I began having problems with edema/pain of my right calf on Feb. 13. It was Friday and I thought it would go away if I drank lots of water and kept my leg elevated more than I had. But after several days I decided I should get an opinion from someone in the know; the swelling was increasing not decreasing. I asked my chiropractor when I went for an adjustment on Feb. 16. She thought I should call Dr. Weir and ask his opinion, but because I did not experience pain when she pressed on the calf, she did not think it was a blood clot. I called and spoke to Dr. Weir's nurse, Lori, and she also thought it was not serious and said that I should wear compression hose to help reduce the swelling. I purchased 3 pair and am wearing them daily without fail.
Ray decided that the weather would allow me to continue my "after track" therapy as long as possible, so we did not leave for our trip to CO until the 19th. We left around 7 a.m. and Ray drove through the crappy, snowy weather and then I drove for 150 miles. I was so sorry I had when I got out. My calf hurt so bad, I could hardly walk. Moral--Lana doesn't drive any more. Ray drove to the 460 mile mark which put us in Davenport, IA. We stayed at an EconoLodge right next to the original Iowa Machine Shed where we had a superb meal of the “Combine” (3 of their award winning pork dishes) and BBQ rib dinner. Dr. Haskin, my chiropractor, told me about it. She completed her studies to become a chiropractor in Palmer, IA, which is only about 20 miles/minutes away.
The next day Ray completed another near 500 miles and we spent the night in a Comfort Inn in Lexington, NE. Our final day saw Ray complete the remaining miles of the trip--another near 500--for a total of 1428 miles and our arrival at Steamboat Springs, CO, on Saturday, Feb. 21.
View from the entrance toward Steamboat Resort.
We were booked in a two bedroom condo at Celebrity Resorts. We had decent accommodations with an exercise room at their sister resort, Hilltop, and a pool there as well. They had hot tubs at both locations and free laundry. We did ask to see a room at Hilltop and actually liked that as well. Ray says he would stay with Celebrity again. Ray's skiing was a roller coaster of 4 days of spring conditions (40s & 50s) and two days of powder. He enjoyed 4 inches one day, but ended with the last day being the very best--12 inches of new snow.
View from our balcony
We headed into town on Fat Tuesday to the Old Town Pub for some Cajun food and Hurricanes. I had a crab cake Po’boy and Ray had the Crawfish, Shrimp, Crab Etouffee. Awesome eats! On Wednesday, we made a trip into downtown to taste a couple of Mahogany Ridge’s brews during happy hour--definitely a bargain for some tasty beers. We also went out for some Mexican at the Cantina on Thursday. We had enjoyed dinner there with Glenn & Linda on a very important birthday for her 5 years ago. They no longer make the 6-shot margarita, but they make fresh squeezed margaritas on the rocks which continue to be the best I have ever had. Ray had their chimichanga with shredded beef and I had a ground beef burrito. Mmmm--delicious!!!
When Ray returned from his best morning of skiing on Friday, we loaded the Enclave and headed to Winter Park. The roads were not as clear as I like, so I was a bit on edge through the ice and blowing conditions—cars off the road—zero visibility at times. I didn’t move about as I should have nor get my leg up on the dash, so I paid for it when we arrived at WP. This calf sucks!!!
We checked into Iron Horse Resort that afternoon, Feb. 27. It is located right within the Winter Park resort. The room stunk when we entered it—like hot metal. Ray noted that the blower on the fireplace did not work and that there were scorch marks high up on the heat-output louvers. We did not like the stink, so we turned the fireplace way down/off, even though it is the only way to heat the room.
When we got up on Saturday, Feb. 28, Ray opened the blinds and commented on the fact that the two windows closest to the fireplace were all steamed up and we had done nothing that should have created that steam. He did not like that. (Now looking back on it, he says that when a fireplace is not venting properly to the outside, it will send the exhaust inside thus creating the steamed windows.) He headed out for skiing around 8:25 a.m., and approximately one hour later the CO detector began chirping. It took me just a moment to recognize that chirping to be the same one I heard at home in January from our CO detector. I immediately opened the sliding door that leads to the balcony. I knew Ray was not planning to be back until at least 11:30 a.m., so I let it air out for approximately 10 minutes and then hit the "reset" button. The chirping ceased, so I shut the door. Within minutes it began again, so I opened the sliding door and propped the entrance door open.
I called the front desk to report the incident, and she said she would send maintenance up immediately. Within a couple minutes the phone rang and the receptionist informed me that she was sorry, but she was not able to send maintenance because we were not registered owners. She told me that I would have to call the owner to see what could be done. I called the owner and left our cell number on his pager as well as a voice mail message. He returned my call and assured me that he would call maintenance and get them to come and look into it.
I realized while I was waiting, that I had a headache as I sat in the room that morning. I was getting way too cold to continue to stay in the room and wait for Ray, so I was planning to go down to the lobby when the phone rang once again. The receptionist was calling to inform me that due to the severity of the incident, they were sending maintenance up to change the batteries.
A young man came up and changed the batteries, but the chirping did not stop for him either. He said that he felt the CO detector was defective and that the owner would have to replace it. I told him I was not content with staying there with a defective CO detector. He agreed and said that he would get a new detector and change it. I asked him whether I needed to stay in the cold room, and he said he could get in, so I headed down to the lobby. When I got there, Kelsey said that maintenance had just called and that they could not get into the room, so I had to go all the way back to let them in.
When I got there, two maintenance men were waiting. One had a CO detector in his hand, and after several minutes in the room, he was not getting a reading confirming any CO. So, they told me that they believed the original CO detector was faulty and needed to be changed, but due to liability issues, they could not do it for the owner. He would have to change it.
In the interim, the owner had made arrangements for us to stay in a different room. So Ray loaded our stuff and we moved to a different suite for the night. The owner had a maintenance person coming, Sunday, March 1, at 11 a.m. to check out the fireplace. The owner was coming as well. They would determine whether the room would be safe for the remainder of our stay. Due to all that went on, I was on my feet for 2 ½ hours straight and did I ever pay for that!!! This calf can’t get a break!!!
If this ever happens to any of you:
1) Open up the house immediately
2) Get those little kids out into the fresh air immediately
3) Turn off the furnace
4) Turn off your gas source
5) Call your furnace installer or a heating specialist
Please read the following for symptoms and additional advice as well:
http://www.carbon-monoxide-poisoning.com/symptoms.html
The owner called around 11:05 a.m. on Sunday and they had determined that the fireplace was not latched on one side as it should have been--probably maintenance did not latch it. The owner put in a new CO/smoke detector. So Ray loaded everything once again and we moved back to our rented condo. The owner called later to check on us and give us a different phone number in case there were any problems as they are going to be out of cell range for a couple of hours.
Ray determined that the fan does work, but very poorly, so he has air from a fan that was in the room blow across the front of the fireplace to keep the heat down so we don't have to smell the stink produced by metal that is getting too hot.
We're now back into our original suite. Who would have thought we would be settling in three times in three days. I guess it's better than the alternative!!! Ray took me for a drive later to see all the fantastic homes and condos. We slept well last night with no further incidents.
My calf felt well enough this a.m. that I headed to the exercise room and rode the recumbent and upright bikes and did some shoulder work on the weight machine. I have to get better!!! My leg is up—Food Network is on—Ray is still out skiing. We’ll check in again later.
Take care—be well—may your lives be blessed!!!
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