Progress !

Wednesday Dec. 11th was my doctor appointment in Seattle. The new X-rays looked "very good". Doc says now I am unrestricted, but use common sense. 9 more months until I'm "completely back to normal". Which means I'm off crutches ! (but no piano moving) Each time I stand up, I literally have to think about walking and correctly moving my legs. I guess after 3 months I should expect it. But it is nice to be able to walk and carry things. (I can now take out the trash) Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Accident update

Here sit I 2 1/2 months since the accident. Let me ramble a bit. So many things I took for granted. Ability to put on my own shoes & socks. Pick up a bar of soap that falls in the bathtub. Walking and buttoning up a shirt at the same time. Sitting up in bed. Taking a shower by myself. Thousands of things every day. I note these things as I again become able to do them ! Yesterday, I went upstairs in our house for the first time since the accident. (OH, that's where I used to live ! ) I live and sleep in a guest bedroom on the main floor. I'm on crutches for at least a few more weeks. Slowly adding more weight to my left leg. Too much too early worries the doctors that I might shear my sacrum and require surgery for plates and pins. I think I'll be good and avoid that ! I'm doing physical therapy now. PT says that after an accident like mine, PT is like a part time job. She has me doing 3 hours of exercises per day. Not my favorite thing, but I do them. When she tells me not to push it, I sometimes ignore her. :)

With the crutches, I can walk fairly normal. Sometimes I really feel like I can walk unaided, but I resist the urge. I can now walk stairs but not too many. Stamina is low. At Costco I take the motorized carts. I walked at Wal-Mart and was tired when I got back to the car. I have taken advantage and got a disabled sticker for parking. Shar has been a real trooper. So have my friends and ward members. The hospital wanted to send me to a nursing home for a few weeks because they knew I'd need extra help. I told them I had friends who would help. They said "everyone SAYS that they'll help" Mine do help. Not much now that I cannot do by myself. But Shar still helps a bunch. Looking back, I was in worse shape than I thought I was at the time. But I'm feeling fine, no pain. (discomfort, yes. Particularly after PT exercises) Doctor appointment Dec 11th and I'm hoping then to ditch the crutches. I need to mention how stiff one becomes with this type injury. Can't bend to the right or left; forward or backward. The first shower after 2 weeks feels GREAT. Warm water flowing over your back. Hummm But you cannot reach most of your body to wash or dry yourself. Thank goodness for a hand held shower, a shower seat and a Shar. I'm past that now, except the shower seat. I'm not going to risk a fall when I try and turn around without putting full body weight on the left leg. In fact, today was my first, totally unaided shower. (I still let Shar get my clothes out for me.)

Out of the hospital

Sept 13th Friday Physical Therapist and Occupational therapist spent some time and wanted to see what I could do for myself. (not much) But enough that they cleared me to go home Sat if I could show the Therapist on Saturday that I could walk and climb stairs in a stable manner. Erik brought Shar over and she stayed the night. Buddy and Allyson, and Uncle Bob & Karen came to visit. In the eve, Dr. came to say they were there to remove the chest tube. What a relief. That is miserable. Sept 14th Saturday Kelli & Keyton came to visit. Jared and Madison came to pick Shar & Myself up. Jared brought my fore-arm crutches. I took some pain meds and called in the Therapist. He walked me through some stuff, then onto the walker and then the crutches. He agreed that for me, the crutches were a better choice. Then some steps (with lots of sweating) and I was cleared to go home. Mike Millet picked up a wheel chair and had it waiting at home when we got here at 9PM. And Bruce, Doug and Erik joined Jared to get me out of the car in the back yard and into the wheel chair. I slid ¾ out of the car but had no more strength so 3 of them just picked me up and plopped me in the chair (gently) Erik has pulled our (very) low seat toilet from downstairs and had a new tall one which he and Jared finished installing. With the extra handicap lift, the toilet is now the same height as the wheel chair. I “moved in” downstairs. Wheel chair will not fit in the bathroom so the door was removed and Jared hooked up a sheet door.

