TRADING SNOW FOR RAIN

Here we are near Huntsville, Alabama.  It is raining, but there is no snow to be seen.  Yet, back at Camping World, Indianapolis, there are, depending on location, six to eight inches of snow blanketing frozen rain.  

Note in this photo taken from the Internet show pedestrians gingerly crossing Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis. Can you imagine eight inches of snow over this ice?  Yuck.  

I am sure the ski resorts in southern and northern Indiana are thrilled.  I am also sure they are about the only ones that are happy.  

Today, we drive a short distance to Red Bay, Alabama to Tiffin Motorhomes to check in and begin our upgrades and repairs.  

John and I want to thank those who have placed Amazon orders through our blog.  Each order reduces our large out of pocket expenses for Johns huge list of medications.  

Who ever decided to give the name "doughnut hole" to the costs that Medicare drug coverage will not cover until we hit a greater dollar amount? 

It has been reported in a Harvard University Medical School study that 57% of seniors that reach the doughnut hole stop taking their medications. They just cannot afford to pay for full price for their medicine. 

For John, we choose to pay the huge monthly amount. It really cuts into our fulltime budget and has been since August, when John fell into that nasty hole.   

Doughnuts are good, pastry doughnut holes are good, Medicare's doughnut holes are not so good! Very few extras, such as doughnuts have been purchased since August since John is on fourteen prescribed medications each day.  

Thank you for stopping by to share your time with us.  

God bless!


Listed below are purchases made through our Amazon link near the top of the blog.  Thanks again!  

Aerobie AeroPress Coffee Maker with Tote Bag

Belkin EaseFit Convertible Armband for Apple iPhone 4/4S (Black / Limelight)

Doctor Who Police Box Tardis Double-Sided Cigarette Case, ID Holder, Wallet with RFID Theft Protection

Doctor Who Generations 1.5 Inch Fridge Magnets Value Pack

ROCCAT Apuri Active USB Hub with Mouse Bungee (ROC-15-315-AM)

Audio-Technica ATH-M50S Professional Studio Monitor Headphones

WE CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Cataract surgery and the daily checkups are finished.  Our eyes are adjusting and the next checkup is a week from today. 

Each day, a driver from the Eye Center of Indiana would come to the motorhome to drive us to and from our procedures.  That was a good thing.  We did not need to fight the rush-hour traffic in and out of Indianapolis. 

We are both pleased with the brighter, clearer, sharper colors.  At the end of the day,I keep thinking I need to remove my contact lens.  Of course, no need for that. 

When I had my colonoscopy, the nurses told me, after the test, I should not make no decisions or sign any important papers.  A few hours later, I needed to sign the surgery consent form prior to my cataract surgery.  No problem, I replied.

Prior to going to surgery, and having had the same anesthetic administered, they asked which eye I used for reading.  Being a bit foggy and dyslexic, I reversed the job of each eye. Now, I am trying to adjust to the change.  This is not easy.    

While waiting for a part here at Camping World, we noticed a diesel pusher with smoke covering the rear of the rig.  It sat there for about two weeks until a salvage truck came for it.  It took a while for them to prepare the motorhome for travel. Air conditioners had to be removed prior to slow, deliberate loading.   

A highlight of the week was a visit to see our great-granddaughter, Harper.  She is such a ham a two and a half.  To get a serious photo is impossible.  Note the barbecue sauce on her face.  She had just finished eating buffalo wings.                                                                             Harper, her mom and dad are expecting our third great.  Emerson will arrive around January 3rd.   

Well, we continue to wait for the refrigerator part.  I guess the waiting is not all that bad.  It means free camping in the Camping World lot here in Greenwood, Indiana.  

Until next time.  God bless.... 

DUST AND CAN HORSES JUMP OVER THE CA. 78?

Desert dust and the fairy sparkles / glitter that comes with it is neither a pleasant sight nor a pleasant feeling when I rub my hand over a flat surface. 

Thus, I clean dust out of corners and polish the cabinetry.  Vacuuming the carpeting and washing tile in the kitchen and bathroom area and window washing becomes the excitement of the day.  Grit is everywhere!  

I love the desert, I do not love it's high winds and dust storms.  Thus, We leave Blair Valley which is one beautiful part of the Anza Borrego State Park.   

We drive through Warner Springs and the Palomar Mountain Range.  As we approach Temecula, we see wild horses!  Are they really leaping over the highway? How do they have the strength to make that huge leap? 

We leave the beauty of the mountains and descend into the valley containing cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Oceanside, Carlsbad etc. One city stretches into another, and another...on and on.  

