Tag Archives: German doctors

Health, Hessen, horses

Walking off stress after German doctors send me mail…

Yesterday, we got the letter from the German doctors who recently evaluated me, due to some lingering abdominal pain I’ve been experiencing. I wrote about the contents of the letter here. This post is about the decision we made after we read it. We had sunny weather yesterday, and the temperatures were pleasant. So we decided to take Noyzi for a walk to the “nature” area near where we live.

Now, this particular area isn’t as lovely as the Naturepark near our old home in Jettingen is. That park in Jettingen is huge, with lots of trails in the forest. This area in Breckenheim is nice, but not as rural. I don’t get the sense that it’s as easy to get lost in the woods here. It also takes longer to reach it from our house.

But, anyway, we decided to walk a couple of miles. I’m glad we did. It reminded me that I need to remember how much I like walks… and we also ran into an adorable pony who seemed kind of lonely. She whinnied at us a few times and came up to the fence as if she wanted to be petted. I wasn’t going to risk it, though, because there was an electric fence. I’ve been shocked by those a time or two.

I got pictures and video, and just seeing her put a big smile on my face and helped me forget my troubles. It also made me really miss having my own horse. I’d like to have one just for the companionship and the wonderful aroma. Horses and ponies are excellent company, especially if you have a sympathetic dog with you, too. Our dogs, Zane and Arran, would not have been nearly as cooperative as Noyzi was. They would have barked their heads off at the pony. But it seemed like Noyzi might have seen her as a kindred spirit. Indeed, he has the personality of a horse, right down to spooking when something startles him. Below is a video…

She was so sweet and friendly. She made me smile, and forget about my healthcare woes.

I took some photos from our walk, and made a note to myself to go back there more often to burn calories and dissipate stress and frustration. It’s not as pretty as the park in Jettingen is, but the park in Jettingen doesn’t have ponies in paddocks I can visit. It’s also got way more ticks, and people on horseback! But the natural area near us is close to the Autobahn, and it’s very easy to hear the sounds of cars. One good thing about our place in Jettingen is that it’s not close to the Autobahn at all.

As you can see from the photos down below, there was another paddock with a couple of mares in it. One was a horse, and the other another little pony. The smell was intoxicating. I love the smell of horses so much! But I’m sure if I told most Germans that I spent much of my childhood around horses, they wouldn’t believe me.

My own neighbor has a horse, and she didn’t believe that I used to ride until I showed her a picture of me jumping at a horse show. And even then, she didn’t even believe me when I told her I owned an Appaloosa… she thought she knew better. But then I showed her another photo of us after we won reserve champion for the state of Virginia in our division. In that photo, she could plainly see Rusty’s spots, clearly identifying him as an Appaloosa. I don’t know why some Germans seem to be like this… But I also remind myself that they aren’t all quite so “all knowing”.

This is actually kind of a heartbreaking photo… We missed out on winning champion, because I was engaged in self-destructive eating disordered behaviors that day… We won the first class, but the judge never saw me in the second, and we didn’t place. But we were tied for reserve champion, and won the hack off. Afterwards, the judge asked me where I was in the second class!
Sigh… he was my best friend!

Anyway… photos from yesterday’s walk…

Keep your dogs out of the wild preserve!

When we got to our main drag, I took a few more photos, noticing all of the historic buildings in our town. We don’t usually go the route we went on yesterday. Breckenheim is a nice suburb, though. We should explore it more.

This looks like a historic building.
This is where Bill goes to the bakery, when he doesn’t want to make breakfast.

I hope I can muster the desire and energy to take more walks. I think it would help me feel better. I think COVID really did a number on us. We got used to staying home and drinking wine, instead of getting out and exercising. But I think if we take more walks and change some elements of our diets, we’ll both feel better. And then I can avoid going back to the doctor for awhile. I’d like that, because I passionately HATE going to see doctors. But, even if this most recent visit didn’t go perfectly well for me, at least the German ones didn’t freak out, the way some American doctors do. That’s definitely a plus.

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Bulgaria, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe, short breaks

Going home from Sofia… June 11, 2024

This ought to be a short post, as it’s just going to be about our trip back to Frankfurt. It was a fairly uneventful journey.

On our last morning in Sofia, Bill and I had our breakfast, then packed up all our stuff. I was kind of glad to be going, because I wanted to go home and recover from this cold, that is still lingering a bit today. I was also a bit apprehensive, because on Thursday of this week, I had my very first doctor’s appointment since 2010. Naturally, this means it was also my first visit to a German physician. I left that appointment with two more appointments, which means that regular readers can soon expect a few posts about German style healthcare. Whoopie!

I have already written a post about our visit to the hospital on Thursday. It’s on my main blog, and not as detailed as I would normally write it. I will write about it here, too, because this blog is about travel and the “German lifestyle” as lived by Americans. I did notice some differences. But I’ll get to that later. For now, the order of business is our flight back to Germany.

We liked our housekeeper so much at the Grand Hotel Millennium that Bill left her a note and a tip on the bed. Hopefully, she got it. We did see her on that last morning, just before we went to breakfast. I wish Bill had slipped her the tip then. She really was very kind.

