One Month Ago Today

Yes, one month ago today I was in ICU VA Shreveport starting the road to recovery from my colon surgery. My strength is gradually getting better and I'm able to walk a little further each day. Believe it or not I've also done several chores around the motorhome.

One being with Sandy's help we winterized our fresh water hookup by wrapping the conduit stub up and the 25' fresh water hose with
Insulation tubing . So, we should be good to go for winter. I also took my electric leaf blower and blew off leaves around the patio and yard. This project will be on going for a while as we've not had that first frost and the oak trees are still full of leaves. We are still under a burn ban so we won't be burning leaves any time soon.

My last visit to see my surgeon was this past Tuesday and he was pleased with my progress. In fact my next visit won't be until after the Thanksgiving holidays. Sandy is a good nurse and continues to dress and pack the incision area.

I read where Retired Rod is having to go back for another procedure.
I hope I'll be able to avoid that as this has to be a bummer for him particularly since he was doing so good in his road to recovery. Hopefully it will go well and he will recover quickly for their trip to Arizona. We are thinking of you Rod.

There is still one thing that I just do not enjoy doing and that is riding in the Jeep. It has no mercy on my stomach and just beats me to death. Sometimes I think Sandy picks out those spots in the road on purpose to punish me for not being a good patient. Naw….. not really! She goes out of her way to avoid the real bad spots. It's just the nature and ride of a Jeep.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Veterans Day

 

(Author unknown)
He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.
 
Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.
 
And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew whereof he spoke.
 
But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For old Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.
 
He won't be mourned by many,

Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.
 
He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.
 
Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.
 
Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Someone who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?
 
Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.
 
While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.
 
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.
 
Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?
 
Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?
 
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.
 
For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
 
If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Quick Trip Back To VA Shreveport

Canton's First Monday was a barn burner. Record crowds and sales all four days. Sandy worked an average of twelve hours a day except for Sunday. She helped the people she worked for in tearing down and packing out their three booths of market stuff. She didn't get back to the motorhome until 2:30am Monday morning. One tired lady she was when we got up around 7am for our return to base in Lone Star.

My surgery on the 20th still has me doing very little. I'm able to walk a little more. This morning when Sandy changed out my bandage she noticed there was a color change in my drainage. She called the VA and after some discussion it was decided we need to make another trip over to VA for my surgeon to look at my belly.

Naturally I was a little upset but off we go arriving a little after noon. We didn't have a long wait as the doctor saw me right away. It was decided I had no infection but he wanted to make that area a little larger for better drainage.

Sandy will have to do some packing of the wound and they want to see me again in a week. I might add here before seeing the doctor my blood pressure was borderline of being too low and during the procedure I felt a little faint. Never saw so much hustling and commotion in my life. Finally came out of it and was allowed to head back home around 3pm.

This is what faced us on our return trip. Lots of heavy rain, lighting with thunder bangers and high winds. A little scary but we certainly are thankful for getting just under an inch at Lone Star.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.

Trip To VA To Have The Train Track In My Belly Removed

We headed to Shreveport this morning on I20 East to let my surgeon look at his craft work and remove the 50-55 staples in my belly.
While driving Sandy commented that there were a lot of big gorgeous coaches headed west on I20. There were Featherlite, Newell, Prevost, American Coach and Foretravel to name a few. They all seemed to be 43-45ft tag axle, beautiful full paint and one thing in common with most was they were pulling either a pickup or trailer with golf carts in the back of them. Then it dawned on us these were the NASCAR drivers coaches headed to the Texas Motor Speedway track near Dallas for the big race their this weekend. We must have passed 15-20 coaches that fit this description. Sandy commented she would love to be a coach driver for one of the NASCAR drivers. I told her she would make a dang good one as she loves driving our motorhome.

Shortly after we saw these beautiful coaches pass by we started seeing the haulers zipping by two to three at a time. How exciting was it to see them with the driver car or sponsorship painted on their sides. Lets see we saw Lowes, UPS, Ford, Dodge, NASCAR, Camping World, Pass Track and Speed to mention a few.

We arrived at VA just before my appointment but it wasn't till about an hour after my appointment that I saw my surgeon. He said that my incision was healing nicely and while he doesn't have the hard copy of my pathology report he had spoken with the pathologist by phone and every thing looked good. Praise the Lord.

Shortly after this good news a young Internist came in and began the job of removing my staples. Each stung a little but it certainly felt good to have them out. He then took 20-25 small strips of tape and laid them across my incision to give that area added support. He said these will eventually fall off in about two weeks.

The two and half hour trip there and two and half back literally wore me out. We love our Jeep but this is one time I wished we owned one of those huge limos. The Jeep just bounced my insides apart. It emphasized every bump, hole, bridge expansion joint and crack we hit coming and going. It was nice to crash and burn in my big lounge chair.

Until next time. . . .MtnAire Travlers.