This morning I unfortunately slept LATE.
DH had a podiatrist appointment and he woke me up as he was leaving. I told him to be home early enough from having his beard trimmed so we can go down to Portland to find the hotel.

He said he was not going to a hotel, I reminded him my appointment at the spine clinic was 8.45 am and we would have to leave around 7 since commuter traffic in Portland is often very congested.

He was almost out of the door when he said he was not going to Portland we will go tomorrow I am not going to have the hip done. It was almost time for his appointment and I said we will discuss it later.

I thought for a few minutes and realized my Spine clinic appointment was already confirmed. We had to give 24 hours notice or be billed if we did not show.
I called the Spine Clinic. I had waited over a month for this appointment and I was upset to cancel it. I knew it had to be done. I called and of course my voice kept failing me but the lady was kinder than most so I persevered. I explained that we now have to go to Portland to be sure DH is able to have surgery next week and I needed to postpone my appointment.
She gave me a new appointment 3 days after the surgery. I explained that DH and I are on our own so I would have to have it a month later. She asked if I had been there before the answer was yes quite often. I was getting upset and said I do not take my back issue to anyone but that DR and so it will have to be a month. She said Friday, I said I am in Augusta and Friday we have a storm forecast.

She asked if she could call me back. Ten minutes later she called and said how about Wednesday I said yes please 11.15am that is perfect no after dark driving.
What a relief.

DH came home and once again he said he was not going. I told him I have cancelled my appointment so we can still go and we will be home by 7pm.
He hesitated and said you cancelled your appointment. I said yes. Now we can go to Portland this afternoon. He said nothing and I said nothing. As we left the house I told him I needed to go to Sam’s to buy him some overlarge sweat pants, that was recommended for him to wear home after surgery.

We drove down to Portland, I told him I needed some lunch and we stopped at McDonald’s I wanted a side salad and grilled chicken and an extra side salad. He loves their Fish sandwich.
As we ate I told him I was disappointed I was not spending a night at the hotel, I had looked forward to that. I told him I was able to get another appointment on Wednesday thanks to the fact the Dr Knows me and he made it happen.
I told him I must see the hotel and its location before it gets too dark to navigate the dark streets. I used the Garmin and we discovered it is minutes from the hospital.
I got out of the car and hurried to the desk, I asked about accommodation for 2 nights since DH is having surgery. They told me they have an arrangement with the hospital. The room is $59.00 a night. They have the shuttles running every 30 minutes to the hospital and our car stays there so we can use the shuttles and I will be driven back and forth as many times as I need to. At that moment DH came in and the woman said I could listen to her talk all day long. DH spoke and as soon as she heard his accent she chatted to him and gave him all the details and happiness showed up on his face for the first time this day.

We went to the classes. The lady in Charge is called Pat and of course as soon as she heard me speak she said hi Pat I feel like I know you already.
The class went just over an hour. There were a lot of people there and this hospital has an amazing track record of thousands of hip replacements using the less invasive procedure. Everything was explained in detail, most of the patients were men just 2 women. The men did most of the talking so DH was in his element.
One of the speakers was DH Dr ’s Physicians Assistant so he called us over and checked things out and said so long as DH has no fever it will be a go.

We go down to Portland on the 14th one week from today. We stay at the hotel and will be shuttled to the hospital. DH has to be there at 7.30 am surgery at 9 am and should be ready to see me at noon.

Like I said A Bad -GOOD day and a Happy Dance.
Needless to say DH is very happy too.
Tomorrow we buy him a walker and cane and we will be ready to go.
Thanks for your support without you I doubt we would be here. You kept me going and I kept DH going.

When I felt stressed I read the comments. I have done a 30 minute walk and no real exercise. I am not in the least worried about that. I can do it in the basement while DH recuperates.
Thanks Spark Friends. Pat in Maine.
I just hope we do not have any white stuff around on those days but we shall overcome for sure. I will try for a back up plan if snow is forecast.