October 6, 2019. We stayed at the Thousand Trails until October 5. We were able to visit a couple more museums before we headed out. We went to see the Military Heritage Collection of North Texas. This placed looked like the home of the owner; he collected antique memorabilia of all the wars, from uniforms to small artifacts. It was very unique. We arrived shortly before another couple came, and the owner gave us a personal tour of the museum. There were no cards telling about the items; he knew it all and that is how we learned of the items there.
The next day we went to the SW Dairy Museum and learned about the history of the dairy industry in Texas. That was pretty cool and we had an ice cream cone at the Creamery. That was some very good ice cream. Unfortunately, we cannot buy it at the store as it is just a distributor item.
Now we are back at Tres Rios. We are in a site we usually do not get into, but it was so crowded this site was the only one open. So far it’s OK; we get enough TV antenna stations and since it has not rained in so long, it’s very dry. Only thing I have a complaint about is the burrs that are all over the place. They seem to be getting worse every time we get here.
I spent all morning on Sunday pulling them up and just about filled a whole white trash bag. When these things dry, they stick to everything and hurt; the get in the dogs’ feet as well.
Had a nice reunion with the women I play cards with; although some are now leaving and others are leaving in a few days.
October 11, 2019. Been here almost a week but have only had time for shopping and playing cards every day. Next week Jim has his annual eye doctor appointment and then we will get our blood work done before seeing our respective doctors the following week.
A major front came through Thursday night. Thursday I got up and it was 75 in the morning and 90 during the day. Thursday night the wind picked up, it started raining and by morning it was 45 outside. The rain had just about stopped when I took the dogs for their morning walk. Got out late too, as the wind kept me up in the middle of the night and by the time I woke up, it was almost 7am.
We decided to move up a few sites – from 79 to 75. Our elevation went up two feet and now we get about 60 TV stations. Plus, there are a lot less burrs. Unfortunately, while we were riding our bikes through the sites, my bike picked up 4 sand spurs in the front tire, so we had to take it off and Jim put patches on the holes. I will have to stay off the grass from now on and stick to riding on the roads.
Have not even gotten to get any work done on the trailer yet. It will be warming up again and the rain leaves, so I will be able to get outside and under the trailer.
October 22, 2019. Have not done any sightseeing since we arrived here at Tres Rios. I did do some cleaning – vacuumed the entire inside of the truck and cleaned out some junk and threw a lot away. Went back under the trailer to look at the front area where I wanted to put more fiberglass paneling, but decided against it for now. It is a huge area, and has electric lines and a pipe from the front leading to both of the tires, which I imagine has to do with the brake line. So I thought maybe I would just paint it again.
Had my annual physical exam and mammogram. Mammogram turned out good; my blood work turned out good as well, but my thyroid is still not low enough. Doctor thinks my coffee may be interfering with the pills, so now I have to take them when I first get up, long before I start drinking my cup of coffee while walking the dogs. I started that this morning, so I think I will check in a couple of months to see if it has made any difference.
Jim’s blood work was not as good as we had hoped with the green powder vits he has been taking along with the beet powder. There may be just too much added sugars which may counteract the benefits. So I decided to start us on Balance of Nature, which is organic veggies & fruits, and look for my protein powder without whey and added sugar, and our Metamucil, which also has sugar in it and food coloring.
This past year we have been on Original Medicare with a separate drug plan, and a Cigna supplement. Between the drug plan and Cigna, we have been paying close to $150 per month. I had signed up for Cigna and then talked to one of our fellows RVers here at Tres Rios who told me about the Humana PPO plan she was on. Wish I had talked to her before signing up for Cigna, but since I did not, had to wait until this month during the enrollment period to change.
Was using an agent called Boomer Benefits but was not happy that they did not steer me towards this Humana Plan and instead said that I needed the supplement and not an Advantage plan. I decided to call Humana directly and after two hours on the phone this morning with them, changed our Medicare plan to the Humana PPO plan starting January 1 for $18 a month, which will include our drug plan as well. So now it will cost us $36 a month for our added medical coverage, instead of $150, saving us $114 a month.
October 24, 2019. Jim had his doctor appointment Tuesday the 22nd. His blood pressure is about the same, but his cholesterol and LDL went up. Also, his white blood cells were high and the doctor thinks his liver is heading toward cirrhosis. Told Jim to quit drinking again, and he has cut way down. The box of wine is still unopened and he has been drinking V8 for lunch. We have been making him tea in the evenings.
We have an appointment with a hand doctor to have his duputreyns looked at, and hopefully fixed. Had to make that appointment in December so I had to change our travel plans. We were going to stay at Lake Conroe TT for three weeks, but now we are coming back to Tres Rios so we can go to the hand doctor.
