Nine to go

Carl & Merilee were over last Saturday and the three of us went to the RV Show at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Sarah stayed home she didn’t want to get out with the crowds, I’m glad she didn’t go it was not much of a show from my perspective. I suppose I wasn’t that enthused with it because it was mostly weekender campers, with a few high end units thrown in for good measure.

McKee Auto & RV had some expensive motor homes there, I think the most expensive was about $250k but none of them had any character to them. There wasn’t any of them I would want even if I could afford one. I was looking for Mobile Suite fifth wheels, Bob & Joe’s RV from Guthrie Center use to sell them, so I went looking. I found Bob & Joe’s area and I found an Excel, same brand we have, and I found Brian Triplett of Petersen Industries, but I didn’t find a Mobile Suite. Brian told me, Bob & Joe no longer handle the brand anymore. It was nicer sitting in the fifth wheel than one of the motor homes, so I may have to rethink my thought about moving to a motor home. I have to give this more thought.

After the show we came back, picked up Sarah, and went to watch the bald eagles, they are by one of the dams in downtown Des Moines. We headed over to the sixth street bridge, you can actually park on the bridge, so we did and Merilee got some great pictures of the eagles. I have been told at one time there were up to a hundred eagles in the area because of the open water, it makes it a good feeding place for them.

Afterward we went out to the Machine Shed to have supper and since we wanted to wait a bit for desert, we bought an apple pie and picked up ice cream to bring home for later. Cynthia came over and we had pie and ice cream

Yesterday, Sunday, Sarah and I went to the grocery store, what a sticker shock. I am trying to eat healthier and so we were judicious in our purchases, no ice cream or soda for me. I have to be very concise of what I eat for my diet, it seems I’m not losing weight as fast as I would like.

Sarah and I have a device called Fit Bit One; it tracks steps, flights of stairs, calories and miles, and sleep patterns. They are great except for today. I drove for Enterprise today; we took a car to North Liberty and then went to Cedar Rapids to pick up a truck. It was a 26 ft box truck, diesel with an air ride seat. Now for those of you who have never driven or ridden with an air ride seat, you are constantly going up and down because of the road and suspension of the truck. So when I get home I look at my Fit Bit and it shows I have gone over 13,000 steps, climbed 239 flights of stairs, traveled over 4 miles on foot and burned over 2200 calories. It sure made my stats look good in the program, but alas, I know how it happened so I made a notation of my activity in the program. I guess I will leave the device home the next time I drive. Boy 2200 calories burned I could eat without worrying what I ate, no better not.

Our friend Orren came home from the hospital the other day, we haven’t seen him except for a couple minutes via internet, and he looked pretty good then.

Wow, I have worked two days this week, I don’t know what is the matter with me, it is dragging me down. Actually I love it, where else can I get paid, although it isn’t much, to either drive a car somewhere or ride half way and drive the rest of the way. I drove a new Camaro yesterday, nice car, handles well and lots of get up and go, but you felt every bump in the road. Don’t get me started on how difficult it was getting out of the car, I thought I would have to get a crane to help me, but I managed.

We went out to eat with Mike & Sheri Cord last night to the Chicken Coop, I had never heard of the place before but it was good food and we always enjoy their company. Mike gets books from his brother in law and lets me read them so I have several books to read again.

I don’t know about any of you but as I get older I look in the obituaries to see if my name is in there, so far it hasn’t been but I find most of the folks listed are not much older than me and with getting a year older I wonder how much time is left. Not to worry I am not getting morbid but I do wonder about it sometimes. I figure if the old adage is true, “Only the good die young”, then I will be here for quite some time yet.

I think we have received all of our tax forms now but I am in no hurry because I am sure we don’t get a refund and if we have to pay anything, I am not in any hurry to do that either. As I told the guys at work the other day, my goal is to outlive my money and that should be in about a year and a half.

Tomorrow Sarah has another treatment, then we are down to eight left, we are getting there. She will then go through some radiation and we will be able to get our life back on track. I love trains so this is like our train is sitting on the siding waiting for the long slow freight to pass us.