Sept 11th Stuck in one position in bed Erik brought himself and Shar over to visit. Kelli & kids came to visit but the kids were excluded since I was in ICU Everytime they take me to X-Ray and roll me to the side the pain spikes to a 9 and I can’t even scream. Sept 12th Thursday Moved to AAC room 610-2 Physical Therapist came and tried me on the walker. 5 steps is all. Even basic bodily functions are difficult or impossible Tough to just lay there when the phone is ringing with (probably) a welcome, familiar voice, but in no way can I move to reach the phone.

Auto Accident

Sept 10th 2013 Tuesday 7:10 AM I was on the way to drop my old Avalon of at the auto glass place. Change out the cracked windshield and then in the afternoon, sell the car to my son Erik. Last week we purchased Shar’s Dad’s old Lexus. “Old” but 9 years newer than my Avalon. As I came down Race Street, instead of stopping at the red light at First Street, for some reason, I ran the red light. I looked up, saw the red light and thought “What” Then I saw the red Chevy Avalanche and thought “this is going to hurt” It did. I was T-boned right into the drivers door. Crushing me between the center console and the Avalanche. It was over quick. Never lost conscientiousness. Left chest felt like someone has a baseball bat and was shoving the end very hard into my chest. A few bystanders and drivers there to talk to until paramedics came. Lots of questions and checking me out. Then they asked if I could crawl to the passenger side, which I did. They asked me if I could stand. I could not. But from there, they got a board under me, loaded me and took me to the hospital. (2 blocks away) Many X-rays etc. at OMC and they saw cracked pelvis and cracked rib. Tried to have me walk with a walker, only a few steps. Too painful. The pelvis had a high risk of continuing to bleed, so they sent me via ambulance to Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle. At Harborview they found a punctured and partially deflated left lung so put in a chest tube to relieve the pressure and let the trapped air out. Also discover the fractured sacrum on the left side. No weight on left leg for 12 weeks. Every time I try to use the right leg, the pelvis sends a pain message to get off the leg. So neither leg currently is useable.

10 June 2013 Today we took a tour up to the Black Forest here in Germany. The Romans gave the forest it's name. It's where the folk stories like Hansel & Gretel came from. Also where the farmers, bored during winters, started making cuckoo clocks. Photos of "worlds largest cuckoo clock" Most passengers were very impressed, but it was so similar to forests we cycled through in Switzerland (not that far away) that the forest, farms, and houses were common to Shar & I. This evening, Shar & I and a couple from England won the music trivia quiz and received a free bottle of wine ! They were so grateful that we just gave it to them, they offered to buy us a specialty coffee ! We are meeting lots of very nice people onboard. And interesting. River is rising fast so we headed down river early today. We have 4 locks to clear and some have a vertical clearance problem. When the river rises 3 feel, we get real close. The entire top deck folds down and the bridge is on an elevator so we can slip under some of the locks. Interesting process.

On to the river cruise

Sunday 9 June 2013 Our hotel in Basel was excellent in most ways. (do you see something coming?) Location was great. Super helpful staff. Big room. Comes with pass for local transit. But a new AC unit is being installed, so no cooling in the room. The weather is great so just open the window. Which overlooks a street which has a trolly go by all night long. Too much noise with the window open. But we did OK. Sunday morning we went to church with the Basel 1st ward. They had an interpreter but the electronics weren't working so we struggled to catch a few german words. An investigator was asked to come up and bear his testimony. Turns out he is a catholic priest and ended with " I'm so happy that I will be baptised soon". Then on to the Viking river cruise. We show up at the dock - no boat. If you have been following the weather in europe, you know about the flooding. The flooding caused 2 problems. Too difficult to navigate in the Rhine gorge. And water too high for the ships to get under some bridges. So we were bussed 50 miles down river to the boat located where our first full day is to begin. Got to be flexible when you travel! We are in Breisach Germany. Ship has free email most of the time, so contact is good this week. The boat (ship) is made such that the entire top can be made to lay down flat. The railings, canopies, wheelhouse, and windbreaks all can fold down so the boat can fit under some tight bridges and locks.