Also he is going to have to get a elastigraph to see how fibrous his liver is. Waiting on that call. Doctor also told him to take 800IU of Vitamin E twice a day. Also told him to lose 20 pounds and get down to at least 200 pounds. Doctor wants to check his cholesterol again in January.
On Wednesday we went to Labcorp to get his PSA test. Found out that we need to wait more than 365 days in between PSA tests or Medicare will not pay for it. At our last blood test, we were two days early from his last year’s test. So now I have it written down in my calendar book when to schedule our blood work and appointments for next year.
After Labcorp we went to Walmart to get our pneumonia vaccines. These were our second and last – it is for viral pneumonia as it is harder to treat than bacterial pneumonia, which is treatable with antibiotics. My shot started really hurting by late afternoon and my muscle and arm hurt all night. Did not get much sleep; slept from about 10 to 1, then woke up and felt like I stayed up the rest of the night.
Also have to revamp the time I take my thyroid pills. I have been drinking my coffee too close to when I took them; only 15-20 minutes when I really should wait at least an hour after taking them before drinking any coffee.
Also spent two hours on the phone with Humana and changed our health coverage to their Humana PPO plan. I called Humana direct instead of going through Boomer Benefits. All of our doctors here in Granbury are covered under their plan, plus it includes our drugs. Our premium will be $18 per person per month. We were paying $55.60 for our drug plan and $94 for a Cigna supplement. We will be saving a lot of money each month with this new plan. I’m really glad we are making this change.
October 28, 2019. We are at Lake Whitney for our week out from Tres Rios; back in the site we had last year – A99. It has a high elevation and we are able to get all of the TV stations we got at Tres Rios, plus we don’t have to rescan. WiFi is not as good but it’s acceptable.
Been reading a lot about thyroid and how to get my T4 to start converting into T3. Besides the Balance of Nature, I am going to order Magnesium, Selenium and B Complex. I have also started taking my pills about 5-5:30am and then waiting to drink my coffee until 7am. I think I’ll ask my doctor to send in another blood test in January to see if this has helped. I have also quit drinking wine, which I hope will help heal my liver, since the conversion of T4 toT3 takes place in the liver.
Jim’s test on his PSA came back high – 6.6 (last year it was 4.5). So the doctor is having him take antibiotics thinking maybe it could be a urinary infection. He will get another test in January when he also gets another cholesterol test. Tuesday he has an appointment to get an elastograph to see if his liver is fibrosis. Fibrosis is a condition that reduces blood flow to and inside the liver. He wants to make sure he’s not getting cirrhosis of the liver.
October 31, 2019. It rained for the last three days and cold and dreary so we did not go anywhere. Did the laundry on Wednesday is all. Today we drove down to Waco to visit the Improved Order of Red Men Museum. Also had lunch at Applebees as I had coupons for $ off (our lunch cost us $5).
On my walk up the trail where I take the dogs I discovered that a bunch of garbage had been dumped, which it looked to me as if it was done this past summer as the bags are already deteriorated and the garbage is strewn all over the woods. I mentioned it to housekeeping, maintenance and some office lady; that it should have been cleaned up already. Even tho they said that they think the people from Whitney Resorts dumped it, I told that they could not prove that and since it now on TT property, they are responsible for cleaning it up. We probably won’t be back until the end of January, if then, so I don’t know if I’ll ever find out if it gets cleaned up.
November 7, 2019. Wrote a letter to the President and CEO of Thousand Trails telling her about the garbage and how it made me feel; I mentioned the roads and electrical boxes as well. I printed out a picture of the garbage and sent along a map of where the garbage is located. I wonder if I will hear back from her??
This morning while walking the dogs it was still dark even though the time has changed, sunrise still is not until 6:50 am, and we get out of the house earlier than that. So this morning near the point Lucy went after a critter which turned out to be a skunk, and Hayley was not too far behind her. But she got the most of the spray and Hayley a little. I am glad I had hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and was able to wash their faces right away upon getting back to the trailer. Even so, they still smell.
Also, a front is coming through today and the weather started getting colder by mid-morning. Could not give them a bath, but had to wash Lucy off as she went under the trailer to roll. To top that off, it rained all night and our sight was full of water and mud, which was also under the trailer where Lucy decided to roll.
Had a doctor’s appointment this morning to do my yearly Medicare Assessment, and go over my bone density test. That was still OK, but not as good as last year. I will continue with my calcium and I think should start with weight bearing exercises in my legs.
