Denver Trip #2!

Sunday morning rolled by, and I was up and at them early once again.  We were on the road at 9 a.m. heading back to Denver!  Quick stop in Cheyenne, made it to Denver.  After getting checked in at the hotel, mom and I stayed while stepdad went to the Rockies game with his son and grandson (hey hey, the Rockies won!).  Mom and I had lunch at Chili's, got a few things at King Soopers, and just hung out in the hotel, relaxing and taking it easy.  After the game, we all headed over to Casa Bonita for dinner.  I remember my first time going with the middle school class 13 years ago for our Spring Trip, and the fun I had with my friends.  It was fun watching a gorilla pick on a lady and a zoo keeper guy trying to catch the gorilla running amuck in the restaurant (there are several performances in that joint!).  Lady ended up off a cliff into a pool... haha.  I don't really know what the story was, I couldn't hear a word!  It was so noisy inside, it was nuts.  After we finished eating, we got up and roamed around, did some exploring.  There's a cave to explore, which was fun!  We watched another performance (Black Bart and a sheriff), which resulted in Bart ending up in the pool.  More exploring, and we hit up the arcade so my nephew could play some games for tickets to redeem for prizes.  It was pretty fun!

on the road!

 

Casa Bonita!

the water fountain in front of Casa Bonita

got a new light saber from Casa Bonita!

Next day, up and at'em early on, once again!  Made our way down to Swedish Hospital and got to the clinic.  I filled out some paperwork, updated information, blah blah blah... Then I was called back and led to a room.  I chatted a bit with the surgeon's assistant while she got some information from me and verified stuff (and confirmed I did indeed get the Prevnar 13!).  Then she left, and I sat and waited.. and waited... and waited.  Good thing I had my iPad with me, I played on games on it while I waited.  Finally the surgeon came in, and we discussed implanting the right ear.  He's all for it (good candidate and all).  Mentioned that since he did run into some ossification with the left ear, there is that possibility of it happening again with the right ear (MRI and CT scan both didn't catch the ossification of the left ear).  Confirmed that it'll be Advanced Bionics again, he mentioned the newer implant (the Mid Scala), and I told him I was thinking maybe October would be a good time to do all this.  He was cool with that.  Then we were done discussing, and the surgeon's scheduler walked me to her office, and from there she scheduled everything!  Pre-op for Oct. 14, surgery morning of Oct. 15, activation and post-op for morning of Oct. 28.  Whoa!  She wrote down all the times/dates onto a dark pink sheet of paper and handed it to me, and told me to call if I had any questions, and then I was free to go.  Mom and stepdad certainly weren't expecting for everything to have been scheduled already, I wasn't either. 

ready for the day!

everything's all scheduled and on this piece of paper

After we left the clinic, we headed back to the hotel so my stepbro could follow us as we made our way to the Denver Zoo. It's been 13 years since I last visited the Denver Zoo, but I enjoyed it.  Lots of walking, seeing all the different animals.  We even rode the mini train as well, which was fun!  My request was to see the primates, which we did last. Yay!  Didn't see very many monkeys/primates though... Oh well.  Was still fun anyway.  After spending a few hours at the zoo, we exited and sat on the benches and chatted for a bit with stepdad's sister and niece (his niece joined us at the zoo).  I scoped out the gift shop, and even bought a stuffed Gorilla. I collect monkeys, and wanted to add a gorilla to my collection!  From there, mom, stepdad, and I hit the road to head home, finally.  It was a long day, and a long trip home.  We did stop in Cheyenne to have dinner at Chili's, and to fuel up.  Ran into some rain storms, but we made it back into town at about 9.  Ooohh it was a long day.  Was really nice to get back home... of course I had to go to college classes the very next day!  I missed the first day of classes due to the appointment with the surgeon, but first day is usually orientation stuff, getting familiar with the class, that sort of thing.  So I wasn't worried about missing anything important.

Denver Zoo!

about to be kissed by a bronze snake!

new gorilla friend!