End of our Swiss bike ride adventure

8 June 2013 Today we finished our 4 days bike ride (252.3 km), turned in our bikes and caught the train to Basel. So some coments about it. Switzerland has bike trails all over the place, well marked intersections and a good amount are off road or at least off main roads. We started on route 99 - the Heart Route. The name could be from how your heart feels when you see some of the scenery. But it isn't. The name comes from the feeling of your heart beating so hard it is like getting ripped out of your chest at the top of the next hill! Some of the trails kept going up even when your vision tells you it HAS to be the highest place around, The trade off are the views. And seeing how typical Swiss live. Their homes, farms, businesses. You REALLY need to try this sometime. You see the world differently as you bike ride by instead of train, bus or plane by at a high rate of speed. We probably did more than most, but if you come to Switzerland, plan at least 1 day and rent a Flyer bike and see. The last day we took other routes ( 94, 24, 84) In the valleys instead over the hills. Busier, more on roads, less scenery; but still worthwhile. Then the the train to Basel and rush on Saturday afternoon to find a laundry service ! Here, it's called a "Wash & Dry" And everything is closed on weekends. But we finally found a place that would stay open for us. 4 days of bike riding, we REALLY need it! $44 for 2 loads of laundry and we can't complain. Our hotel has a loaner bike, so there is Stuart carefully riding a bike with clean laundry strapped on the back of the bike. Tomorrow, Sunday, it's off to church at 10 then headed for the Viking Cruise dock about 3km down river.

June 6th day 2 on the bikes

Things went much better today. We covered 58 KM (only). The Alps were in the background most of the day. Going through farms and forests. Swiss loggers and farmers do many things that are the same as those in the US but some things very differently. They farm VERY steep fields. Tractors when possible, small tractors (size of a rototiller) in steeper areas and scythe where even steeper. Very little waste of land. The roads we travel are used also for vehicles and farm equipment but are not as wide as our discovery trail. We arrived in Langnau mid-afternoon. Much better than yesterday when we didn't get to the motel until almost 8pm. The bikes we are using are Swiss "flyer" bikes. Electrical assist, but only assist when you are working the pedals. They are helpful, especially on the uphills, but you still have to do a lot of work. They are very heavy. No gears to shift, you change gears only when not pedaling and the computer changes the internal gears for you. Note : I spent 2 hours today trying to download a photo. You see how successful I was !

Over estimating ability on a bike

We just got in after our ride today.   The ride was wonderful, interesting, extremely picturesque, and exhausting.   From Murten to Thun on mostly back roads.

Too tired to write more right now.   We covered 93 KM in one day.   I'm tired.   Shar is more exhausted than I've ever seen her.

We'll see how tomorrow works !

Getting High

Today we went to " The Top Of Europe"
Taking trains and cog railroads from 1,800 feet up to 11,000+ feet.  The sun finally came out today.  The scenery and views were unbelievable.  Yesterday we looked up the cliffs and thought that was the top of the mountains.  Today we see that there are villages above the cliffs and more small farms.  I tried taking photos but they just can't do justice to what you see.  Up at the top Shar could feel her bad lung screaming for oxygen, so we did not spend extra time on top.  Besides, it was negative degrees up there.

Stopped in Wengen on the way down for lunch.  You can't believe way you see from there.

Then down the hill and a train to Murten where we begin our bike riding.

Barcelona photos

Interlaken

Interlaken June 3rd 2013 Interlaken is great! I found a WONDERFUL bakery ! Even Shar will agree this stuff is amazing. Bikes today ! We rented some electrically assisted bikes today and rode up to Lauderbrunnen. About 30 km. They have more variety of bikes here than I have ever seen. Quite a few that have electric assist motors. Our bikes even had an option for an automatic transmission. (understand, they cost $3,800) Amazing how much easier it is to climb hills! So we cycle up this valley that is like Yosemite on steroids. The valley of 72 waterfalls. Amazing to be cycling through it all; words cannot describe the scenery. We stopped at several waterfalls including one that is inside the mountain. That's right, inside. The Swiss have cut pathways inside the mountain so we can see. All the time 12,000 foot mountains are in the background.