Getting home our site was getting worse with a puddle of water with mud under it. Jim went to the office to see if we could get some gravel, but they don’t have gravel, only more of the wet muddy sand that is all over the park. We moved a bunch of stuff and one of the guys brought in a few shovelfuls of the muddy stuff. But since he did not displace the water into the grass, he just dumped the sand into the water, which ended up turning to mud. I just got pissed at that; Jim said if he would have done what he suggested, it would not have been a mud pit. So we ended up moving straight forward into another site which is green and dry.
Tuesday the 5th Jim had an elastagraph at the hospital in Granbury. This was done to check any fibrous growth in his liver. His doctor is concerned about the amount of alcohol he drinks and the state of his liver. Then last night he had a device on his wrist and attached to a finger to monitor his breathing so see if he has sleep apnea.
November 11, 2019. Today a cold front headed down from the north bringing a bit of rain but lots and lots of wind and cold, cold weather. This morning when I went out at 6:30am to walk the dogs it was in the 60s, and then when I went to Walmart around 9am the wind and weather started coming down, and by the time I got home it was in the 40s, and now at 1pm it’s 41 and will be down in the 20’s tonight. Jim stayed home while I went to the store and put water in the tank and put up the hose and filter, so we will run off the tank tonight. Wind is at 22mph with gusts a lot stronger, so we decided it was time to take the awning in. It’s not supposed to rain any more, so we just left everything else out. It’s supposed to be cold for the next couple of days and then start a little warm up.
November 21, 2019. Have not been doing much since last update. Jim did a sleep study with a thing on his wrist connected to his finger to monitor his sleeping to see how many times he does not breathe during the night. According to his doctor, he failed the test so now he has to see a pulmonologist who also does sleep apnea. We have an appointment in January for that.
Have not heard anything about the elastograph that was done on his liver. Evidently, it was not very bad as we have not heard from Dr. Barnes about that.
We are on our second month of Balance of Nature, and Jim is taking 800 IU of Vitamin E twice a day to help his heart.
We are now on our way to Houston for Thanksgiving. Will get to Safari on Sunday and Jacklyn is flying in for the week as well. We will all be getting together Sunday afternoon.
We tried a different route this time to get to Houston, going through Cleburne, then south on I-35 to Hillsboro, then east to Buffalo, Texas. We are staying at Horseshoe RV Park, which is quite small and no good place to walk the dogs, plus it costs $35 a night with no discount. I think we are going back to our other route and stay at a PA near Bryan, Texas which looks like a really nice park, and it also has cable. We are going to try I-45 into and through Houston and since it will be Sunday when we go through, hopefully there won’t be much traffic.
December 1, 2019. Had a nice week with the family. Went over there every evening to visit; the dogs did not seem to enjoy themselves, and just tolerated Lola as she was always hounding Lucy and us. Played some games while there; Karen worked a lot and Josh worked a couple days as well. Jacklyn took care of Ellie & Jason while they were at work.
Had a huge dinner for Thanksgiving. Josh smoked a huge turkey; made his carrot soufflé; had green beans and a broccoli/brussles Sprouts mix roasted. Of course we had onion dill bread. Left over for many days. For my birthday they bought me a little raspberry cheesecake and a light for my bike. They all sang happy birthday to me as well. I had a good day; do not feel 68 though and am going to start exercising more.
We are now on our way back to Glen Rose and decided to take our old route back. Instead of Brazos Valley, we are staying at a PA park called Primrose in College Station, so it’s only $19 a night. It’s an OK park and I am thinking of staying at another park in the area next time we travel through on our way to Houston for Christmas.
December 4, 2019. Jacklyn trying to get her life back on track. We took her phone line and added it to our Verizon account; she cancelled the two iPads she had on her account and the only number left is Joe’s number. He has until December 20 to get his phone onto his own account or it will be disconnected.
She had a court hearing this morning and Joe did not show up. We are concerned he may be changing his assets to overseas or somewhere so it does not look like he has any. But maybe that will show up anyway and he could be held in contempt by trying to hide his assets. He cannot hide forever, even though it looks like he is trying to. He hides and runs when things do not go his way; hoping it will just go away, but it won’t. Jacklyn is patient and will get her share one way or the other. She said she has his friends and phone access, so I told her she needs to get a move on things.
December 8, 2019. Made a pot of chili on Thursday, the day we went to Fort Worth for Jim’s doctor appointment about his duputren’s contracture. The chili included a can of tomatoes and a bag of greens, which included chopped kale, brussles sprouts, among others. It was also very spicy hot. Since we ate lunch out Jim did not eat any dinner, but I had a bowl of chili. Friday night we had the chili, then Saturday pork chops with potatoes and broccoli.