Did I mention traffic?  People in California drive like there is no tomorrow!  Everyone is in a hurry to be somewhere.  For an environmentally conscious area of the U.S. these people burn more fuel with their high speed driving.  

NancyJo explains this phenomenon.  She says people live far from where they work in order to have 
affordable housing.  Thousands and thousands of people commute an hour or more to and from work.  What a rat race!  

Our first stop is San Marcos Camping Word for a part to our toilet (another story in itself), and a part for our awning, (still another story).   

We spent two nights 'on the road' in the Home Depot and Walmart lots respectively.  We had hoped that there would be a cancellation at the Carlsbad State Beach for the weekend. But no luck.   

We are now in dry camping at the Sycuan Casino in El Cajon.  Our 'neighborhood'  consists of green, rolling foothills and a parking lot and the casino containing six different restaurants and more slot machines, roulette wheels, blackjack tables than I have seen since Las Vegas. 

We left with our money still in our pockets.  

Tomorrow, we head back to Oceanside  and Carlsbad State Beach.  

Hopefully, I will soon have photos of the Pacific Ocean and more activities to share with you. 

No, horses cannot jump over the highway.  They are more work of Ricardo A. Breceda: Sculptor/Designer.  He  is the 
sculptor that created the works in Borrego Springs 
and Anza Borrego State Park

Thanks for stopping by and...God bless!

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!

Sometimes, we just have to pay the piper......or something like that.

As I told you earlier, John has been so tired from moving to the new motorhome.  He has not had energy and has been feeling very weak and his left foot and leg has been swelling.

This morning at breakfast we decided that, because he was sooo tired,  I would run the last minute, pre-tomorrow's departure errands and John would putz around the motorhome.  So I left the motorhome around eleven thirty and returned just before four o'clock to find a hubby that was way too tired for just "putzing." He had been working, not putzing.  (What am I going to do with that man?) We decided he would do a breathing treatment and lie down for a bit.

While he was doing his breathing treatment, I called Dr. Lyken's office and talked to Kelvey, his absolutely indispensable secretary/nurse.  All I got was her answering machine.  I explained my observations and asked for advice.

While waiting for Kelvey to return my call, I pushed ahead and called our Internal Medicine physician.  His orders were to take John to the hospital- immediately, if not sooner.  That is exactly what I did.

In addition to his breathing problems, diabetes etc, John has had a history of Atrial Fibrillation for thirteen years.  The A-Fib is what was causing most of his problems tonight.

Atrial Fibrillation, in simple terms,  is an irregular, rapid  heartbeat.  John's heart rate was 148 beats per minute and jumping all over the place.  (72 is normal)  Since his heart was pumping too quickly and not in a steady pace, he was not getting the circulation to reach his extremities, he was feeling tired (gee, I can't imagine why) and feeling weak.

The emergency room physician prescribed a bolus of Cartia (for heartbeat), {a large amount given at one tune} followed by the drug, Cartia in an IV drip.  The goal is bring his heart rate to around 90 beats per minute.

Thus far, all is well.  I felt comfortable enough to come "home" and will return to University (Indiana) first thing in the morning.

It is hard to describe my feelings tonight.  I feel...... peaceful....as if this is just a bump in the road and we will be on our way just two or three days later than expected.  I think the reason for  this is that is just what the physician told us right before I left the hospital.

I ask that you continue to pray for John. And for me.  I need wisdom to spot the warning signs of trouble.  Both of us were willing to ignore them just to get on the road.  THAT is unacceptable.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love and respect my husband.  I have a story to tell you all, but not right now.  It is a story of God's love and the miracles He preforms.  It is too long for tonight and I must be up and at the hospital at an early hour tomorrow.

OH, by the way!  We discovered today that we have not only a furnace powered by LP gas, but we have a heat pump....powered by Camping World!  Gee, we are truly blessed.

I wonder what else I will learn about our new home.  And our new life of full timing with a man with precarious health conditions.   Whatever it is, I KNOW that God has a plan for our lives, a hope and a future.

REPAIRS, THEN SLEEPY TIME TO SHEEPY TIME

Monday, we left the beautiful Brown County State Park in Nashville, Indiana and moseyed on up to the Camping World in Greenwood for an oil change, a new lock on one of our compartments and a new toilet.

Some of you might remember that we had "issues" with the toilet on our trip to the Southwest winter before last.  It was supposedly repaired by Edmundson RV in Taylorsville, Indiana.  Again, Edmundson let us down and we turned to Camping World for help.

