Just a quick update - thank you all for your caring and concern! I was discharged from Kaiser Hospital Wednesday morning, and I'm recuperating at my son and daughter-in-law's house, here in San Diego. I couldn't have better care, and each day is a bit better than the last. Still somewhat difficult doing normal things, but that will all come soon, I'm sure.
Also, today is my 67th birthday! Sure glad I've made it this far, and I can honestly say I'm healthier today than I was last week. I'm happy to have this episode in my rear view mirror, and now it's all forward to smoother sailing.
As a side note to my hospital stay, I was so fortunate to have for one day as a room-mate a woman I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and talking to. Her name is Dawn, and at 73 years old, is married to Paul who will be 90 this year, and they have been volunteers at Yosemite National Park for more than 19 years. They are entering their 20th year of service and were recently honored by the park for their work. He does the camp hosting duties and she does other volunteer work. And get this: they don't have an RV. They TENT CAMP! It was a chance meeting, and when we left, I felt like I had a new, good friend. I'll be curious if any of you know Dawn and Paul.
Katie is doing great, happy to have me home, and won't leave my side.
I probably won't blog for another few days, but wanted to let you know things are moving forward, and getting better.
From Me and Katie, have a great Friday, everyone! :)
Full-timing in our 24-foot 2006 Forest River Sunseeker 2200 as of June 1, 2011, I've added solar panels and a catalytic heater so that we can camp off-grid comfortably. My dog, Katie, is great company. We traveled a bit in the Western States our first year, and visited the deserts of Arizona and most of the New Mexico State Parks the next four. This year - 2016 - I'm hoping to find a park model to buy so we will have a home base, but we'll continue to travel, too. What a life! :)
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
I'm finally on the mend-in the hospital
Thank you so much for all your caring comments and e-mails. You will never know how much they meant to me.
Right now I'm sitting in a Kaiser Hospital in San Diego. I called the Kaiser Nurse on Monday and she said to drive to the closest emergency room, so I went into Blythe. I was there all night, from around 8:30 pm to 7:30 am Tuesday. I had a weird diagnosis that I won't go into, because it was wrong. I stopped at Quiet Times to pick up a package, dropped off my library books, dumped tanks and filed the water tank, and was driving out toward the 95 to go back to La Posa West when my phone range. It was my doctor from San Diego. She said the radiologist at the Blythe ER had gone over my CT scans again this morning, and he had misdiagnosed the pictures, and my doctor wanted me to drive to the nearest Kaiser ER right now.
I told her I was in Arizona, the nearest Kaiser ER was in San Diego, but I'd rather be there, because that's were I'm from and my son is there with his family, and they can take care of Katie. I never went back to my campsite, just left everything there and started driving. I called my neighbor Hazel, who has been great, and she will take care of things for me.
It took five hours to get to San Diego and I was still feeling okay. My doctor said if I started to get ANY stomach pain I was to drive to the side of the road, call 911 and have an ambulance drive me immediately to the closest ER. That gave me more confidence - to have her permission to do that, and still try to get to San Diego. There was some worry about an intestinal rupture. We stopped once for gas and potty for Katie, and Arrived early evening in the ER check in, where we waited for hours to be seen.
Kaiser Zion ER is the only Kaiser ER in the entire San Diego area, so, although it's large, it's really busy and constantly moving people in and out. From what I was told, they planed to build another hospital with an ER in South San Diego, but were not allowed to, unless the opened up the ER to the people in the area that don't have insurance, and let them use it. Kaiser declined. You can imagine what would have happened - but I don't want to be political on my blog, so...
I was finally seen, they did another CT scan of my abdomen, and scheduled me for immediate surgery, where they took out a foot of my lower intestine, which was incorrectly shaped, or something weird. (While they were in there, the doctor told me later, they also removed my appendix.) I'm just now feeling pretty "with it" so I need to get more info from my doctor. Nothing else wrong, no cancer or anything like that. So, surgery around 1:30 Thursday night (Friday morning) and it's now Monday at 8 a.m. I'm still having a problem getting around, but MUCH better than before.
I think I'm going home tomorrow, and I'll be at my son's house in their guest room. I'm thinking when I feel better I can live in his front driveway in The Palms - using the couch as a bed - until I'm back to normal and then find a place to stay around San Diego for a while. I know it can take up to a year to totally recuperate from major surgery and I want to take it easy.
So that's it. It really was something, just not appendicitis, and now - thank goodness - it's been fixed.
Again, thank you for all your concerns, I'm definitely on the upswing now and will post again soon with another update.
From Me and My Dog, have a great Monday everyone! :)
Right now I'm sitting in a Kaiser Hospital in San Diego. I called the Kaiser Nurse on Monday and she said to drive to the closest emergency room, so I went into Blythe. I was there all night, from around 8:30 pm to 7:30 am Tuesday. I had a weird diagnosis that I won't go into, because it was wrong. I stopped at Quiet Times to pick up a package, dropped off my library books, dumped tanks and filed the water tank, and was driving out toward the 95 to go back to La Posa West when my phone range. It was my doctor from San Diego. She said the radiologist at the Blythe ER had gone over my CT scans again this morning, and he had misdiagnosed the pictures, and my doctor wanted me to drive to the nearest Kaiser ER right now.
