Crossing the Threshold from the walkway into the plane was, for me, utterly terrifying! I had to walk it as my wheelchair was not allowed on, Although Hubby assured me that the walkway and the plane were level to each other and flat, the sunlight reflecting on the metal of the plane, combined with my view through progressive lens glasses, made it appear to me as if the plane's threshold was concave, plus there was a bit of a gap between the walkway and the plane where I could see the ground some ten or twenty feet below (of course, I'm afraid of heights too). I was frozen in fear and couldn't to it, so hubby bear-hugged me from the plane and supported me as I took the step. I love my guy! He always knows the way to fix things for me.
Car rental - I found their process interesting. From the airport (Chicago-Midway) we took a shuttle bus to the car rental company,each one is located at the same location with check-in counters similar to the airport for the different airlines; from there we are directed to take the elevator to a specific level, it turns out that we are in a parking garage, which holds the vehicles for each rental company, once on the floor to where we had been directed there is an attendant who greeted us, checks our papers and directs us to a vehicle of our order type and says “how about this red one here?” I got the impression that we could choose whatever one suited our taste. There was no inspection, it’s a take as is and return at end of rental period with no inspection on return. Hubby informs me that is because he bought the extra coverage called ‘dent & scratch’ The only problem with this is our vehicle wasn’t very clean inside ; otherwise, I like the convenience of it all.
Hotel- Our first night was at the Marriott Courtyard, in close proximity to the airport, but even with it being close we still ended up driving in circles before we found it.
Friday's
This is a Restaurant that we like near home, since there was one in the hotel lobby, we decided to have lunch there. In comparison, It’s mostly the same, although this one had no reference to the T.G.I. portion of the restaurant’s name and it had a bit of history printed in the front portion of it’s menu that was news to me… I had thought that it had originated in Boston ( I often went there for lunch in the late 1970’s & early 1980’s, with my very best friend, with whom I have, sadly, lost touch - the restaurant had hand written menus with hand drawn illustrations - written in those old style black and white composition Notebooks, which I found quite fun to look through) but it turns out I was wrong; the first one opened in New York in 1965.
Our Room
Like most of our hotel stays since becoming a person requiring special needs, there was a slight hiccup with our bathroom. We were given a room with a roll-in shower as we requested (because I don’t have balance control to step over the wall of a tub), but there was no bath seat (often, the hotels have a fold-down bench) so, back to the front desk to fix the problem; it was fixed immediately; they delivered a bath chair to our room, much like the one I use at home.
Nap
We were both so very tired from all the travel and anxiety, that we took a 2-hour nap. Hubby had left his hat and sunglasses at home and since without those protective items, while driving in the sun, usually gives him migraine headaches we thought we should seek out a store suitable to make those purchases. We started by googling for nearby shopping malls and after driving to 2 of the locations and finding no such suitable store, I decided to google for a nearby Walmart and at the time of my search we were then only a very short distance away...so off to Walmart.
Walmart
Those of you who know my hubby personally, may find this next part funny: we couldn’t find any fully-brimmed hats. Like the Tilly he usually wears so he had to settle for a ball-cap, what he referred to as a “goofy cap”; however it was a solid color (his favorite, black) without an emblem on it, which made it more to his liking. He also found clip-on shades to his liking☺. I know there are many people who are not fans of the Walmart company, but I've always found them useful in a pinch, like we were.
At this point, I wish I had the time and energy to continue my story but I am unable right now.
Hubby and I are driving to the research assessment site, in CT, tomorrow for my 1 week post-op follow-up and MRI.
So, I am unsure how I will continue with this blog but I will tell you now, that I will not write about the procedure here except this...I did not have general anesthesia, I was kept awake for the entire thing! However, if any of my family and friends, reading this, and having knowledge of my cell phone number, wish to hear more of the details, I will welcome your calls and answer any questions you ask.
Based on a number of factors, post-surgery headaches being one, I feel certain that I am one of the recipients of the stem-cells.
Don't know when I'll post again, but I promise I will at some point.
