Idaho

We made it home after luggage problems, delays, hours & hours of flying and a few hours of driving!

 How we loved seeing this sign:)

Yes that is Ryan driving us home!

Our sweet little Rockwell was the only one home with G & G Robertson when we got here. He was so sweet he wanted us to hug him and he hasn't stopped wanting us to hold him! It is good to be home. The whole trip home was hard on Ryan he was very sore & tired. He rested for a day & 1/2 and is back at it. He does take it easy...I hope:) THANKS Grnadpa & Grandma & Shayla for all the help!!

Checkup

Ryan had his last checkup today in stenum at the hospital. He had X-rays, lab work, visited with the Dr. to ask any questions he had, and go over what he should & shouldn't do. We have one ful day left till we are on our way home!!! I do miss my kids so much. It is good to see them on face time but it's not the same. Ryan & I have made it to some really incredible places here in Bremen. The schnoor district is a really old part of town where the streets r very narrow & the shops are so small but beautiful. We ate at a restaurant that has been in operation since 1403, it is so good I could go back every day:) we have gone twice! -only because we didn't know about it sooner:)

 Ryan is doing good, still sore but healing very well. His incision is all but closed. He walks farther then before and is able to stay out longer. We went through a bunch of shops yesterday and still walked back to our hotel! 

They said everything was still in ln place. 

Upside down...oops  but every thing was looking as it should!

Sunday

We found a church a little over a mile away! It made me want to cry when I walked into the chapel and I could feel the spirit. It is so good knowing that we can go anywhere in the world and find people just like us, trying their best to do what they know is right. I have felt like the German people aren't really that friendly, we didn't feel that way at church today. When I was leaving a lady came and gave me a hug and asked where we were from, she wanted to send her regards to Idaho:)  There are lots of people who spoke English and they have the equipment to translate for us, it was great. In R.S. One of the sister missionaries translated for me, while texting a Chinese lady that was right next to her with the translator app on her phone, because she only spoke Chinese. In Sunday school we sat next to a man from the states who told us what everyone was saying. One of the elders is from Blackfoot! There was 4 elders and 2 sisters. The church was built similar to those I am familiar with, except it had glass doors on the outside as well as going into the chapel. The floors are all tile but the chapel. The benches in the chapel had a replaceable padded carpeting that was velcroed to the back and bench. 

  Ryan did good this was his longest outing, a little over four hours. After church they had a ward potluck and everyone invited us to stay! One of the members that is from the states gave us a ride home. Ryan took a nap, got up for a little while & is napping again! His stomach is very sore, he said it is giving him the most pain right now. He is ready to be better already & come home:) 4 more days! -if you know Ryan that is a long time:)

 Last night Porter had his last football game and idahosports.com broadcasted it, how cool is that? We got to watch the game from Germany that was played in Dietrich, Idaho! They did have a rough game, they are not going to the finals next week. What tough boys they all are. 

Train station

We have walked to the train station a few different times, I guess to us it is a mini city!

Every building we go in has a group like this one, people who step just out the door and have a cigarette. 

Notice the bikes off to the side...it is a Saturday and not as busy as the week days we have been there. 

Looking back from where we came in. 

Looking ahead of us. 

There are 10 different entries like this one 5 on each side to get to the trains. 

After a train comes...or when one leaves people are running!

 There are lots of shops and food venders. 

The front doors of the station

Going down into the station. I am upstairs at a little store that has everything but groceries and clothes!!

People are everywhere!! & their dogs!

Ryan is sore

We made it to our five star, very fancy hotel...we r not fancy people! Ryan is very sore, not sure if it is from the move or just being off the morphin drip for a few days. He slept when we got here last night, had a massage from the therapist, ate then went back to bed. This morning he walked down to breakfast with me and then was ready for a nap! I decided I would go to a yoga/Pilates class! He then felt like he was ready for a walk so we walked thru the train station, (it has a crazy amount of shops and PEOPLE) then maybe two blocks past that, and Ryan was ready to come back. He took a nap & I went and got a massage! He thought maybe I could give him a massage but after maybe 10 minutes he had, had enough...he is very tender. Room service again tonight and back to bed. I hope tomorrow he feels a little better. His bowels are starting to work too!!! I know that is pretty personal, but it is a big deal. When the surgeon cut him open, he moved all the intestines and what ever else is in the way to the side, then he could get to the back. Now everything need to start functioning on its own again. He has had a small swelling next to his incision, no one seemed to be worried about it but me! It is finally going down. I guess maybe it was his insides moving back in place?