Sunday in Interlaken

Sunday in Interlaken June 2nd 2013 Always fun to find a unit of the church. We caught an early bus to the region near the church building and walked the rest of the way. We were the first ones there so we stood in the rain and cold wind. Finally another member showed up. He didn't have key. Then a sister. No key. Turns out the Branch President is on vacation in Portugal. Finally a key showed up and freezing Shar could get warm. A sister is assigned to translate so we go to listen in English. (this part of Switzerland speaks german) After church, we just rode around in the community buses (we have a free pass from our hotel) so we got little familar with the area. The sun popped out a bit in the afternoon so now we know there are mountains around! Some pretty big ones. Parasailing is big here and its been 3 weeks since they could operate. Dozens were coming down in town this afternoon.

On to Interlaken

Travel to Interlaken, Switzerland June 1st 3013 EARLY morning wake up (had to be to the airport by 6:15 AM) EasyJet flight to Geneva Switzerland. (EasyJet is europe's version of Southwest Air) At the airport is a train station which connects to everything. The Swiss railroad system is marvelous! On time, quiet, often, comfortable. We took the long route over the mountains instead of the fast route. Very rainy day with clouds so we did not get to see some of the spectacular scenery I'm sure was around us. But we saw enough that it was worthwhile. Over the passes, small villages, homes, rivers, etc. 4 easy connections and we arrived in Interlaken. Totally socked in by clouds. They say the mountains are wonderful here. I only see clouds. They say this is the worst spring weather in over 30 years. Yea us ! Motel turned out to be 1/2 block from the train station, whew. Nothing fancy (Best Western) but clean. (and the next day we discover it has a nice mountain view from our balcony)

Barcelona

Barcelona May 31st 2013 Arrived early in the morning in Barcelona on the cruise ship. We had arranged a city tour and transportation to our motel before we left. The tour took us to Mount Jew, a tall lookout mountain between Barcelona and the sea. Great view over a large portion of the city. Then some other sights. Then to Gaudi. Gaudi was a Barcelona based architect/designer. And he made / designed some really interesting and kind of bizarre buildings, parks & statues. The buildings look like fairy tale buildings (or horror stories) He made what is now a very popular city park. You would have to see it to believe it. I think he was a mad genius. It's eye candy ! Early afternoon we went to the motel. Talk about "modern" The room was unlike any motel room I have been in. Later, Erik, Timm, Megan, Kelli & I took a subway into town, The "Las Ramblas" section. Lots of people, lots of stores. Loved the farmer's market. You would not believe everything there. Amazing variety of candies. Then there was the meat market. Can you say goat head? Kelli was creaped out. It was a great evening.

Salerno

Salerno May 29th 2013 Today, we pulled into the industrial port of Salerno. Plans are underway to build a cruise dock facility, but I'm guessing that will be a long time coming. This port is one of the areas which support Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Our shore excursion started with Herculaneum. Most people are aware of the city of Pompei which was covered in ash following the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. Herculaneum was also destroyed by the same eruption but was located much closer to the volcano and was covered, instead, by a pyroclastic flow of mud was less and, being totally buried, the homes are very well preserved (more so than Pompei) The homes have some amazing fresco walls & ceilings and mosiac floors that are just wonderful to see. I had never heard of this town, but now you should not visit this area without seeing the city. It gets less than 10% of the visitors than Pompei but we all consider this the more interesting city. We then went to the source of the problem - Vesuvius. You can drive about 3/4 of the way up and then can walk to the top. It was very cloudy, so we did not get the views of the area, but we did get to see the crater. And we conquered ! After the climb, we were starving so we hit a little restaurant and got a Napoli pizza. Different. We all liked it and the crust was wonderful. (the bread on the table was also great) Then on to Pompei. Much larger ruins and a more commercial city. LOTS of people. The streets themselves were of interest to me. Basalt blocks and raised blocks in the corners so one does not have to step in water when it its raining. Probably the "creapiest" (says Shar) are the bodies that were entoumbed in ash concrete, preserving even facial expressions on some. Death came fast.

