THE "HOPTEL"

 We had an adventure . . . Any given day with The Man is"An Adventure" but this was a bonafide REAL adventure.   

On Sunday we left The UP around 10:30 AM and headed south. Going anywhere from the UP constitutes driving about 2 hours on "back roads" to get to anything that resembles a highway.  Sunday's  adventure took us down M35 from The Man's house to the Menominee River where the highway ends because the Menominee River is the boarder between Michigan and Wisconsin.  Once into Wisconsin the road becomes Rt. 41 and we pass into the Central Time Zone so we gain an hour.  It's one of those trips where we can leave the farm at 10AM and get to Menominee at 10AM.   I Love it !      Anyway . . .  once across the river and into Wisconsin we continued south another 3 hours until we arrived in Milwaukee .  (If you had asked me 2 years ago how to spell Milwaukee I couldn't have done it.  Now I'm a pro.). 

The reason we come to Milwaukee is to go to the doctor.  Yup !  A FOUR hour drive to see a doctor!  But when your doctors are all VA doctors and you live in the UP you have to travel to see any sort of specialist.  This is where we travel to in order to see cardiologists and pulmonologists. (The Man has "end stage COPD" AND a crappy heart. A charming combination of problems that seems to run in his family.)

Back in 2017 when I first started spending time with The Man he was only using oxygen occasionally. He rapidly "fell apart" soon after that to where he needed oxygen full time.  Later that year we became aware of the fact that much of his breathing issues were a result of the poor functioning of his heart.  Crazy how they are both related.  As a result of all this The Man sees both heart and lung doctors about every three months.   Thus the trip to Milwaukee and our stay at the hoptel. ( Hospital and Hotel combined.)

I understand that one can not or should not "look a gift horse in the mouth" but this place to stay REALLY could use some improvements.  We have stayed here before and I have noted the same complaints each and every time we are here and each and every time I think that we really should spend the freaking money and stay in a real hotel.  I think that maybe this time The Man may have gotten the message so that hopefully our next trip to this VA hospital we will make reservations at a hotel, not the hoptel.

Why is it so bad you may ask . . . well . . .   The building itself really isn't bad.  It is right next to the hospital so it is super convenient but that is about all it has going for it.  It is a one story building that makes me think of an elementary school. The main door, (which is always locked so you have to speak to the office through an intercom by the door) leads into a long hallway off of which are lots and lots of rooms. The office is right inside the front door and the lady in the office is super lovely and helpful. Once we "sign in" she gives us our lanyards that contain our "pass" to the hoptel and a key card that opens the main door and the door to our room. We are also given a "goodie bag" that contains a bottle of water, a small package of tissues, some cookies, some candies and a small bottle of sanitizer.  (They should keep their cookies and tissues and give you a blanket !)

 The room is something out of a 1960's hospital.  The walls are painted some nondescript color, there are 2 hospital beds next to each other with an old fashioned recliner and a basic chair standing side by side between the 2 beds.  As with most hospital rooms there are curtains on a track that runs across the rook and between the beds for privacy. (If you are staying in a "hotel" I don't know why you would need the curtains but who knows.) There are 2 closets, (no hangers) 2 night tables that hold several spare towels, (that are so small and scratchy you need about 12 of them to dry yourself), and no curtains on the windows.  There are Venetian blinds on the large window but they are all bent at the bottom so they really don't do much good.  The two beds are something else entirely.  They each have 2 pillows on them which are covered in a stiff plastic case under the scratchy cotton pillow case.  Not the least bit comfortable. (I was smart and brought my own pillow.  The Man was being macho and told me he didn't need his pillow, The one in the room will be fine.   NOT !).  Like the pillows the two inch thick mattress on the bed is also covered in plastic and the sheets on the bed are old and worn. (I counted 7 different holes in my bottom sheet.). The top sheet had no holes but it was very thin.  That along with the "thin blanket/bedspread" does nothing to keep you warm.   Did I mention the room is FREEZING !!!!!! ???????   The room is freezing, as is the entire building.  There is a heating unit in the room but it only produces cold air blowing constantly.  There is NO thermostat so you can not regulate the temperature in the room.  Thus it is freezing !   (Did I mention how cold it was in the room and the building ?).  

As I have told you we have stayed at this place a couple of times before.  After the first time I learned to bring the small portable heater AND our own blankets.  Even with these the room remained colder than an ice berg in the North Atlantic in January.  It is COLD !   Now the fact that WE have stayed here before and The Man is always freezing you would think that he would remember this minor detail and pack accordingly.  I TOLD him to pack warm clothes.  (I don't like to "give orders" but this time I did tell him straight out to pack warm clothes for the hoptel.  I even asked him if he remembered how cold the place is.  He did say he remembered and he would pack accordingly.   HE DID NOT !).   

As soon as he entered the building he started complaining about how cold it was. (DUH!). We got into the room, I unpacked the car and we turned on the little space heater.  An hour later with the heater running full blast it was still cold. (DUH!)  Two hours later it was the same as it was for the remainder of our stay. (DUH DUH AND DOUBLE DUH !!!).  The man never got warm, had a lousy nights sleep on the hard bed and plastic pillows and complained all the way home.  (DUH!) 

In defense of the US government Veterans administration . . . they do try.  The building does provide a place to stay for families of veterans who are in the hospital there.  There is a full kitchen that is kept stocked with frozen dinners, milk and eggs, cereal, snacks galore, ice cream, juice and endless coffee pods for the coffee maker. There is dinnerware and Tupperware if you have leftovers.  

I guess they figure that if you stay there you can at least have a full belly when you freeze to death.