Saturday night Jim’s umbilical hernia puffed out again, and this time he said it was pretty painful, but at least he got it tucked back in. However, now he’s complaining about very bad gas being stuck in his intestines and not moving out. He is having a hard time walking and said it is very, very painful and not moving very fast. So, what is causing the gas? He claims it was the chili because his farts smell like the chili.
Sunday morning he’s up on the couch with no coffee or breakfast. I looked up umbilical hernia, and it’s caused by obesity, lack of stomach muscles and maybe water buildup caused by alcoholism.
As for Thursday and his doctor’s appointment. It went very well with the doctor saying he is a candidate for the surgery. The surgery takes about two hours, and he does one hand at a time, and the recovery is long due to therapy. We are now waiting for his assistant to call to set up the surgery.
Before Jim’s doctor appointment we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. It is a state historic place and is home to the longhorns that are moved down the street twice a day. We made it there just in time to see the last of the longhorns making their way into their paddock. We then decided to walk around and look at some of the shops, and then eat lunch. I was not real impressed with the stockyards as it is now just a tourist attraction with lots of shops and restaurants. The only interesting thing I discovered was the White Elephant Saloon, which was the saloon that filled in as CD’s Bar & Grill in Walker, Texas Ranger.
December 10, 2019. Jim has been out of commission since Saturday night when he pushed his hernia back in and his abdomen got sore – real sore – to the point of not being able to touch it very much and he felt there was a bunch of gas in his gut and he cannot poop. He thought that it was the soup and pie that he ate, and I am hoping that his hernia did not get strangulated. Some of the symptoms of a strangulated hernia are abdominal pain & tenderness, constipation, fever, full, round abdomen, and a red, purple, dark or discolored bulge. Unfortunately, he has four of these symptoms.
Monday when I went to Walmart I bought some magnesium citrate, which is what is used for colonoscopies and he drank that; a massager for his belly; and he has not been eating and just drinking liquids. He has been squirting out poopy liquids all day, but his abdomen still is sore. Right now we did an enema on him; a mild one and hope it works. If nothing helps, he is going to have to see the doctor.
December 14, 2019. By Wednesday I had enough and called Dr. Barnes and explained the situation. The nurse called me back to say Jim needed to get a Stat Lab done and then come in and see Dr. Barnes that afternoon. So we got to Labcorp in the morning and went to see Dr. Barnes at 3:30pm.
As is the case with Dr. Barnes, we sat in our little room until 5:30pm when he finally made it in to see Jim. He looked at the blood tests, commented on the liver test, and finally realized why we were really there. So he had Jim climb up on the table and looked at the hernia and determined that it was probably strangulated. He immediately called the ER to schedule a CT scan for Jim, and we headed over there for the scan. Then they put him in a room to wait for the results. Jim got pricked and electrode to monitor him, and we waited. RN came in and a Dr. came in and finally Dr. Krone read the results and determined Jim was not in immediate danger; told us to come see him the next day, and schedule surgery for Friday.
So that’s what we did. Saw Dr. Krone on Thursday morning and went to Baylor Surgicare on Friday morning. It was a fast and simple procedure, just a fat globule that had gotten encased in his abdomen. The doctor cut that away, sewed Jim up, and now he is recovering here at home. And lo and behold, he actually has a belly button now. I looked at him last night and nearly fell over.
He was not in much pain Friday night and even went to the clubhouse to watch TV, but now on Saturday morning as he had not taken any pain medication, he discovered the pain had set in. So he took a pill and is now resting.
December 20, 2019. Jim laid around all week recovering from surgery; this morning had an appointment with Dr. Krone who said everything looked good but do no lift anything heavier than 10-15 lbs. still. Jim did go shoot pool this afternoon, which he really enjoyed as he had not done that for a couple of weeks.
Saturday we leave Tres Rios for Houston, staying at Green Caye for two weeks. I decided on staying longer than a week as there are some museums and such that I want to visit that we did not get to over Thanksgiving.
December 29, 2019. Arrived at Green Caye on Sunday, December 22, and on Monday I drove up to Josh & Karen’s to babysit Ellie & Jason for the day since both Karen & Josh had to work. Josh had the rest of the week off, so that was the only day I was needed.
Christmas Eve we went to candle light service at Hope Lutheren Church and then went to their house to spend the night so we could get up on Christmas morning with everyone. It was a late night as church was over at 9 and then we sat around talking. Then to bed, but the bed was lumpy and not very comfortable. I don’t know if it was the mattress, mattress topper or pad, but neither Jim nor I slept very much and my back hurt the next day. (I think I will look at the bed and maybe buy a topper for the bed when we come down to stay in January.)