Edmundson's service staff trash talked Camping World something fierce and had us convinced that their service technicians were terrible, the service was terrible, etc.  As it has turned out, almost every repair we had made at Edmundson's has needed to be re-repaired costing us thousands of dollars.

What we found the Greenwood, IN Camping World was a service driven  organization that believes that truth and honesty is the best policy! And we did not have to wait for days or weeks to have our work finished.   Kudos to them!

Tuesday, John had an appointment at Indiana University Health Sleep Apnea Education Center where he received a final review with Dr. Damien Patel who is doing his fellowship, and Dr. Shalini Manchanda.  After John was examined and questioned about his sleeping situation.

It has been about a month since he had his sleep study and has been waiting eagerly for this appointment.  Do you think he looks happy to be in their presence - finally?

The next step was to schedule a follow up appointment. Tammy took care of that business.

I looked at Tammy's identification badge and could not believe that she was the person pictured.  I do not remember how much she weighed prior to her bariatric surgery, but it was a lot.  Congratulations, Tammy!

Next, we were off to meet with Jeff Scott, a super energetic and enthusiastic Respiratory Therapist.  It is Jeff's responsibility to explain the need for CPAP.  I had no idea that the heart rate increases tremendously with sleep apnea.

A resting heart rate should be lower than when up and about,  John's heart "resting" heart rate was over the target heart rate if he were exercising!  John was at risk of having a heart attack!  Gee, can we add anything else to his list of problems?

John was given the choice of three methods of delivering the continuous positive air pressure.  The one on the left fits right above the top lip and covers the entire nose.  On the right you see one that covers the nose and mouth.  That mast reminded me of a scene in the movie Top Gun.  These two, were John's rejects.

 This is John's choice.  This has short "tubes" that fit just inside the nostril and has a "pillow" that forms a seal.

At the time, John thought that this would be best for him.  He has used this one every night and continues to have air leaks that wake me up so that I can wake up John and have him re-seat it.  John is sleeping better, but not me.  John now thinks he will trade it in for the one on the left that covers the nose only.

With both of these choices, a chin strap needs to be worn to prevent mouth breathing.

Surely there is a smaller chin strap out there!  This looks as if he has either a neck lift or a tooth ache!

On the positive side, John feels so much better.  He is less tired and his eyes have life in them rather than total fatigue.

Wednesday, was another doctor appointment!  This time John had a growth removed from his leg.  After leaving the doctor's office, we were off to Hayden Physical Therapy so John could say thank you and good bye.

Yesterday, we finished our business with Camping World and finally....I repeat, FINALLY on the road of fulltiming!  First stop?  Allegan Michigan.  More on Allegan and the Michigan Fiber Festival in next post.

For now, thanks for stopping by.  I love your comments .....   God bless!!

YA KNOW ABOUT THAT ELEPHANT?

It seems we are getting to the tough meat and this old pachyderm is one tough fellow to chew.  The beginning of the "meal" was tough and chewy.  The middle was so tender and the chewing went faster.  Now we are getting back into the tough regions, but we know this is the beginning of the end of our Elephant Diet.


I am sorry that I have not blogged sooner.  Since John left Kindred Long Term Acute Care Hospital, we have had days and days of follow up appointments with physicians and more physicians.  


Then there is the physical therapy three days a week the first week and now two days a week.  It seems we cannot make three days a week work with all the other appointments.


John is not cleared to drive, so I'm is personal taxi.  I wish I could find a taxi drivers or a chauffeur's hat.  I guess he will just have to do with me the way I am.  


As it stands, the Internal Medicine physician wants John back June 1. Dr. Shea, the cardiologist, the first of July.  The pulmonologist,  Dr. Lykens will see him in September, hopefully to release us to the road.  


After our visit to the pulmonologist , we took the people mover from Indiana University Hospital to Methodist Hospital to visit the Intensive Care Unit, John's home for five weeks. 


John wanted to thank the nursing staff for their care.  He made their day!  It was the least we could do.  


Friday, we were off to Camping World's Sale.  We came home with a Coleman Gas Grill.  John assembled it and hopefully, we will use it tomorrow evening.  The grill will sit on either a table or it's stand.

On the home front, we have had between ten and fifteen couples look at the house.  We have an offer as of tonight.  Dan Nichols of Century 21, Scheetz Realty said it is an insult, but we should respond with our counter offer. 


We have dropped the price of the house once.  We will counter tonight's offer at two thousand under our new asking price.  We do not have to move, we can be patient since there is no way we can leave here before the end of September.  