Santorini

Santorini May 27th 2013 I've read about Santorini. I know it is a collapsed volcano caldera. I know it is perched on top of volcanic cliff. I know it is supposed to be picturesque. Nothing you read will do justice to this place. The ship pulls into the center of the caldera and uses it's thrusters to stay in place because the ocen floor is 1,200 feet down, much too deep for an anchor. Village ships come to tender you to the island's dock, (note, the tender is small and rocks A LOT which might make some of us have motion sickness) From the dock, you have 3 choices of you wish to visit the village of Fira up on top. Walk 600 stairs (approx 900 vertical feet), ride a donkey up (yummy smell) or take the cable car. We took the easy way up. The village is very photogenic. Everything is crushed into such a small space. The "roads" are often not as wide as our sidewalks. Nearly every building is white, with some blue tossed in. I've never seen a town that screams for a photo like this. We went north to another town, Oia - pronounced EE-Ah. It is even more amazing. WOW takes on a whole new meaning. This place has been a cruise ship destination for a thousand years. The crusader ships used to stop here for supplies on their way to Jerusalem. Ever wonder where the term "cruise ship" came from ? Like Crusader ship ? Our guide was a local who had a lot of info about the place. Put this on your list of places to visit someday.

Turkey

Kusadasi May 26, 2013 Kusadasi Turkey (pronounced Kush-a-DA-si) is the port city for a visit to Ephesus. We had pre-arranged a tour to the ruins, but we were a bit surprised when Shar & I were the only ones on the tour! We had the micro-bus and tour guide all to ourselves. It meant we could move faster or stay longer at spots as we wished. The ruins are about 30 miles from town. In ancient times, Ephesus was a sea port but for a variety of reasons (mostly earthquakes) it is now miles inland. Enough earthquakes and the city was finally abandoned and earth covered it for 1,000 years until the mid 1800's when they started uncovering it. It is a neat place to visit with very nice ruins and good preservations. The floor mosaics were amazing to see after 2,000 years. The tour starts at the top of the city, the "city hall", parliment, etc, then goes through the cultural part of the city, thru the market area and the big ampitheater. Between the parts that were buried & preserved or reconstructed, this is great example of an ancient city. And the ties to the New Testament make it all the more interesting. Following the ruins, we stopped by a Turkish rug "manufacturing plant". Everything is hand make. They showed us the silk cocoons, how to start pulling the threads off, make silk thread, then how they tie the carpets (rug) by hand. (combination of weaving and knots) Some pretty amazing artistry. Back in Kusadasi, we walked through the marketplace. And found a BAKERY! I love trying foreign baked goods. Not near as sweet as baked goods in the US. Put Kusadasi on your list of great places to visit.

Athens

Athens May 26th 2013 The Acropolis (top of the polis (city)) has several temples including the Parthenon, which is the best known. Law says no building can be taller than the Acropolis, so no skyscrapers to speak of. We spent time on the Acropolis (met a BYU english professor who recognized my BYU T-shirt), Ancient Angora (the old marketplace), Mars Hill ( think apostle Paul), National Gardens, Hardrian's Arch, Temple of Zeus (HUGE), Panathion Stadium (1st modern Olympic games), climbed to a small church that is the highest in town (on the highest hill), and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Worthwhile day

Nice

As I expected, internet on the ship is expensive and quite touchy. Sad story about how I learned, maybe another time. Ship boarding went well. We still had the rental car from our Andorra ride, so I took Shar & all our bags to the cruise terminal. Then to the airport to pick up Timm & Megan. Took them to the cruise dock about the same time they began to allow people to board. Then I went back to the airport and picked up Kelli & Allen and took them to the dock. Back once again to the airport to pick up Erik & Angela and take them to the dock. I am now quite comfortable in the route in Barcelona from the airport to the cruise dock. Erik joined me in taking the rental car back, catching a subway and the last mile walk to the cruise dock. We boarded with an hour to spare. The bad news. Mid evening the captain announces on the intercom that the weather forecast is for 35 mph winds. The next day we had planned to stop in Ville-franche France but because of the winds the tendering was unsafe so the port of call was cancelled. Bummer. The ship that was there that day could not get 1,500 passengers safely back on board so they had to buss everyone to the next port of call. That does not sound fun. So we lost France and spent the day at sea. If you have cruised, you know a day at sea is filled with games, quizzes, etc. to try to keep the passengers occupied. Some folks are content to just sit around all day but some of us are busy-bodies. But with family here it is easier to find things to do.