It was nice Christmas morning; Ellie & Jason got a lot of things they wanted such as more Legos for Jason and an iPad for Ellie. I gave Karen the maple syrup we bought while in Ohio; and Josh got two Steve Richlein books. Ellie & Jason were given a duel present of Lasar Tag and a couple of books as well.
Ellie also got a huge set of acrylic paints, so I hope she does some good painting. Jason also can draw very good and did some drawings that he took from something he saw. He did an excellent job on them.
Josh has been given an opportunity to take over a side job from a co-worker who has had this job since 2013, but now has terminal cancer and wants Josh to take over his job. He works specifically for State Farm and looks at foundation issues when a homeowner files a claim. Josh’s job is to go to the homeowner’s house to interview them, take pictures, do an analysis and then write up his recommendation. He wants me to help him with the job since someone has to transcribe the oral part and put it into the report. Right now Rick’s wife has been doing that part, but she is going to give that up, rightfully so, and Karen does not want to do it, so I am going to work for Josh.
We drove up to Rick & Dixie’s house on Saturday (12/28) to meet with them and go over the claim Rick is currently working on with Josh. Dixie will complete this report and probably the next 2-3 and then Josh will take over. Dixie was very nice to talk with and we found out we have a lot in common – legal secretaries; knowledge of cerebral palsy (they had a daughter with the condition who unfortunately died this past year).
Josh is real excited about this new opportunity and is looking forward to it; it will bring in extra money. Each job will be billed to State Farm at about $3,000 or so, and then he has to pay three other people (one of them me). He keeps saying that he wants us to stay at the new RV park that is about 5 minutes from their house. It’s an expensive park, about $65 per night with PA being $34 per night, good for one week. That does not mean it will stay that way as PA resorts change so often.
I have been looking how to develop a website for him and get the transcription format on my computer. I also need to download some templets onto my computer.
Friday night we went to Starlight Cinema with Josh & Karen and Ellie & Jason to see Frozen II. The cinema is pretty cool – the seats are very comfortable and even reclines. They serve food and drinks with the movie as well.
December 31, 2019. Both Josh & Karen had to work Monday & Tuesday so we did not go over as they did not get home until late. New Year’s Eve we stayed at the trailer and did not go out. There was so much fireworks all around us that seemed to last well after midnight. Kept me awake, even though I went to bed at 10:30. Lucy did not like the noise and kept going back and forth between Jim on the couch and me in bed.
The next day we went to the SW Dairy Museum and learned about the history of the dairy industry in Texas. That was pretty cool and we had an ice cream cone at the Creamery. That was some very good ice cream. Unfortunately, we cannot buy it at the store as it is just a distributor item.
Now we are back at Tres Rios. We are in a site we usually do not get into, but it was so crowded this site was the only one open. So far it’s OK; we get enough TV antenna stations and since it has not rained in so long, it’s very dry. Only thing I have a complaint about is the burrs that are all over the place. They seem to be getting worse every time we get here.
I spent all morning on Sunday pulling them up and just about filled a whole white trash bag. When these things dry, they stick to everything and hurt; the get in the dogs’ feet as well.
Had a nice reunion with the women I play cards with; although some are now leaving and others are leaving in a few days.
October 11, 2019. Been here almost a week but have only had time for shopping and playing cards every day. Next week Jim has his annual eye doctor appointment and then we will get our blood work done before seeing our respective doctors the following week.
A major front came through Thursday night. Thursday I got up and it was 75 in the morning and 90 during the day. Thursday night the wind picked up, it started raining and by morning it was 45 outside. The rain had just about stopped when I took the dogs for their morning walk. Got out late too, as the wind kept me up in the middle of the night and by the time I woke up, it was almost 7am.
We decided to move up a few sites – from 79 to 75. Our elevation went up two feet and now we get about 60 TV stations. Plus, there are a lot less burrs. Unfortunately, while we were riding our bikes through the sites, my bike picked up 4 sand spurs in the front tire, so we had to take it off and Jim put patches on the holes. I will have to stay off the grass from now on and stick to riding on the roads.
Have not even gotten to get any work done on the trailer yet. It will be warming up again and the rain leaves, so I will be able to get outside and under the trailer.
October 22, 2019. Have not done any sightseeing since we arrived here at Tres Rios. I did do some cleaning – vacuumed the entire inside of the truck and cleaned out some junk and threw a lot away. Went back under the trailer to look at the front area where I wanted to put more fiberglass paneling, but decided against it for now. It is a huge area, and has electric lines and a pipe from the front leading to both of the tires, which I imagine has to do with the brake line. So I thought maybe I would just paint it again.
