No report from Lorraine this week.
3/15/15 Chuck’s report
I’m actually writing this post on Saturday 3/28, a couple weeks after the above date because we haven’t posted a blog for three weeks now. There has been lots of things happening over the past three weeks that I will cover, mostly hitting the highlights but will add detail to some items as I feel necessary. There will not be a report from Lorraine this time, I’ll explain why on the next post which I plan to write tomorrow.
We’ve been here for in Santa Clara to help Susy during her recovery from shoulder surgery, she can’t drive and we are helping her and Katie as needed. Susy has only had one post-surgery visit with her surgeon, he said everything was healing nicely and she needed to see a physical therapist to get some exercises to recover movement and strength. She did see a therapist but again only one time and she did get some idea of what she needs to do. I made a pulley system for Lorraine to use when she had her shoulder surgery a few years back so I got the parts to make one for Susy. She has been doing her exercises and things are going nicely, at least from my point of view.
Last week on the 9th I was scheduled for a CT scan at the VA, they wanted a good picture of my lungs because I’m an ex-smoker, sort of a base-line scan. They then will recheck in 6 months to a year to see if there are any changes, I guess they can tell if there is a problem if they see new or larger growths showing up the second time.
But only one problem, I thought they wanted to do a UT scan, not a CT. A CT (also called a CAT scan) involves laying on a table and being “inserted” a machine, sort of like going through a donut hole. A MRI is much more of a problem, more like going into a cave, the CT is much less of an ordeal - - at least for most folks.
I’ve developed extreme claustrophobic tendency's over the years, I even have problems with a CT scan. The last one I had years ago they had a doctor in the X-ray area and she was able to sedate me enough to get the scan complete. But at this VA facility, I found out, I had to have my doctor prescribe a sedative before the test, they can’t do that in the X-ray department. But I tried it without any sedative anyway, no luck, just couldn’t let them put me in the machine, shoot. Due to our travel schedule, they agreed to reschedule me again this week and I would have my valium prescription filled and ready.
In the meantime, we continued to pick up Katie after school most days and spend the afternoon/evening at Susy’s before heading back to our rig. Of course Lorraine fixed a quite a few meals while we were there along with some being brought in or we went out so no one went hungry for sure. We are really enjoying our time with Susy and Katie, usually we don’t get to spent much time with Susy as she has to travel a long way to/from her work, at least traffic wise and she is going in the heavy traffic both ways. Mark has been able to take Katie to school most mornings but he teaches in the evenings so we don’t see as much of him unfortunately.
On the 11th we went over to Susy’s and Lorraine helped her get ready for the day then headed to the VA for my CT scan. I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription, one valium pill to be taken 20 minutes before the test. I took the pill then headed back to the X-ray department but once again I was unable to let them put me into the machine, what a wimp! The tech said they only have around 5 people a year who are unable to do this test, here I am one of those type, shoot. So once again, they rescheduled me, this time for the next day and I am to get more valium from my doctor.
Next morning we went over to Susy’s as usual then picked up Katie from school before heading to the VA for one more try on the CT scan. Once again, I went to the pharmacy to pick up my valium, this time I had 4 pills, take two an hour beforehand, one 30 minutes before and one 15 minutes before. I still wasn’t sure this was working but I was able to hold my fears enough to get the test done, whew. I didn’t feel that “out of it” even with the 4 pills but the nurse talked to me about something and when Susy asked me about it the next day. I didn’t remember the conversation so I must have been down a bit more that I realized. But we did get it done, that’s the main thing.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday were our last days here with Susy before we left for a week so we tried to spend a bit more time with her and do things she and Lorraine like (can you say shopping). One item I was looking for was a portable dishwasher for Susy, she doesn’t have one in the house she is renting and I was getting tired of washing dishes everyday (yea right). Susy is busy, gets Katie to school by 7:30 and they don’t get home until after 6 on most days so she can use a dishwasher to help her with her housework. But we were unable to find one at the places we checked so Susy is going to check Craigslist and such and try to find a used one.
Today, Sunday 3/15, Lorraine, Susy and Katie headed to the mall, they were to have pedicures before we left. I worked on a few projects around her house while they were out then we had a great steak dinner with all the fixings later. This time we were here at Santa Clara for 17 days, we got an extension to stay at the Elks for an additional 3 days.
The weather has been really nice here although we did get a couple raindrops a few times this past two weeks. Nothing like what they really need here to break this three year long draught they are experiencing but enough to show the dust on the car.
Our travel plans are to leave here tomorrow and head South about 300 miles to Santa Maria Elks Lodge. We know Susy isn’t 100% recovered from her surgery yet but we plan to be back in a week as Mark has to travel for business for a week and we want to be here to help Susy while he is out of town. Susy is not taking any pain pills, just an occasional Tylenol and is continuing with her exercises and stretches and she is able to drive now too.
I haven’t taken time to check out the pictures on our camera for this report but I don’t think there are too many anyway so there won’t be any pictures on this blog.
Thanks Chuck and Lorraine
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