Emsdetten - Tuesday through Friday (trip to the doctor's and geocaching)

Tuesday 3 September 2019

I had another bike ride planned, but the weather turned and it was overcast with a shower now and then.  Not inviting for a bike ride, so I stayed home and did some work on the computer.  There is always something to catch up with.  Besides, I wasn't really in a good mood, being on my own suddenly on a grey and somber day.  I got through it though.... ;-)

Wednesday 4 September 2019

I had planned another bike ride and a visit to the Wannenmachermuseum, but it wasn't to be. After getting out of bed twice without a problem I couldn't stand on my right foot all of a sudden when I got up again to make my breakfast.  A shooting pain through my ankle like I had twisted it, but I hadn't.

Eventually I hopped on one leg to the house phone and rang a neighbour/friend of Rosel's who came to the rescue. Marianne came to pick me up, made me a cuppa at her place and took me to the doctor.  As doctors generally do, they don't take time to listen, make a decision on what they think they hear and that's it.  Could it be deep vein thrombosis?  No, my leg wasn't hurting.  Could it be gout? No.  What could it be?  We'll find out!  So he took blood for a test (and hurt me because he stuck the needle in the wall of my vein, which made it harder to get blood too) and sent me to an orthopaedic specialist, who wouldn't see me before the following Monday.  (not acceptable)  Then would see me the following morning.  (not acceptable either)  Next we were told to come straightaway before the afternoon surgeries started.....

Marianne took me to this specialist in Emsdetten where four X-rays were done and then he also had a look at my ankle through ultrasound.  Result: possible inflammation.  A painkiller-containing cream was applied to my ankle, I received a script for tablets and that was it.

The next trip was to the bank (doctors have to be paid :-)) and to the pharmacy where I got my medication and two cold packs to apply in order to get the inflammation down.

Luckily I had been able to do all of this on crutches supplied by Marianne, because I could not walk, not even stand on my foot.  She was also to ring on Thursday for the blood test results, so all I could do now was put my foot up and wait.

Achim, Marianne's husband, knew a cure for
 my painful ankle: the axe!

 

Thursday 5 September 2019

I can't say that I woke up early, it was more that I had hardly slept.  I had gone to bed early and fallen asleep, but at about 11 pm I woke up with a screaming pain in my ankle which didn't go away for the best part of the night.  Of course I woke up with a headache on top of all that.

It was very unfortunate in a way that Nicole, a geocaching friend from the Netherlands, was coming for our planned day out geocaching.  Instead she was the one to make coffee, carry things and such as I needed both hands on the crutches.  I even had had to drink my early morning coffee standing at the kitchen sink, because I could not carry it to my bedroom....

We decided to go out anyway, as I could move around on crutches and the pain had gone away again. We went to Luzy-Cafe where Rosel's friend bakes her own cakes very single day.  Of course we had coffee and cake.  Forgot to take a picture of the cake, but have a general one of her restaurant. A very homely environment.

As Nicole had come to go geocaching I didn't want to disappoint her altogether, so we walked into town and found the fountain again which I had seen before.  I knew it was a virtual cache (geocachers will know what I am talking about), so it was an easy one.  I still need to log it though, but I am rather busy..... ;-)

#2105 Morgentau (Virtual Reward 2.0 (virtual cache)

The pictures are a bit grainy, but apparently Nicole's mobile phone is of a different quality and I shouldn't have decreased the size so much...

After we found a cache we walked back to the car and went home where we chatted the rest of the afternoon away and I could rest my foot. Marianne also looked in and had coffee with us.

A friendly gentleman that I met gave me some
support, but he wasn't very talkative....

Cigarettes can still be bought everywhere
from the cigarettes dispensers

and also the message that smoking can kill you...

We finished the day with a lovely dinner at ExtraBlatt, a great restaurant chain in Germany, after which Nicole drove home again.  Dinner for me was goulash soup (a favourite of mine) and a baked potato.  No room for dessert. ;-)

Friday 6 September 2019

Friday was another day to look forward to.  I was up early and glad that I could walk properly again without the help of crutches.  Such a relief.

I had taken the bandage of and noticed that my foot had started to become discoloured.  It was turning blue on the sides and underneath, but.... it wasn't sore. 

I chatted a while with Kevin on messenger after which Marianne dropped in for a coffee.  Achim came later and had the results of the blood tests, which really where inconclusive. 

I went back with Marianne to pick (healthy) blueberries in her garden and not much later Helmut and Rosel arrived home from their bike riding trip in the Netherlands.

Before we knew it Wim and Gerrie arrived and we chatted away while having coffee and cake (made by Luzy from Luzy-Cafe).

It's a nice afternoon so Wim, Gerrie and I walked to the river and back.

This time I remembered to take a picture of the flood markers.  If I remember well the furthest was from 1949, next 1956 and and the closest 2011.

Wim and Gerrie were here with a hired motorhome and were allowed to park it in the driveway for the night, so we could see each other again the next day.  

When the motorhome was parked we got on our bikes and rode into town to have dinner.  Again at ExtraBlatt, because it was easy to find, had a nice ambiance and I thought that Wim and Gerrie would like the food too.  I like the way the food is served....

Tomato soup with pizza bread rolls and
(unsweetened) cream

French fries with two different dips.

When we returned it was to early to go to bed, so we chatted with Rosel (Helmut had to go out for his choir night) and she showed us a video of her tap-dancing group and the dance school she attends.  She's a very active lady!

Eventually it was late after all and my foot had started to swell and discolour even more. So much that I started to get worried and didn't sleep all too well.