Had my annual physical exam and mammogram. Mammogram turned out good; my blood work turned out good as well, but my thyroid is still not low enough. Doctor thinks my coffee may be interfering with the pills, so now I have to take them when I first get up, long before I start drinking my cup of coffee while walking the dogs. I started that this morning, so I think I will check in a couple of months to see if it has made any difference.
Jim’s blood work was not as good as we had hoped with the green powder vits he has been taking along with the beet powder. There may be just too much added sugars which may counteract the benefits. So I decided to start us on Balance of Nature, which is organic veggies & fruits, and look for my protein powder without whey and added sugar, and our Metamucil, which also has sugar in it and food coloring.
This past year we have been on Original Medicare with a separate drug plan, and a Cigna supplement. Between the drug plan and Cigna, we have been paying close to $150 per month. I had signed up for Cigna and then talked to one of our fellows RVers here at Tres Rios who told me about the Humana PPO plan she was on. Wish I had talked to her before signing up for Cigna, but since I did not, had to wait until this month during the enrollment period to change.
Was using an agent called Boomer Benefits but was not happy that they did not steer me towards this Humana Plan and instead said that I needed the supplement and not an Advantage plan. I decided to call Humana directly and after two hours on the phone this morning with them, changed our Medicare plan to the Humana PPO plan starting January 1 for $18 a month, which will include our drug plan as well. So now it will cost us $36 a month for our added medical coverage, instead of $150, saving us $114 a month.
October 24, 2019. Jim had his doctor appointment Tuesday the 22nd. His blood pressure is about the same, but his cholesterol and LDL went up. Also, his white blood cells were high and the doctor thinks his liver is heading toward cirrhosis. Told Jim to quit drinking again, and he has cut way down. The box of wine is still unopened and he has been drinking V8 for lunch. We have been making him tea in the evenings.
We have an appointment with a hand doctor to have his duputreyns looked at, and hopefully fixed. Had to make that appointment in December so I had to change our travel plans. We were going to stay at Lake Conroe TT for three weeks, but now we are coming back to Tres Rios so we can go to the hand doctor.
Also he is going to have to get a elastigraph to see how fibrous his liver is. Waiting on that call. Doctor also told him to take 800IU of Vitamin E twice a day. Also told him to lose 20 pounds and get down to at least 200 pounds. Doctor wants to check his cholesterol again in January.
On Wednesday we went to Labcorp to get his PSA test. Found out that we need to wait more than 365 days in between PSA tests or Medicare will not pay for it. At our last blood test, we were two days early from his last year’s test. So now I have it written down in my calendar book when to schedule our blood work and appointments for next year.
After Labcorp we went to Walmart to get our pneumonia vaccines. These were our second and last – it is for viral pneumonia as it is harder to treat than bacterial pneumonia, which is treatable with antibiotics. My shot started really hurting by late afternoon and my muscle and arm hurt all night. Did not get much sleep; slept from about 10 to 1, then woke up and felt like I stayed up the rest of the night.
Also have to revamp the time I take my thyroid pills. I have been drinking my coffee too close to when I took them; only 15-20 minutes when I really should wait at least an hour after taking them before drinking any coffee.
Also spent two hours on the phone with Humana and changed our health coverage to their Humana PPO plan. I called Humana direct instead of going through Boomer Benefits. All of our doctors here in Granbury are covered under their plan, plus it includes our drugs. Our premium will be $18 per person per month. We were paying $55.60 for our drug plan and $94 for a Cigna supplement. We will be saving a lot of money each month with this new plan. I’m really glad we are making this change.
October 28, 2019. We are at Lake Whitney for our week out from Tres Rios; back in the site we had last year – A99. It has a high elevation and we are able to get all of the TV stations we got at Tres Rios, plus we don’t have to rescan. WiFi is not as good but it’s acceptable.
Been reading a lot about thyroid and how to get my T4 to start converting into T3. Besides the Balance of Nature, I am going to order Magnesium, Selenium and B Complex. I have also started taking my pills about 5-5:30am and then waiting to drink my coffee until 7am. I think I’ll ask my doctor to send in another blood test in January to see if this has helped. I have also quit drinking wine, which I hope will help heal my liver, since the conversion of T4 toT3 takes place in the liver.