I told her I was in Arizona, the nearest Kaiser ER was in San Diego, but I'd rather be there, because that's were I'm from and my son is there with his family, and they can take care of Katie. I never went back to my campsite, just left everything there and started driving. I called my neighbor Hazel, who has been great, and she will take care of things for me.
It took five hours to get to San Diego and I was still feeling okay. My doctor said if I started to get ANY stomach pain I was to drive to the side of the road, call 911 and have an ambulance drive me immediately to the closest ER. That gave me more confidence - to have her permission to do that, and still try to get to San Diego. There was some worry about an intestinal rupture. We stopped once for gas and potty for Katie, and Arrived early evening in the ER check in, where we waited for hours to be seen.
Kaiser Zion ER is the only Kaiser ER in the entire San Diego area, so, although it's large, it's really busy and constantly moving people in and out. From what I was told, they planed to build another hospital with an ER in South San Diego, but were not allowed to, unless the opened up the ER to the people in the area that don't have insurance, and let them use it. Kaiser declined. You can imagine what would have happened - but I don't want to be political on my blog, so...
I was finally seen, they did another CT scan of my abdomen, and scheduled me for immediate surgery, where they took out a foot of my lower intestine, which was incorrectly shaped, or something weird. (While they were in there, the doctor told me later, they also removed my appendix.) I'm just now feeling pretty "with it" so I need to get more info from my doctor. Nothing else wrong, no cancer or anything like that. So, surgery around 1:30 Thursday night (Friday morning) and it's now Monday at 8 a.m. I'm still having a problem getting around, but MUCH better than before.
I think I'm going home tomorrow, and I'll be at my son's house in their guest room. I'm thinking when I feel better I can live in his front driveway in The Palms - using the couch as a bed - until I'm back to normal and then find a place to stay around San Diego for a while. I know it can take up to a year to totally recuperate from major surgery and I want to take it easy.
So that's it. It really was something, just not appendicitis, and now - thank goodness - it's been fixed.
Again, thank you for all your concerns, I'm definitely on the upswing now and will post again soon with another update.
From Me and My Dog, have a great Monday everyone! :)
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Feeling a bit better - Santa photos
Just a quick update - thanks for your concern and comments, I really appreciate every one! I made it through the night pretty easily, and this morning I'm feeling a little better. I'm still going to keep the wait and see plan for now, though. I won't take any chances, if the pain gets worse, I'll pack up and start driving, but so far, so good today.
I was walking over to the dumpsters last week, and who should I see? A man with a white beard and a red RV!
I was walking over to the dumpsters last week, and who should I see? A man with a white beard and a red RV!
He said his name was Santa.
Santa's Post-Christmas hide-out.
Katie likes her orange squeaky toy guy right in the middle of her chew toy. She gets them together, then starts chewing on the chew stick. Maybe she thinks she's sharing it with the little orange guy?
Bless us, O Lord, and these our gifts...
Oh, Man, I love these seeds!
Quit taking my picture! Let me eat in peace!
Sweet Katie, resting outside on her rug.
From Me and My Dog, have a great Wednesday, everyone! :)
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Hair Hat, and Starting the year off sick. :(
WELCOME to our new followers, LilNomad and Richard. I don't see any info on either of you, but if you have blogs, I'd like to check them out, let me know. Thank you for following along with me and Katie on our adventures. I'm expecting 2012 to be a wonderful year for us, and I'm glad you'll both be along for the ride! Welcome aboard!
Not a great photo, I took a million shots, but this is the best of the hair hat. This is with the grey hair. (I don't know how people take those great pictures of themselves, extending their arm and snapping the pic. It sure doesn't work for me!)
I took the hair out (it's attached with Velcro) one day and wore just the visor, which I really liked.
New Years Eve was a quiet evening, spent around the fire with the Dingbats. We have a few new people who have arrived - the more the merrier! One of the women organized a little gathering and some people brought wine, champagne and nibbles for everyone. I'm not much of a wine drinker, and champagne is too dry for me, so I brought along my Irish Coffee in my traveling mug. It was perfect for drinking around the fire.
We had clear skies, with the moon making it's way across the sky as we sat outside. Katie and I were in bed early, but I read one of my library books until after midnight, so we heard the noise at midnight, and were awake for the beginning of the new year.
I like the sound of 2012. Do you say 20-12, or 2000- 12? I keep saying 2000-12, but I'm hearing it pronounced in the media as 20-12, and I like that.
On January 1st, the Dingbats gathered around an afternoon fire and shared BBQ hot dogs, potato salad, beans, etc. It was a beautiful day, and the food was delicious!
On Tuesday morning I woke up early with bad stomach pains that lasted all day (and I felt like I had also come down with the virus going around). I was worried about the pain, and finally I checked on-line for appendicitis symptoms. It was kind of a toss up - I had the symptoms, but they could have meant other things, too. I decided to adopt a wait and see attitude. Most people that listed their comments on the MD.com site waited at least two days to head off to the doctor.
