Funny story and advice for those getting surgery in Bogen
 

Laura just had C6/7 replaced with her second Prodisc C yesterday with Prospine. She was checked into the Bogen hospital the day before having flown into Munich earlier and taken the train into Bogen. I got a chance to speak with her just briefly as they rolled out of recovery into the room where she'd be monitored after her surgery and was told that I'd be able to speak with her again later that night before they locked down the ward and threw all the visitors out. With that in mind I rushed down to where she had been before surgery and, in my rush, locked all of her belongings including passport and company-owned laptop, in the locker in that room and pocketed the key. I then rushed to the hotel and made a quick dinner and headed back to the hospital. I didn't realize it then but somehow, when fumbling for the hotel key I lost the locker key.

The good news is that the lockers in the Bogen hospital rooms are really secure. It took a pair of facilities guys better than a half hour to break into the locker so we could get at Laura's stuff. To anyone who gets surgery here, feel free to trust the security of the lockers just don't loose the key.:D

We'll try to post more later about her surgery and recovery but it looks like all is going well and the locker incident may have drained any bad karma floating around.

Having posted this about my forgetfulness, I got a phone call this morning from Laura. I hadn't left the hotel that morning and she called from the hospital frantic because she could find her passport and wallet. I told her that I hadn't taken either and they should still be in the room. She hung up to check and called back a few minutes later to tell me that they were just where she'd left them the day she checked into the hospital. Apparently, we're both having bad days here but at least her didn't involve power tools and facilities guys hammering on a locker door.

Yikes!
 

Jim,

Wow, sorry about all the stress! I hope you two have a breather and some relaxation time before your voyage home. Godspeed!

:angel:

Debit card stolen
 

When I was in the Bogen hospital, my debit card was stolen... your room is open with your stuff exposed for the whole staff. My card was cut off and I had no money for food, nothing and was alone. Not good and scary! You can pay for a locker, but THEY keep the key... classic:)

We paid for the locker, 1 Euro, and held the key ourselves. That is how I managed to lose the key. You don't have to give the staff the key.

If you go in ALONE, who (besides the staff) is going to keep the key?

I don't have a good answer for that. You might have to leave it with the staff between when you wheel off for surgery and return to your room. Our experience is that theft is relatively rare in Germany but, if one person got their stuff stolen, it's probably far more likely to have it happen again in the hospital. If you're only worried about few small things, maybe bring a small lockable box like a small Pelican box and lock the box up then lock it in the locker.

Well, we're back in Bogen again with Laura getting condrocyte shot into two going-bad rather than already-too-bad-for-anything-but-ADR disks. It turns out my stunt with the key made everyone remember us, me in particular. They're still polite but people know me by face.

TKDodger, looking more at the locker, I think you could either put your really valuable stuff in a combination lockable box in the locker or throw the locker key into the combination box. On the other hand, I'd advise bringing no more than a bare minimum of important stuff to be locked up. Laura's getting insistent about bringing jewelry but she can leave it with me. I typically strip everything out of my wallet I don't need and bring a cheap replaceable watch so I've only got a thin wallet, passport and cellphone to watch out for.