Here we are, on the road: What - -

Sunday, September 16, 2012 Lorraine’s report

Well, you are not going to believe this, but we are back at Latitude 49 in Birch Bay. WA. We arrived back yesterday afternoon after an incredibly scary ride through Seattle traffic. There were two big games going on in both stadiums in Seattle, the Washington Huskies were playing football, and the Seattle Sounders were in a soccer game right next door. That meant the roads were jammed full of people trying to get to their games; one great big TRAFFIC jam, and no one going anywhere very fast.

So our week was not your normal week. Last Sunday was a quiet day, Chuck watched 12 hours of football, I walked through the various tourist shops in Long Beach. It was a drizzly, cloudy day, with cooler temperatures than what we had been having. There was nothing in those shops that I needed or wanted. It also meant Seattle was one day short of breaking its old record of no rain for 51 days, only 50.

Monday, Chuck had an email from a guy he used to work with, Tom and Cheryl. They are full timers as of this past summer and they were up the coast at Copalis Beach, WA. In the email, he talked about meeting up with us about half way to where we were, in Tokeland at the Shoalwater Indian Casino.

Not having any plans for the day, Chuck emailed him his phone number, and said we would try to meet up with them. So we headed out to Shoalwater, which was about an hour forty five minutes away. It had turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive for us. And since we hadn’t been that way in a long time we decided to head out.

We got there, and found we didn’t have any phone service, so we didn’t know if Tom would come to meet us or not. Turns out he didn’t read our response until the next day, and we didn’t have Tom’s phone number to call him, so we didn’t get to hook up with them, next time?

Anyway, we stayed and played for a bit and yours truly got lucky on one machine and took out some $$$. We ate the Seniors Day buffet for $4.99, And while it wasn’t as good as the Seniors Day buffet at the Silver Reef, it was okay. We returned home by 7 pm, after a fun filled day.

We left Longbeach the next morning, and Chuck had been saying he was having shortness of breath for several days as well as a pain in his upper middle back by his shoulder bone, but towards the middle, and the hernia he got while fixing the hydrohot heater in August was hurting him. We got into Seaside, set up and he washed the bugs.

He agreed to go to the walk in health clinic there in Seaside; he said I nagged him into going, but if he didn’t think he should go, he wouldn’t.

We got to the clinic and they had him go into the emergency room right away. They hooked him up to oxygen, put in a needle for blood work and did an EKG. The ER doctor talked with him about his symptoms, and they watched him for the next six hours. We got there at 2:30 and didn’t leave until almost 8:30 that evening. The doctor said the tests showed he didn’t have a heart attack or stroke, but they didn’t know what it was, or why he was having shortness of breath. We returned home that evening, with out any answers.

The next morning the ER room doctor called and talked with Chuck, who said he was still experiencing the same symptoms-no change.

We needed some things from Fred Myers, so we headed up to Warrenton, OR, the closest FM; also a Costco and Dollar Tree. Chuck was still feeling that shortness of breath. We had a nice quiet evening home.

Thursday was a hot sunny day in Seaside, I forgot to say I had been going to the pool directly across from where we were parked in the rig daily for a work out, so right handy for me.

The ER room doctor called Chuck again and asked him to return to the hospital for more tests and to see another doctor. Off we go again. We were there only 2-3 hours this time. With the symptoms still the same and nothing showing up on the tests, both of those doctors said we should return back to Bellingham to see his primary care doctor, so they could follow up and find the cause.

We made that decision in the hospital room and I called his family dr. for an appointment. I got him in on Monday to start the process of finding out what is going on with him.

I then called Joe/Alice to see if we could rent their lot here at Latitude 49, we have it for two weeks then will have to move as they have it rented out. If we need more time, we can go into Beachwood or back to 1000 Trails.

Joe and Alice met us and let us in to Latitude 49 yesterday. Thanks Joe & Alice for all your many kindnesses you’ve shown to us. We appreciate it!!