After we checked out of the hotel, we got into the taxi that was arranged by the hotel receptionist and made our way to the airport. Once again, I was amazed by how different Sofia seemed in so many ways since 1996. And since this is destined to be a short post, I’ll share a few comparison photos. Below are pictures I took in 2024…

And below are photos from 1996.

Bulgaria was going through an economic crisis with massive inflation in 1996,
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the art flea market. I bought a painting then, too.
National Theater
Parliament building
Sex shop
Sadly, dancing bears were a thing in 1996. I didn’t see any in 2024, as now it’s considered cruel. Thank God.

When we got to the airport, it was a breeze to drop off our bags. Security was also easy, as I didn’t wear any metal at all. We went to the lounge, which was sort of a generic affair that served all the airlines. I was pleased that there was a lot of comfortable seating. We didn’t try any of the food, because we were still full from breakfast. But they had a nice selection of treats, as well as an open bar.

The lounge in Sofia. It was pretty nice.

Soon enough, it was time to depart. Our noon flight was slightly delayed, but I smiled when I saw the plane we got. Lufthansa repainted one of their planes in a gay pride theme. It’s gay pride month, so it seemed all the more appropriate that we’d be on the Lovehansa flight. I think this was originally meant to be a thing for six months in 2022, but it’s still going, as you can see…

The inside of the plane has rainbow colored headrests, too.

The flight itself was mainly a piece of cake, with the exception of some turbulence we experienced early on. I entertained myself by taking more photos of the sky and finishing my latest book. There were a couple of guys who spent the whole two hours drinking wine. It was a very nice flight, and not completely full.

I think this was chilled chicken. It wasn’t bad.

When we got to Frankfurt, we walked for about fifteen or twenty minutes to get to baggage reclaim. But, happily, our bags were the first ones off the plane! We quickly found a cabbie to take us home. He didn’t know where Breckenheim is. Now he knows, and he said he liked the neighborhood. Unlike the Bulgarian driver, who seemed to favor Eurotrash dance music, the German cabbie played classical music. I preferred his taste.

Noyzi was delighted to come home, too. I think it’s possible the next time he goes to the Hundepension, he’ll have a new doggie brother with him. Charlie, another Kosovar street dog, is slated to join us around July 4th… two days after I get scoped from both ends by my new German doctor. All I can say is, I hope the drugs are good.

Stay tuned for my “ten things I learned” post.

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Health, Military

A stem to stern skin exam… German style…

I don’t have anything to report travel wise this week, as Bill is away on another business trip. He left for Bavaria on Thursday and will be gone until this Friday. I hate it when he travels without me, but at least we have a trip upcoming. I’ve been trying to make the best of my alone time by sprucing up the garden furniture. Yesterday, I put teak oil on it, and I have plans to add a sealant. However, it looks like it’s going to rain, so maybe it’s just as well that Bill isn’t home.

Before Bill left for his trip to Bavaria, he visited a doctor in Mainz. Several months ago, I noticed a spot on his skin that looked weird. He showed it to his military doc, and she referred him to a dermatologist. Or, she told him to go see one. He had to find one on his own, since he’s retired from the military.

Bill scheduled a visit with a doctor in Mainz, but she had to cancel his appointment because she was sick. I believe the original appointment was supposed to happen in March. The appointment was rescheduled for May 3, and Bill dutifully went in on Wednesday morning. He said the waiting room was full of people.

When he made his appointment, he was advised that he could either pay 50 euros for a spot check, or pay 120 euros for a full exam, complete with high resolution photos. As Bill is a very white guy who’s of a certain age, he went with the 120 euro option. Bill described the procedure to me after it was all done.

He went in, met the doctor and showed her the spots that were questionable. She had him strip completely naked (though I don’t know if he had to keep wearing a face mask). She stayed in the room while he disrobed. Then, she methodically checked his entire body, to include all of the places the sun doesn’t shine– between his toes, on his gums, under his balls, and probably between his ass crack, too.

She took photos of four or five places, then had him get dressed, again while she was in the room. The whole thing took about an hour. Afterwards, she said the questionable spots were not of concern, but she had noticed that he had fungus on his feet. Bill probably blushed and said, “Yes, I have a problem with athlete’s foot.”

“I’ll prescribe you something for that. You must apply it three times a day until the fungus is gone, and wash your socks in hot water.” I think he should just get new socks, if you ask me.

After the appointment, he paid the 120 euros, then went to a nearby pharmacy and got the foot medicine. That was another 17 euros. He’ll file the bill with our insurance and probably get the money back. Still, I thought that was pretty affordable for such a thorough exam. I probably should visit her myself, given that I’m as white as he is. I don’t like doctors, though.

It was a lucky thing that he had enough euros on him, though, because the doctor’s office only takes EC credit cards (European). Our cards are American. I tried to get Bill to open a German bank account so we could get local cards, but he ignored my advice. Of course, now German banks don’t like messing with Americans, thanks to our crazy ass tax reporting laws.

Anyway, I’m glad his skin is healthy, for now. I ordered him a couple of new Irish flat caps to help keep his scalp skin cancer free. I’m sure they’ll come in handy on our trip next month. He sure can rock a flat cap! The ones in the photos are summer weight, as opposed to the wool tweed one he usually wears in cold weather. Aran Sweater Market for the win.

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