Veterans Hospital, Des Moines, IA

Today, Oct 24th, is the day I have been dreading for six months, but more on that later.

We arrived at Griff’s Valley View RV Park last Monday, Oct 17th, and got settled in for our short stay. We immediately renewed an acquaintance from our previous stays, John Evans. Now John had quite a scar this past summer with an infection he had in the esophagus. The doctors do not know what caused the infection or can they give it a name, but with Someone watching over him from above and an abundant of prayers down here John has recovered to be able to continue his lifestyle. I know his wife Kathy made many a trip from the campground to the hospital and indeed stayed at the hospital at times when no one could predict which way John’s illness would go. We are grateful he is getting better and continues to improve each day.

We also had a great visit with Dick & Judy Wichael and Richard & Rose James, we spent the better part of Tuesday afternoon in Dick & Judy’s camper visiting and catching up on what has happened over the summer. This is what full timing is all about, getting together with friends you meet on the road and enjoying the good life on the road. Earlier in the day we took care of dental appointments, all is well for both of us.

Wednesday, Oct 19th, Sarah had her annual physical, everything was normal on her tests so she is good for another year. We had lunch with Norma Cairo, the better half of a couple I have known for over forty years. Sarah and Norma had to hit the local beauty supply store to stock up on whatever it is they stock up on. That night we had dinner with Norma and the other half of the better half, Orren,  which I believe to halves make a whole. We went to Prairie Meadows, the local casino and horse track. Wednesdays is the night of lower priced prime rib, although the cut and the quality is not lowered. We had a great time and a very good meal. We do have fun when we get together. Next time we are together I need a photo of the two of them. We hope to see them sometime this winter in AZ.

Thursday, was a day at the camper, laundry etc.

Friday the 21st was the beginning of my hell week, actually it only lasted five days but it seemed, at times longer. I had appointments with the Pulmonary and cardiac clinics.

Now the pulmonary clinic, for those of you who have never had these tests, it is the premise of how much of a blow hard you are. You sit in this little box and blow into this contraption to see how much capacity your lungs have I guess. Here is a good site to explain what they do: tp://www2.nau.edu/~daa/lecture/pft.htm/~daa/lecture/pft.htm

I was able to get through the test without much trouble. Although, when you have this guy standing next to you saying take a deep breath and then blow as hard as you can until he tells you to take a deep breath again or you begin to see stars and images of your long lost relatives, whichever comes first. Good news is my lungs are working fine.

The next was a cardiac ultrasound. This site explains this procedure: ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echocardiography. Now the doctor called it cardiac ultrasound but echocardiography is another name for it and I guess for dummies like me the first is easier to say but I always had trouble remembering what the name of the procedure was. Anyway, I was able to get the procedure done a couple hours earlier by going to the department and asking if they had any cancellations. So instead of 12:30 I got in at 10:30, at least I saved sitting around for a couple of hours. The technician did run into a bit of a problem, it seems the images he was getting were not of the quality he wanted. I thought well you should get better equipment, I didn’t even give it a moments thought that it could be my fat body blocking the signals. They, of course, had a solution and that was to give me an IV and put some type of dye in it, this worked and he was happy with the results. Someone said it is a radioactive dye, I suppose they might be right I did have a certain glow the rest of the day.

Friday night we met Mike and Sheri Cord,  they have been friends since we moved to Des Moines several years ago. They were our co-managers at Illahee Hills when we managed the facility there and Mike worked with me at Marsh the whole time I was there. We went to Felix & Oscar’s: http://felixandoscars.com/. They have some of the best pizza in town. We had a great visit with Mike and Sheri, Mike has a site on EBay called “qualityucantrust” he sells shoes at great prices, check it out you may see something you like. Mike said he had a couple of books for me and I suggested I would call him the next day and we could meet.

Saturday, Oct 22nd, we met Tiffany, Matt, Bryon, and Alexa,  for lunch at the Red Lobster in Ames, IA. It is fun getting together with them. We don’t see them enough throughout the year but we have fun when we do. However this time I was a bit rushed because of having to get ready for Monday. Carl and Merilee had come over earlier in the morning so they joined us for lunch. I don’t remember the last time they had seen Alexa but it was good to get together.

Saturday was also the day I began my liquid diet for my upcoming colonoscopy. I won’t go into the details of the prep but those of you who have been through it know the details, I will say the VA has you drink 4 liters of the prep and it isn’t fun.

Monday was the day, I was at the VA by 9:30 for my ten o’clock appointment. Everything went right on time and I found myself in the recovery room and going home by 12:30, so the day wasn’t too bad.

Tuesday morning I had to be at the VA for my annual physical which began with lab work at 7:30. I saw the nurse at 8:30 and the doctor at 9:00. All the tests were good and I don’t need another colonoscopy for ten years.

Later we went to lunch with Laurie Robinette, she is a manager at Marsh and I worked with her there, We met her at Culver’s and had a great visit. Thank you for the free yogurt.

Then that evening we met Candi and Russ Cerniglia for dinner at the Drake Diner, www.drakediner.com. We hope to see them in AZ this winter.

On Wednesday we left for Centerville, IA to visit mom and my sister Tara. We had a great visit and enjoyed being with mom. We stayed at Honey State Park, http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/StateParksRecAreas?state_park_list=honey_creek.html, not to be confused with Honey Creek Resort.

On Saturday we took off for Smith Center, KS to the Excel service center to have some things taken care of on the camper. Then it is off to Mesa, AZ. I will wait until then to write again.

Dreams Do Come Again.