day of
rest. We decide to eat at Chess Café, the Chinese restaurant
one more time. One of the desk staff knew us really well by
now and actually offered us a ride in her own car. When we
were finished the owner of the Chinese restaurant where
their motto is "Keep Woking", gave us a ride back. These
people made it all so easy for us. We will be forever
grateful.
Monday arrived. I thought I was tired of the breakfast at
the Holiday Inn but somehow I managed to be ready for it
every morning. I decided crutching was a work-out. I was
always hungry. Maybe it was those little yellow pills you
have to take a gazillion of. I am still hungry! I lost 8 lbs
there in 2 weeks! When I go back for the right hip I am
taking a carrot peeler with me. At the grocery store you can
buy huge bags of the most beautiful carrots you have ever
seen. They sold leeks 25 to a bag! I have never bought more
then one leek at a time in my life so I was curious as to
what one would do with 25 of them at once! After Marc came
and gave me my last physical therapy he asked me if I had
any questions. I didn't but I wanted a photo with the man
who had taught me to walk again. We packed after he left,
trying to fit all our purchases in our suitcases and trying
to imagine how we were going to get it all home without my
husband Mike.
Jan arrived and changed my dressing for the last time. We
had more pictures and good-byes. We went to the restaurant
in the Holiday Inn for our last dinner there. I don't know
what made me think I was going to be able to sleep that
night. My friend Gloria who was my "hippy servant" always
said, "If you don't sleep, I don't sleep. Neither of us
slept that night. We were so excited about flying home. Jan
had given me 3 super shots of the heparin, which were double
doses. Gloria gave me the first of the doubles, with
instructions to give me the second one half way during the
flight and the last one when I arrived home. Getting from
the Holiday Inn to the airport and the ride home is worthy
of another post. Back from Belgium 5 coming up!
Lovies,
Lynn Beyler
Dear Friends,
The night before we left seemed like it would never end. I
had no idea how apprehensive I was about the whole thing. We
had asked at the front desk a few days ago for a V-Taxi to
pick us up at 6:30am. They ordered it and received a fax
saying they would be there. We should have left a half an
hour earlier. The rush hour traffic was terrible. During the
whole time there Gloria and I had lovingly referred to the
hotel cleaning staff as the "Flying Wallenda's" Never had we
ever seen anyone make a bed or clean a bathroom that fast!
Since we were often in the room when they came, it was all
we could do to get out of their way! If you don't put DO NOT
DISTURB on your door they will practically yank the chain
off the door at 8 am and scare you half to death. We learned
this early on. As we watched the nurses at the hospital fly
in and out of the room we decided that they too were "Flying
Wallenda's" For those of you who don't know who the
Wallenda's are; they are a trapeze act in the Barnum and
Bailey Circus. They really fly through the air on their
trapeze. These girls reminded us of them. Come on, you get
really bored in that room sometimes. You won't believe the
stuff you and your Servant Hippy find to talk about. So, the
taxi driver arrives and he is as nice as can be, sorta looks
like Johnny Depp with a ponytail. He is wearing a suit like
they all do. He puts all our stuff in the back and we settle
in for the ride. It wasn't too long and I was asking him
about his family. He said he had a girlfriend but wasn't
going to ever marry her so he wouldn't have to divorce her.
I sat on that one for a while, and then asked if they had
any children. He said, one on the way, due in October. I
told him it was a shame that he didn't believe in the
covenant of marriage and told him that was the kind of
covenant that God kept with us. That was when the ride got
kind of wild. He said I am from the Circus. I said, "The
what?" He said," My family is the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Every Circus has a priest, I believe in God." I was
struggling to grasp why a taxi driver was from a Circus when
he said," I am a Flying Wallenda!" I wish you could have
seen Gloria and my face. It was all we could do not to laugh
out loud. Here we had been joking about the Flying
Wallenda's all week. Now one was driving us to the airport!