On to Bremen

We are checking out of the hospital & hotel to go into Bremen. It is a bigger city ( more then just the hospital, hotel, & bar/restaurant) and will encourage the patients to get out and do stuff like they will at home to see if there will be problems. If there are problems he is only 20 mins away not 19hours!! So we will see how he does getting up and moving around a little bit more. Ryan is pretty nervous about the flight home, understandably! I will do what ever I can to help him & make him more comfortable:) 

X-rays

The dr had Ryan do an update of the X-rays to make sure they are staying in place. Everything looks good:)

Front view

Side view!

Jesse, Margarita, & Sasha!! Ryan's roommate and his wife & their adorable cute daughter!!

Update

Ryan is feeling a little better each day. Yesterday Margarita and I walked into town & when we got back I told her I was going to go see Ryan. I went to his room and no one was in there. I looked around the hospital and then asked at the main station if they were somewhere getting some tests done or something, she called the nurses station and found out that he was with Mr.Hester and they had walked over to the Backenkohler-the Bar/restaurant. Jess needed a drink and wanted to buy Ryan a Pepsi! The nurse had told me that, that was not allowed:) they finished their drinks and went back to their room!! Today we all walked over to the Backenkohler for breakfast, the nurses never said anything about that, I guess it was allowed:) it is very close to the hospital and Ryan was a little tired when he got back to his room. The physical therapist came in to give them their massages and ask if they are doing their exercises. Hans is his name, is a neat guy. He has worked for this hospital since he was 21, he is 57 in two weeks! He said Dr Ritter-Lang bought the hospital from the county two years ago. -useless facts! Ryan does enjoy the daily massages though:)

No more epidural or IV tubes

His incision looks much better!

The nurses taking out the epidural & IV tubes. After the tubes came out the physical therapist came in & gave Ryan a massage. He will do that every day until we leave. He can finally take a shower...:) He can get pain medicine if he askes for it, he is doing really good. When he is up for more then half an hour he starts to feel stiff. The Dr. said it is from stretching out those vertabrae that have been pinched together. Dr Ritter-Lang is the top surgeon in the world he does an average of 10 ADR (artificial disc replacements) surgeons a week.-(just in this clinic/hospital, he has two others) He had done over 6000. I feel pretty good about coming to him!!

Breman, Germany

On the flight over

Our Hotel

This is what it looks like

We walked in to schriebrok...say that:) I saw this cool windmill, I think it was a house.

Ryan before surgery

on our walk

We found this really cool old cathedral

this was the room of silence...I tryed being quit:)

the architecture in this building was amazing

the pastors stand

this old clock was on the floor and there was a sign telling about it...in German. 

the sign

 

 

a small organ in the room of silence

there were lots of signs telling about all the stuff that has been found in here...in German we just looked at all the pictures!

one of the munk hats that they uncovered the sign said um1000.

There was smoke all over this building from WWII

You can see how they have cleaned off some of the smoke.

This was the town square with some really old buildings.

Larissa

Larissa was an exchange student when I was in high school and lived with Jerry and Roanne Gillette.  She played basketball so I got to hang out with her, & I just loved her. I called her and she came to see Ryan & I! Her husband and kids came with her and we went into Bremen. There is a statue that Ryan & I had seen when we went there and Larissa told me what it was! These animals are the Bremen musicians...its a folk story, I had never heard it before.

Larissa and I

Malte, Chrishof, Larissa, and Liv...when Liv saw the statue she was so excited because she knew the story!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Ryan turned 36 today! What a place to spend the day:) 

Ok so German cheesecake is quite different from ours at home. These cute chocolate cupcake looking things are really just chocolate covered marshmellows...Ryan didn't really like those. I did get him a donut that he liked so it was ok!!

It looks good...right??!

Hanging out in the hospital again!

The incision

The incision is really tender and swollen still. Ryan wanted some ice to put on it, I asked the nurses and they said NO ice is bad for your kidneys. They wouldn't give him any.! I don't even know if they have ice here in Germany, I have yet to see any. 

Happy 17th Anniversary!

It was our 17th anniversary yesterday we got to go somewhere amazing...Germany, but this is where we spent it:)

          In the hospital bed!