I called Joy after we got in and set up. Chuck said we should go to the casino, just us two, so Joy picked me up and away we went. We had fun, and I was up a bit, but not Joy.

While talking with Joy, I told her about Chuck’s pain in his back. She said when she hurt her ribs and she experienced shortness of breath from that. So she told Chuck about it. Chuck remembered one other incidence from his work days when he had hurt his back and had shortness of breath. His doctor, Peter James, said that sometimes a hurt back can make you have shortness of breath. We think this is what has been causing Chuck his problems. We will find out tomorrow. Wish him luck!

We ended up going to Bob’s Burgers with the guys for dinner, thanks Rick and Joy, loved the time we spent together,

Saturday, September 22 is our actual anniversary day, we will be married 40 years that day. Wow, that’s incredible, where did the time go? What a ride it has been-Thank you Chuck for all those years-I Love You!!!

Until next time….

9/16/12 Chuck’s report

Yep, it’s true, we are back in Blaine. We just left here less than two weeks ago, finished with our doctors and heading South for the winter, remember? Well, once again we make plans and God laughs. More on why later.

Last Sunday we had a laid back sort of day. I watched some football, Lorraine headed into town to go through some shops in Long Beach. After she got back she made a cake and fixed a good pork roast dinner, a nice Sunday, just what we were looking for when we started out for the winter.

Monday I got an email from a friend of ours who was on the coast about 60 miles North of us suggesting maybe we could meet halfway or something while we are that close. I answered that we had no plans for the day and we would head up the coast to a casino we haven’t been to before, Shoalwater, and maybe he could call us and meet us there. When we got there, we found we didn’t have any cell service and if/when Tom called, we wouldn’t even know, shoot. But as it turned out, he didn’t check his email and didn’t know we were that close so once again we were close but didn’t get together. We’ll try again next time, Tom, and make it one of these times, ha.

While we were at the casino we had to try the slots, of course. I soon lost all I was willing to lose and started walking around watching people and looking the place over. I happened to walk back to where Lorraine was playing and watched while she got a bonus game when she got a mix of 5 guys/gals for 50 free games. During her free games she got a mix of 5 once again, this time for 50 extra free games, WOW. Once again during these free games, she hit again, this time 5 guys for another 50 free games, double WOW. It took awhile to play off all those free games but it fun to watch, I’ve never had that kind of a bonus for sure.

We then went over to try their buffet, guess it wasn’t much to talk about but for less than $10 for two I can’t/shouldn’t complain too much. But all it all, it was a good day even if we didn’t connect with Tom.

Tuesday was moving day for us, all of 40 miles to 1000 Trails in Seaside, Oregon. We lucked out and got a nice site with full hookups and 50 amps right in front of the lodge and swimming pool. The place was pretty full, I heard this was the 6th weekend in a row that they were over 95% occupancy. Once we got set up I washed the bugs off the front then sat down to rest. I remarked to Lorraine that I had been having trouble catching my breath for two days and didn’t have any stamina. I also had been having a pain in my back/shoulders for the last week or so too.

Well, as anyone who is married will understand, it was easier to go along with the “suggestion” to go to the doctor than to fight. We went to a walk in place that was a part of the local hospital and as soon as I told the nurse I was having trouble breathing and experiencing a bad pain in my back, it was off to the emergency room, just what I didn’t want to happen. About 6 hours and multiple tests later, they let me go saying they didn’t know what was wrong but had ruled out a couple of issue, one being it wasn’t a heart attack.

Next morning things were still the same so after Lorraine retuned from the swimming pool, she and I headed up to Fred Meyer and Costco in Warrenton, about 15 miles North of us. While we were there the doctor from the emergency room called to check on me, still no ideas but suggested running more tests if I didn’t show signs of improvement in the next day or two. We finished our shopping trip and returned to the coach. Once again, I was having trouble catching my breath and didn’t have any stamina, I wasn’t much help putting things away, had to rest in the Lazy Boy.