Pyrenees & Andorra

18 May 2013

Got a rental car for a road trip.   I've often read about the Pyrenees mountains separating France & Spain so it was time to see for myself.
The mountains aare a lot larger and more rugged than I imagined.  Some parts reminded me of Idaho & Utah mountains.  Some of the Cascades.   A late snow storm had (& still was) hitting the area, so we got to drive through a snow storm.   We first went to a little midevil walled city Mont-Louis.  It apeared that the tourits season is either winter or summer (or both) but not the spring, Everything was locked up tight.   No stores open, the visitor center was closed and nobody around.   Since it was snowing hard, we just kept driving.
Driving through a small French villiage, Shar saw the name of a restaurant and HAD to stop. Crapahuteur's.   I think the name my best describe my meal!

As we drove toward Andorra, we got to drive up one of those switchback roads up over the pass.   It was amazing scenery (what we could see around the clouds)  I don't think Shar was impressed.  The capital is crushed into a very narrow valley with a fast moving river.   The length seemed like 20 miles long but few areas with more than 2 blocks wide.  Andorra is a tax & duty free country so lots of tourists there to buy junk.  Lots of high end stores.

(note - I can't seem to get photos to download.  Maybe Allen can help)

Barcelona

May 17  Friday

2 tired people arrive in Barcelona.  The announcer says it is 5 pm but my body thinks it is 9am and I just stayed up all night.

Much greener than I had expected.  But it's spring so I should have expected that.   Lots of farming all around.   Many fields of artichokes.

Free airport shuttle to the train station.   Train into town.
They have a nice transportation system here.
Shar starts to smile when she hears, then sees, a jazz combo working through the train.  String Bass, sax and accordian.

Our hotel is very near the Sants station and we get checked in so we can quit hauling all these bags around.   Then around 3 blocks looking for a place to eat.

SHAR decide on a Morroccan restaurant across the street.   Just kabobs but pretty authentic.  To hotel.  Collapse.

Jet lag

Let me try again.   Yesterday I typed up a report and just before I finished, this stupid machine disappeared the whole thing.   (Probably the operator and not the machine, but it won't complain if I blame it.

Jet Lag
I understand it but that doesn't mean I like it.   After spending a restless night before we left Port Angeles (too excited) we fly from PA to Seatac then board our 6,20PM Airbus headed for Amsterdam.  Shar & I agree, the seats are not the most comfortable.  But every seat has a screen in front of it and an assortment of decent movies to watch to pass the time.   Mine is working fine so I watch the Life of Pi,    Or at least I start the movie.    Several people complain that their screens won't work, so they announce that they are going to reset the entire system.
My screen never worked again.
I did get to read 400 pages of my book.

A direct flight from Seatac to Amsterdam uses the polar route.   It was sun for me to watch out the window as we passed over WA, British Columbia, Alberta, etc and saw the landscape changing until it was just white and frozen over.  By the time we went over Ellesmere Island and Greenland, it was totally overcast.
Our brain was telling us it was night time (flight time was 10 hours) but it never got dark at all outside. (summer over the arctic)
As we passed over Iceland, the clouds were gone and I had a great view.  Spring has not come to Iceland yet, so it was white and brown everywhere.   But I could see some towns, rivers, waterfalls, mountains, volcanos and glaciers.   OK, I thought it was cool.

Approaching Amsterdam on time.  So far so good.
Then we get an announcement that there is an emergency with another airplane and we will be delayed landing 15 minutes.  Oops, there goes some of our 65 minute connection time.   Off the plane to the passport lines, then security screening and we have 5 minutes to make it from Concourse E to gate C12.   Many of you know how much Shar loves running through airports to make a flight.   2 sweaty people are the last few on the plane.

Almost

Less than one more day.   Hard to keep ones mind on work.
Going through mental checklists of things to pack and things to do before we leave (remember to turn off the hot water heater, etc.)

We've done a majority of packing last night and, as to be expected, we are overweight.  What to remove and not take.   Decisions.

BTW - males are much lighter in their packing than females :)

Anticipation

I think that the anticipation of a trip (and learning about it) is part of the fun of travel.    Others do not feel so !
We have 6 days and 5 hours.  My head keeps running around and around trying to think of anything I've forgotten in my planning.

Travel

With 6 weeks to go, I again try to blog.
In 6 weeks, Shaar & I head for Europe.   I will try to keep this updated on where we go and what we see.

SS