Till Later, Dreams Do Come True

Des Moines, Jan 30, 2013

I thought I would write my blog, or at least begin it, I haven’t written anything for a week or so. Our internet in the apartment is not working, it seems Mediacom posted the payment for the service to a different account and now they can’t find it, at least that is what Mediacom is telling me. So I will start this and finish it when we get service.

Sarah has had two of the single drug treatments and other than the tingling in her fingers and hands; she has had less side effects with these treatments than with the others. She is a completely different person after the treatments, which makes it easier to see her go through them. Her treatments are now set up for every Thursday or at least that is the day we have requested them to be on.

I am driving for Enterprise, I don’t make much money but I am enjoying it. There are 80 drivers, they are trying to hire more, and we call in each evening to see if we work the next day. I hear some of the drivers complaining about the call in because they can’t plan anything, for me it is fine. I find the mix of personalities to be very interesting, I have ridden with several a few times and some like to talk a lot and others don’t, one of them has scared the daylights out of me with his driving but other than that I am having a good time with it. Usually we ride to a location and pick up cars to deliver them and maybe get another car at the drop off point or we car pool back to our home base. Nothing to hard or strenuous about it, my kind of job. Yesterday we went to Davenport and I drove a new Chevy Equinox back, it had 2 miles on it. Sarah and I had look at and driven one before we bought the Lexus and now I am glad we didn’t buy the Chevy. I liked everything about it except it was a bit confining, our car is a bit bigger and I like the extra space.

Today I was suppose to work but we have a winter storm going on outside with winds and blowing snow, so no road driving for us. I could have gone out and helped clean snow off cars and move them around so they can plow the parking lot but I don’t have anything but tennis shoes and I’ll be darn if I am going to freeze me toes off. The other reason is I got sick Saturday night and Sunday morning, I believe it was the 24 hour flu or some such thing, but I worked yesterday, probably shouldn’t have but I did and so I figured I would stay in today and rest.

Speaking of last Saturday the fire alarm went off again, five or six times since, we have been here. I decided to go down and see what problem was. Sixteen floors down, not too bad because I am going down, but dumb me decided to walk back up after the all clear was given because I didn’t want to wait for the elevators to come back to life. I will never do that again unless necessary, I thought I was going to die. I did find a couple of interesting things on the way up though. We have grocery carts in the parking garage to be used to carry your groceries or other large items to your apartment. The unwritten and logical rule is you are to take the carts back to the parking garage, second floor, when you are finished with them. I guess some folks are very smart, more likely just lazy, but I found two carts on different stair landings. It takes less than five minutes to return the carts.

One of the things I like is the way we get rid of our garbage; we have the “Chute Room” located across the hall from our apartment. All I have to do is put the garbage down the chute and it drops sixteen floors, I love it. Now saying that, remember what I said above about some people are not very smart or just plain lazy, well that also applies to getting rid of garbage. Someone put boxes of trash in the Chute Room and left it, I suppose they thought someone else was going to put in the chute for them. Well that didn’t happen, I saw the manager the other day and mentioned the things I saw about the carts and the garbage and she said they would take care of it. She said with the garbage they would go through it and see if there was anything with an address on it and then they would charge the folks them for the disposal of their trash. Human nature never ceases to amaze me.

A friend or ours, Orren, has been in the hospital for two weeks with pneumonia and has had a difficult time getting rid of it. I was able to go see him a couple times but then I got sick so that stopped the visits. The last I heard he was suppose to be getting out sometime this week. Orren, we’ll keep you in our prayers.

Even though it costs me money, I am very happy I have the truck parked inside, I go down every 7-10 days and start it and let it run for fifteen minutes or so. I don’t drive it but I do role it forward and back again just to keep the grease on the bearings, whether it does any good or not I don’t know.

The big RV show for the year is this coming weekend so I am going with Carl & Merilee are coming over to go with me. I love going and just looking but also Sarah & I have been thinking of going to a motor home so it will be nice to see what is available, not new but used. It should be fun to see.

Not much else is going on so I will close for now.