Next morning, the emergency room doctor called again and I told him no changes once again. He wanted me to return to the emergency room for a repeat of the tests. I told him I wasn’t too keen on spending 6 hours in the emergency room plus it’s more expensive there. He then suggested I return to the walk in place and he would leave instructions with them on what test results he wanted. So I agreed to do that.

Well, it was three hours and multiple tests later that we left there with no ideas but a suggestion I have a stress test. The cardio doctor in Seaside was only going to continue practice there for the next week so they suggested we return back to our family doctor back here. We agreed that made sense, we weren’t that far away and knew we would get good care back here.

After leaving the walk in clinic, Lorraine wanted to go to some of the shops at the outlet mall just up the road. I called her and asked if she could go back to the hospital/walk in and get a copy of all the results from the tests they had run. Seeing as how we weren’t going to continue our trip down the Oregon coast, I also suggested she ask the clerk at the shop for her recommendation about a good place for Lorraine to get good fish and chips. So after Lorraine returned, we drove downtown to a place called Norma’s Café (or something like that) where she had an order of fish and chips while I had an order of pork chops. She said they were good, just what she had been wanting. We will return to this place when we are in Seaside.

After we ate, I drove down to Cannon Beach for our only trip to the Oregon Coast beach. It was getting dark and we didn’t even get out of the car. Next time!

Not knowing how long we will be back here, we contacted our friends Joe/Alice to see about staying at their extra lot at Latitude 49. Just happens we could stay here for two weeks and if we need to stay longer we can go to 1000 Trails. So that would give us a month here, should be plenty of time we hope.

Yesterday when we were about 15 minutes or so from here, we called Joe/Alice and they were just getting on the freeway one exit from us. We slowed down and they caught up with us so we followed them here. This is a secure place, requires a card to get access through the gate so it was very good timing that we were together. We got to their lot, visited with them for a awhile then got set up.

Afterwards, Lorraine called our Canadian friend Joy, who she had been in touch with, to see if she would like to go to the casino with her. I stayed at the coach, washing the bugs off the front and repaired the front door - - again. Then I drove over to visit with Rick until Lorraine and Joy returned from their casino trip. The gals called and suggested we meet them at Bob’s for dinner so we continued our visit with these fine folks for an hour or so more. They are going back to their home today so it was good to see them again.

Lorraine and Joy had been talking about my aches and pains and Joy suggested that my shortness of breath was being caused from my back being “out”. That caused us to remember an episode 30 years or so ago when I was having pains in my chest and my doctor couldn’t find a cause. Lorraine happened to be seeing her doctor (in the same office) when I was there and told him about my problems. He came in and “popped” my back, told me my back being out was causing the chest pains and that I was one of the “weird” ones who had phantom pain from back issues. I sort of forgot about that until Joy talked about my issues and now I’m pretty convinced my problems are all because my back is out or I’ve lost a disk. I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow and will get this checked out, fixed and we’ll get back on the road very soon, I’m sure.

So, that was my week, not a usual one for sure. Here’s hoping I get “fixed” and we are back on the road after a short detour.

The weather has been really good this past week. We did have a couple of showers, just enough to stop the long string of days without measurable rainfall two days short of the record. But the skies have been blue, no rain since and the forecast is for more of the same for at least the next 10 days, YEA. The temperatures are forecast to get back to the low 80s later this week so once again the Pacific Northwest is a very nice place.

Usually I write about our plans and travel schedule for the next week or so but right now I don’t know how long we will be here. Depending on what the doctor says, we could be out of here by mid-week, that’s what we are hoping for. But whatever happens, I’m sure Lorraine will be by my side, taking care of me and making sure I get through whatever happens. Love you Hon and thanks for taking care of me all these years.

Guess I’ll add a few pictures and get this posted.

On the way to Shoalwater Casino.