Jim’s test on his PSA came back high – 6.6 (last year it was 4.5). So the doctor is having him take antibiotics thinking maybe it could be a urinary infection. He will get another test in January when he also gets another cholesterol test. Tuesday he has an appointment to get an elastograph to see if his liver is fibrosis. Fibrosis is a condition that reduces blood flow to and inside the liver. He wants to make sure he’s not getting cirrhosis of the liver.
October 31, 2019. It rained for the last three days and cold and dreary so we did not go anywhere. Did the laundry on Wednesday is all. Today we drove down to Waco to visit the Improved Order of Red Men Museum. Also had lunch at Applebees as I had coupons for $ off (our lunch cost us $5).
On my walk up the trail where I take the dogs I discovered that a bunch of garbage had been dumped, which it looked to me as if it was done this past summer as the bags are already deteriorated and the garbage is strewn all over the woods. I mentioned it to housekeeping, maintenance and some office lady; that it should have been cleaned up already. Even tho they said that they think the people from Whitney Resorts dumped it, I told that they could not prove that and since it now on TT property, they are responsible for cleaning it up. We probably won’t be back until the end of January, if then, so I don’t know if I’ll ever find out if it gets cleaned up.
November 7, 2019. Wrote a letter to the President and CEO of Thousand Trails telling her about the garbage and how it made me feel; I mentioned the roads and electrical boxes as well. I printed out a picture of the garbage and sent along a map of where the garbage is located. I wonder if I will hear back from her??
This morning while walking the dogs it was still dark even though the time has changed, sunrise still is not until 6:50 am, and we get out of the house earlier than that. So this morning near the point Lucy went after a critter which turned out to be a skunk, and Hayley was not too far behind her. But she got the most of the spray and Hayley a little. I am glad I had hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and was able to wash their faces right away upon getting back to the trailer. Even so, they still smell.
Also, a front is coming through today and the weather started getting colder by mid-morning. Could not give them a bath, but had to wash Lucy off as she went under the trailer to roll. To top that off, it rained all night and our sight was full of water and mud, which was also under the trailer where Lucy decided to roll.
Had a doctor’s appointment this morning to do my yearly Medicare Assessment, and go over my bone density test. That was still OK, but not as good as last year. I will continue with my calcium and I think should start with weight bearing exercises in my legs.
Getting home our site was getting worse with a puddle of water with mud under it. Jim went to the office to see if we could get some gravel, but they don’t have gravel, only more of the wet muddy sand that is all over the park. We moved a bunch of stuff and one of the guys brought in a few shovelfuls of the muddy stuff. But since he did not displace the water into the grass, he just dumped the sand into the water, which ended up turning to mud. I just got pissed at that; Jim said if he would have done what he suggested, it would not have been a mud pit. So we ended up moving straight forward into another site which is green and dry.
Tuesday the 5th Jim had an elastagraph at the hospital in Granbury. This was done to check any fibrous growth in his liver. His doctor is concerned about the amount of alcohol he drinks and the state of his liver. Then last night he had a device on his wrist and attached to a finger to monitor his breathing so see if he has sleep apnea.
November 11, 2019. Today a cold front headed down from the north bringing a bit of rain but lots and lots of wind and cold, cold weather. This morning when I went out at 6:30am to walk the dogs it was in the 60s, and then when I went to Walmart around 9am the wind and weather started coming down, and by the time I got home it was in the 40s, and now at 1pm it’s 41 and will be down in the 20’s tonight. Jim stayed home while I went to the store and put water in the tank and put up the hose and filter, so we will run off the tank tonight. Wind is at 22mph with gusts a lot stronger, so we decided it was time to take the awning in. It’s not supposed to rain any more, so we just left everything else out. It’s supposed to be cold for the next couple of days and then start a little warm up.
November 21, 2019. Have not been doing much since last update. Jim did a sleep study with a thing on his wrist connected to his finger to monitor his sleeping to see how many times he does not breathe during the night. According to his doctor, he failed the test so now he has to see a pulmonologist who also does sleep apnea. We have an appointment in January for that.
Have not heard anything about the elastograph that was done on his liver. Evidently, it was not very bad as we have not heard from Dr. Barnes about that.
We are on our second month of Balance of Nature, and Jim is taking 800 IU of Vitamin E twice a day to help his heart.
We are now on our way to Houston for Thanksgiving. Will get to Safari on Sunday and Jacklyn is flying in for the week as well. We will all be getting together Sunday afternoon.
We tried a different route this time to get to Houston, going through Cleburne, then south on I-35 to Hillsboro, then east to Buffalo, Texas. We are staying at Horseshoe RV Park, which is quite small and no good place to walk the dogs, plus it costs $35 a night with no discount. I think we are going back to our other route and stay at a PA near Bryan, Texas which looks like a really nice park, and it also has cable. We are going to try I-45 into and through Houston and since it will be Sunday when we go through, hopefully there won’t be much traffic.