Dreams Do Come True

Nice Day in Des Moines

Well I am driving for Enterprise, drove three days last week and so far only one this week, I doubt I will drive again this week because I told them I wanted Thursdays off to go to chemo with Sarah. I don’t make a lot of money doing this but I don’t care about that, I want just want to have something to do a couple days a week so Sarah doesn’t get tired of having me under foot all the time.

Sarah is feeling great so she is ready for her next series of treatments beginning tomorrow. One of the nurses asked if she was going to having them each week for two hours or every two weeks for four hours. She is going to visit with the doctor about this. I leave those decisions up to her because she knows how she feels and what she wants. Therefore, we will see what it will be tomorrow. The last treatment she had of the two drugs, Sarah did not have the side effects she experienced after the other three treatments, and hopefully she will have fewer side effects with the next round of treatments. She is a trouper and continues with the positive attitude.

I took a couple of boxes we had here in the apartment, they have books and movies in them, down to the truck. I figured I could store them in the back seat of the truck and give us a skosh, (Brad, see there is such a work) more room.

The weather hasn’t been all that bad, we have had some cold days and some snow, 15 inches of snow, but all most of it is gone except the piled snow. I am in my optimistic mode now, it is the middle of January and so the temperatures will begin to warm up in February, which isn’t that far away, and then we have March where the temperatures get a bit warmer and before we know it we will be into May and warm temps. So I sit here at the window and dream of moving back into the camper, May 1 if not sooner and enjoying the warmer weather.

I have read several books since we have been here but I still have a few more I want to read it’s just doing it, I do procrastinate and I have to stop doing that. Oh well, I will get to them when I get to them.

Our phone contract is up and so I have to decide what to do. We have Verizon because of the coverage area and I do have a credit for a new phone so we will most likely stay with them but they tell me I have to go to the share program if I upgrade my phone, I am not sure that is something I want to do. So I have a bit of research to do, at least I will be busy and out of Sarah’s hair, so to speak.

That is all for now so, Dreams Do Come True

Des Moines 01/04/2013

Sarah’s test at the cardiologist all came back in her favor. She has no noticeable heart problem but to be on the safe side she is wearing a monitor for 30 days. This means she can continue with the chemo treatments and she had her last one of the two drug treatments yesterday and her immune booster shot today. She is feeling good now but by tomorrow the booster shot begins to wear her down along with the chemo drugs and she will be out of action for a few days.

Last Saturday she was feeling able enough to go shopping with Cynthia, they were gone for a few hours, did Sarah good, I watched football and read. I have been reading a lot but I have a bunch of books to read yet.

Monday, Dec 31^st, I drove the bus at Illahee Hills. For those of you who don’t know all of our history, we managed Illahee from May 2003 to July 2004 when I got burned out and we moved on to other 

opportunities. Anyway, they needed someone to fill in for the regular driver and so I accepted. I also drove Weds, Thurs, and will drive this afternoon. The pay isn’t great but I don’t do it for the money it is something different and gets me out of Sarah’s hair, well what hair she has left. The drugs are taking their toll on her in that department. She has taken to wearing hats to keep her head warm. She saw one on the TV show Castle that Det Beckett wore in one of the episodes, she wants one like it but can’t seem to find it.

Sarah heard a noise outside and on top of the parking ramp just north of us they were shooting off fireworks. I was local company sponsored fireworks show. We had an eye level view of it. The show lasted about ten minutes, pretty cool.

Tuesday, I did nothing but watch football, neither of the teams I wanted to win did but it was fun watching them. Wednesday I drove for Illahee, actually wasn’t much, I took a guy to the VA. Thursday Sarah had her chemo, the last of the two drug ones. I drove for Illahee again.

Today, Sarah received her immune booster shot and I gave blood at the blood center. I found that 50 years ago the government said I had O neg blood and now the blood center says I have O pos blood. I questioned that and was told the tests are more accurate today. Good thing I didn’t need blood all these years.

I am going to Illahee this afternoon to take some residents over to the sister facility for a Wii tournament. I will have to let you know what that is all about.

We have lots of snow on the ground and cold temperatures but they are calling for a warming trend the next few days, maybe some of the snow will melt, I hope so.

Until later, Dreams Do Come True.