Time is on our side.  The housing market has opened wide in the last two or three weeks.  There is no problem with living in our motorhome in our drive.  As we live here in Walter the Winnebago, we are refining our full time possessions list. We add something and take away another keeping weight in mind.  This is a good thing!


Judy, of Travels With Emma identified the fungus as Dead Man's Finger.  She is so right........it stinks, really S.T.I.N.K.S! Robin, a friend, fellow fiber artist and a Indiana resident, said that they are called Stink Horns here in Indiana.  


Robin's blog is really cool!  She has a PHD in linguistics.  She and her husband Eric have made the choice to live off the land.  They home school two of the sweetest young ladies I have ever met. The families gardening skills astound me.  Robin is a spinner of yarn, she dyes, she weaves!  Robin is Wonder Woman in my eyes.  


This years they have become bee keepers!  Her blog is a fun, educational read.  Some of these days, they just might become RVers and travel.  


My goodness, I tonight's blog has wandered all over the place.  That is what happens when I have not blogged in almost two weeks.


I have much to share with you, but will save it for the next post.  


Please be safe out there and remember those Blogger friends who are finding themselves in trying physical, medical and emotional situations.  Your prayers have helped John and I.  Please remember those in need.


Love you all!  God bless! 

We Have a New Great Grand!

New babies are so precious.  Especially when they are our grand children and great grands.  Today, Harper Howe entered the world at 6 pounds 7 ounces and she is just beautiful!  I even have the photo to prove it! 

We have been waiting with a bit of anxiety.  She has created a stir for the last 2 or 3 weeks.  There was an irregular heart beat.  Cause for concern!   An ultrasound showed that there was an umbilical aneurysm and the physicians were fairly confident that the increased pressure created by the aneurysm was pumping too much blood into the heart creating the heart rhythm problem.  But we had to wait until delivery to be sure.  On top of that, our little darlin decided to present her tush, rather than her head.  Therefore, a Cesarean delivery was scheduled for this morning. 

The parents to be were to be at the hospital at 9:00 this morning.  The hospital personnel told them that it was "all clear" for their delivery.  When they arrived, they went through the registration process etc.  And then they waited, oh, oh,  the OR was needed for an emergency delivery.  Then another emergency... they had to wait their turn for the operating room.  Finally, it was time and Harper entered the world, easing every concern we had about her health. 

Megan had visitation all planned.  First she and Adam wanted to be with her for the first hour.  Just a nice quiet time to bond with their loan from God.  Next they wanted the grandparents for the next hour followed by the greats!  We calculated that if Harper was born between nine and ten o'clock, that would mean Meg and Adam would be alone with her from say, ten to eleven, followed by grandparents from eleven to twelve o'clock.  Then, last but not least the  greats at noon.  Now, I added about ninety minutes to that schedule based upon past experience.

I passed some of the waiting time reading and then I decided to spin some yarn.  But when the ninety minutes stretched to two hours, we decided we would make our way toward the hospital, hoping that we would get a call and we would be close by. 

We went to Camping World to make a couple purchases for the motorhome, then drove by Sam's Club. We decided that since it was a Sunday crowd, we did not want to stand in line, so we just moseyed on down the road.  While driving, we called daughter #1 - Karen to see what the progress was and she informed us of the delay, but said she was on her way to the hospital.  We knew from that it was going to be a bit longer, so off we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to wait.  The good food helped distract us and made the time go quickly and suddenly, we get a text from Meg telling us to come meet our new little one. 

She is so petite and cuddly!  The hospital has swaddling blankets that make them feel nice and secure.  She looked so cute in her white blanket and her pink and white hat.  She's just a "knock out".  Can you tell I'm a bit biased?  Oh well. 

Well, the rest of the day is history. 

Yesterday, we spent time spring cleaning the motor home in preparation for next week's trip to the fiber festival in Wooster Ohio.  I was amazed at how much dust and grit there was from the desert of California.  Now all the wood is cleaned and polished, mirrors are shiny, windows are clean, exhaust fans are cleaned, etc, etc.  I even cleaned closets and drawers!  We are ready to roll and are looking forward to meeting up with our friends that we have  not seen since last fall and those we have not seen for the last month or so.  This begins our busy time with art shows and the fiber festivals.  Having our home on wheels makes our travels more comfortable and we are looking forward to hitting the road on Thursday. 
The gas prices have gone down fourteen cents a gallon.  Nice timing, don't you think? 
Well, it's been a great week and a marvelous weekend.  Till next time....God's blessings to you....