I asked him why he was driving a cab if he was a trapeze
artist. He said that he was working in LasVegas and in the
process of trying to catch his partner he fell and landed on
a slot machine. He broke his back in 8 places. Wow, and I
thought hip surgery was a biggie! We were stuck in traffic
long enough to share more with him. He insisted that the
circus priest and believing in God was enough to go to
heaven, to which I said," NO." Then he rephrased it and
again I said," No". Finally I said, "Shasha, you have to
believe in Jesus to be saved and live in heaven with Him.
God wants you to know His Son." We were just turning into
the airport. Gloria had a DVD about it all in Dutch, thanks
to her husband Frank who is a pathologist/missionary. She
handed it to him and he was so excited to watch it I thought
he was going to dump us right there and not take out our
suitcases. He kind of found his head and started to help us,
going all the way into the airport with us and kept going
til he had us at the British Midland desk. He said,
"Thank-you thank-you thank-you and poof, the Flying Wallenda
disappeared into the crowd. Gloria and I looked at each
other and all the stuff piled in front of us raised our
eyebrows and smiled. There was nothing dull about Belgium.
We started to check into our flights. The fact was we took
to much stuff and now we had to haul it home ~ 2 girls one
on 2 crutches. I thought, well, I've ordered a wheel chair
everywhere, it will be all right. As soon as I sit in it,
Gloria can put my carry-one and the bag with all the beer in
it on my lap. It would have worked great if there had "been
a wheelchair. There seemed to be a big controversy
concerning who was responsible for wheel chairs, the plane I
was getting off of or the one I was getting onto. BMI had no
wheel chair for me. When we got off in London Heathrow we
walked and walked. No matter, I could crutch it quite well.
We had to take a bus and the wheel chair didn't go on the
bus, so I was on my own again. I feel like my boobs are
going to fall off from the use of my pectoral muscles. We
got off the bus, and there was no wheelchair. Two airport
helper people in green coats tried to get us a wheelchair
and never did. One man came by pushing one and had pity on
me. He worked for another airline but it didn't seem to stop
him from coming to the rescue. I about fell into that
wheelchair I was so exhausted. I gave him $20 when he landed
me at the United terminal. I crutched again until we got to
our gate. I was so glad it was after surgery instead of
before. I would have never been able to do it.
The plane ride was perfect until it was time to administer
the double dose of heparin in flight. Gloria had given me
one the night before and now it was about 24 hours later.
Since she is a nurse and did it so professionally we didn't
even worry about anyone looking at us. We didn't plan on the
turbulence though. The whole flight had been smooth until
the moment that she took the cap off that shot and was
aiming it for my tummy. The whole plane lurched and I
wondered where the needle was going to land. She was great
though, after a quiet, "oh, no, not now!" she threw the
needle like a dart into my stomach and pushed the heparin
into me. That was as much excitement as we had on the
airplane. When we landed the aircrew had been in touch with
ground and told them about our wheelchair need. A wheel
chair was waiting for me at O'Hare. He took me off the plane
and through customs, thank God because that is quite a trek.
I walked with no pain, but we had flown all day light hours
and not slept. I was 12 days post op and I was way tired. He
helped us get through customs and rechecked our luggage,
only to be told our flight had been canceled. They booked us
on an earlier one and he took us there. I really needed a
stop at the bathroom. He took me there and I was so sick of
holding the tip money I gave it to him before I went into
the bathroom. Never ever do that, never tip them before you
are where you want to be. He was gone when I came out. To
get to our flight to Madison I went down two flights of
stairs, crossed the tarmack and up more stairs into the
plane. Poor Gloria was hauling 4 carry-ons, most of which
were full of beer from Belgium. When she told the man in
front of her it was beer, he offered to carry it for her.
After all we were going to Wisconsin. Beer is valuable. We
arrived in Madison on time, just on time. Mike and Frank
were waiting for us ~ two happy men smiling from ear to ear.
Franks mom had taken sick while we were gone so they went
straight to the hospital. Gloria was able to tell her
mother-in-law that she was back from Belgium just in time.
She took 5 breaths and died. It was amazing that she hung
on, but she did, just long enough to have her last good-bye.
That is the end of the Home from Belgium saga.
I have learned so much. I will post soon on what it is like
to be home.
Lovies,
Lynn
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