Sarah Update

Sarah and I want thank Cairo’s for having us over for dinner Christmas eve and Cynthia for hosting Christmas day dinner. We had a great time at both places.

Sarah was suppose to get her fourth and final treatment of the heavy duty drugs yesterday but she has been having heart problems, pounding pulse, chest pain/soreness, so the doctor delayed the treatment a week and set up an appointment for her to see a cardiologist.

So today we saw, quick wasn’t it, Dr. Advani, MD PhD. She is a cardiologist and a pharmacologist, I asked her about that and she said her parents didn’t want her to be a doctor but agreed to pharmacy school. She said once she got in she was able to get her parents to agree to medical school. She was very nice and ordered a stress test, echocardiogram and a heart monitor. So if the test were ok today Sarah will get her fourth treatment next Thursday and then on the 11th she will begin the weekly Paclitaxel chemo treatment. Otherwise everything is going good for her.

We had another fire alarm this morning, it seems the generator has a short in it and it fired up but the vents to expel the heat didn’t open so it set off the alarm. They have someone coming in to fix the generator.

I had a note from the Kenny & Angela Harper,  www.rvlifeisgoodtoday.blogspot.com, thank you for the note. I thought about staying in the camper but felt with Sarah and the treatments we best not do that. If we had gone south to do the treatments we would have stayed in the camper. So the good thing is I don’t have to go out if I don’t want to, except to take Sarah to treatment, so it hasn’t been that bad.

Not much else is going on so until later, Dreams Do Come True.

It is COLD

Ok, someone has it out for me. It is 26 degrees outside and 35 mph winds, gusting to 50 mph. I am so glad we aren’t living in the camper.

Last night was a rough night, someone set off the fire alarm, each apartment has one in it, and ours is right above the bed, very loud. Since I use a CPAP when I sleep it is necessary to have electricity, twice the power went out, five this morning I gave up and didn’t use it anymore.

I am always amazed at the “stupidity” of news reporters who go out in hurricanes etc.; well I have to say Iowa has a “stupidity” factor also. This morning on the local news shows they are talking to the state troopers and DOT guys who are saying stay home don’t go out unless you have to. So what do you see on TV is the reporter and photojournalist driving down the road giving a stall by stall report of the weather. Ok people, what part of don’t go out if you don’t have to don’t you understand.

So I don’t plan on going anywhere today, I am going to stay in and stay warm. I finally bought a winter coat for myself, I needed one.

Here are two pictures taken from our apartment:

This isn't exactly the dream we wanted this winter but it is the one we have been dealt and we'll make the best of it. 

Dreams Do Come True

Update, 12/18/2012

Ok, short update and to curtail rumors that I don’t cook, here goes.

Sarah is feeling much better and is eating better. Today we ventured out to the RV dealer where our camper was at for repairs, they were done with it. Almost $900 later, none covered by our warranty policy, we were able to finally get it over to the storage site and get it stored for the winter. (Thanks to Mike Cord for taking us out to the dealer and going with us to the storage site.) That being done we headed back to the apartment.

It is a crappy day out with a weather watch, up to eight inches of snow in some places, so I don’t plan on going anywhere for a couple of days. I still don’t have a winter coat, maybe this weekend or I could wait until after the first of the year and get one on sale.

Anyway, we got back to the apartment and I was able to get the truck into the parking garage under the building so it will be in out of the weather. It will cost but I am much more at ease with the truck inside and not in the elements, I wish I could have found an indoor place for the camper.

Now this may come as a surprise to some of you but I like cookies, no, I really do, so we had some cookie mix and I thought to myself, I can do this, so here is the proof.

Even Sarah says they are good. I currently have a meatloaf in the oven; I love meatloaf, so this proves we don’t always eat out.

As of yet we have not turned on the heat in the apartment, we even open the patio door occasionally when Sarah gets hot. I guess living on the sixteenth floor has some advantage, except the heat is included in the rent.

Sarah’s next chemo treatment is the 27^th so she will be able to enjoy Christmas, we are going over to Cynthia’s for Christmas dinner we are cooking a turkey and the trimmings.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers and Christmas cards they are much appreciated.

Until later, Dreams Do Come True