I was awake most of the night, not in great pain, but not completely comfortable, and finally dropped off to sleep. Katie and I woke up at 11:00 this morning, and although the stomach pains have decreased, they are still there, maybe 30 percent of the pain the day before.
Finally in the late afternoon today I went over to talk to Hazel, who is a retired nurse, to check my symptoms with her knowledge. I also wanted her to know that if I took off in the middle of the night, or sometime tomorrow, I was heading to Kaiser in San Diego, and I wanted her to know I'd try to be back for the Big Tent show. If the pain is worse, I'm not going to be walking around the campground saying goodbye!!
I did nothing today but sleep and lay on the couch reading. The funny thing is, I don't seem to have the virus - I guess it was just allergies after all, because it's not bad at all today.
I'm pretty confident I'll feel better tomorrow. Hazel gave me some Pepto Bismo, and I just started taking it. Cross your fingers for me.
David, one of my followers, and whose blog I follow, was going to stop by for meet on his way through Quartzsite to Mexico, but unfortunately I had to cancel. I was more worried about giving him the virus, but as it turns out we were probably okay there, but my stomach pains would have made for an uncomfortable visit. Sorry, Dave, we'll meet again down the road.
Our moon rising late this afternoon:
A little earlier these machines flew overhead - it's so fun watching them power themselves across the sky.
Santa Claus is here - I guess he doesn't go directly to the North Pole after Christmas. But, heck, he needs some R&R after all that hard work, and the long flight, right? I'll post photos of him and his rig next time.
From Me and Katie, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone! :)
Not a great photo, I took a million shots, but this is the best of the hair hat. This is with the grey hair. (I don't know how people take those great pictures of themselves, extending their arm and snapping the pic. It sure doesn't work for me!)
Hair Hat - it works best on me if I brush all my hair out of the way.
I took the hair out (it's attached with Velcro) one day and wore just the visor, which I really liked.
New Years Eve was a quiet evening, spent around the fire with the Dingbats. We have a few new people who have arrived - the more the merrier! One of the women organized a little gathering and some people brought wine, champagne and nibbles for everyone. I'm not much of a wine drinker, and champagne is too dry for me, so I brought along my Irish Coffee in my traveling mug. It was perfect for drinking around the fire.
We had clear skies, with the moon making it's way across the sky as we sat outside. Katie and I were in bed early, but I read one of my library books until after midnight, so we heard the noise at midnight, and were awake for the beginning of the new year.
I like the sound of 2012. Do you say 20-12, or 2000- 12? I keep saying 2000-12, but I'm hearing it pronounced in the media as 20-12, and I like that.
On January 1st, the Dingbats gathered around an afternoon fire and shared BBQ hot dogs, potato salad, beans, etc. It was a beautiful day, and the food was delicious!
On Tuesday morning I woke up early with bad stomach pains that lasted all day (and I felt like I had also come down with the virus going around). I was worried about the pain, and finally I checked on-line for appendicitis symptoms. It was kind of a toss up - I had the symptoms, but they could have meant other things, too. I decided to adopt a wait and see attitude. Most people that listed their comments on the MD.com site waited at least two days to head off to the doctor.
I was awake most of the night, not in great pain, but not completely comfortable, and finally dropped off to sleep. Katie and I woke up at 11:00 this morning, and although the stomach pains have decreased, they are still there, maybe 30 percent of the pain the day before.
Same site, but I moved the rocks way out - now it's quite a large area.
Turns out, we are REQUIRED to have AT LEAST 15 feet between rigs,
and you can pretty much mark off what you want to be your campsite.
Finally in the late afternoon today I went over to talk to Hazel, who is a retired nurse, to check my symptoms with her knowledge. I also wanted her to know that if I took off in the middle of the night, or sometime tomorrow, I was heading to Kaiser in San Diego, and I wanted her to know I'd try to be back for the Big Tent show. If the pain is worse, I'm not going to be walking around the campground saying goodbye!!
I did nothing today but sleep and lay on the couch reading. The funny thing is, I don't seem to have the virus - I guess it was just allergies after all, because it's not bad at all today.
I'm pretty confident I'll feel better tomorrow. Hazel gave me some Pepto Bismo, and I just started taking it. Cross your fingers for me.
David, one of my followers, and whose blog I follow, was going to stop by for meet on his way through Quartzsite to Mexico, but unfortunately I had to cancel. I was more worried about giving him the virus, but as it turns out we were probably okay there, but my stomach pains would have made for an uncomfortable visit. Sorry, Dave, we'll meet again down the road.
Our moon rising late this afternoon:
A little earlier these machines flew overhead - it's so fun watching them power themselves across the sky.
Close-up of one of the flyers.
From Me and Katie, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone! :)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year – Welcome 2012!
Thank you to all our Followers and readers for joining me and Katie on our full-timing adventures, starting June 2011. We've learned a lot, gone to many places, met a lot of great people and pets, and gotten very comfortable in The Palms. We continue to enjoy full-timing more and more each day. Here's looking forward to the future!
For 2012, Katie and I wish for you: all the champagne, ribbons, balloons, jewelry, flowers, toys and Happy Day tickets you could want for the entire Happy New Year.
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