December 1, 2019. Had a nice week with the family. Went over there every evening to visit; the dogs did not seem to enjoy themselves, and just tolerated Lola as she was always hounding Lucy and us. Played some games while there; Karen worked a lot and Josh worked a couple days as well. Jacklyn took care of Ellie & Jason while they were at work.
Had a huge dinner for Thanksgiving. Josh smoked a huge turkey; made his carrot soufflé; had green beans and a broccoli/brussles Sprouts mix roasted. Of course we had onion dill bread. Left over for many days. For my birthday they bought me a little raspberry cheesecake and a light for my bike. They all sang happy birthday to me as well. I had a good day; do not feel 68 though and am going to start exercising more.
We are now on our way back to Glen Rose and decided to take our old route back. Instead of Brazos Valley, we are staying at a PA park called Primrose in College Station, so it’s only $19 a night. It’s an OK park and I am thinking of staying at another park in the area next time we travel through on our way to Houston for Christmas.
December 4, 2019. Jacklyn trying to get her life back on track. We took her phone line and added it to our Verizon account; she cancelled the two iPads she had on her account and the only number left is Joe’s number. He has until December 20 to get his phone onto his own account or it will be disconnected.
She had a court hearing this morning and Joe did not show up. We are concerned he may be changing his assets to overseas or somewhere so it does not look like he has any. But maybe that will show up anyway and he could be held in contempt by trying to hide his assets. He cannot hide forever, even though it looks like he is trying to. He hides and runs when things do not go his way; hoping it will just go away, but it won’t. Jacklyn is patient and will get her share one way or the other. She said she has his friends and phone access, so I told her she needs to get a move on things.
December 8, 2019. Made a pot of chili on Thursday, the day we went to Fort Worth for Jim’s doctor appointment about his duputren’s contracture. The chili included a can of tomatoes and a bag of greens, which included chopped kale, brussles sprouts, among others. It was also very spicy hot. Since we ate lunch out Jim did not eat any dinner, but I had a bowl of chili. Friday night we had the chili, then Saturday pork chops with potatoes and broccoli.
Saturday night Jim’s umbilical hernia puffed out again, and this time he said it was pretty painful, but at least he got it tucked back in. However, now he’s complaining about very bad gas being stuck in his intestines and not moving out. He is having a hard time walking and said it is very, very painful and not moving very fast. So, what is causing the gas? He claims it was the chili because his farts smell like the chili.
Sunday morning he’s up on the couch with no coffee or breakfast. I looked up umbilical hernia, and it’s caused by obesity, lack of stomach muscles and maybe water buildup caused by alcoholism.
As for Thursday and his doctor’s appointment. It went very well with the doctor saying he is a candidate for the surgery. The surgery takes about two hours, and he does one hand at a time, and the recovery is long due to therapy. We are now waiting for his assistant to call to set up the surgery.
Before Jim’s doctor appointment we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. It is a state historic place and is home to the longhorns that are moved down the street twice a day. We made it there just in time to see the last of the longhorns making their way into their paddock. We then decided to walk around and look at some of the shops, and then eat lunch. I was not real impressed with the stockyards as it is now just a tourist attraction with lots of shops and restaurants. The only interesting thing I discovered was the White Elephant Saloon, which was the saloon that filled in as CD’s Bar & Grill in Walker, Texas Ranger.
December 10, 2019. Jim has been out of commission since Saturday night when he pushed his hernia back in and his abdomen got sore – real sore – to the point of not being able to touch it very much and he felt there was a bunch of gas in his gut and he cannot poop. He thought that it was the soup and pie that he ate, and I am hoping that his hernia did not get strangulated. Some of the symptoms of a strangulated hernia are abdominal pain & tenderness, constipation, fever, full, round abdomen, and a red, purple, dark or discolored bulge. Unfortunately, he has four of these symptoms.
Monday when I went to Walmart I bought some magnesium citrate, which is what is used for colonoscopies and he drank that; a massager for his belly; and he has not been eating and just drinking liquids. He has been squirting out poopy liquids all day, but his abdomen still is sore. Right now we did an enema on him; a mild one and hope it works. If nothing helps, he is going to have to see the doctor.
December 14, 2019. By Wednesday I had enough and called Dr. Barnes and explained the situation. The nurse called me back to say Jim needed to get a Stat Lab done and then come in and see Dr. Barnes that afternoon. So we got to Labcorp in the morning and went to see Dr. Barnes at 3:30pm.
As is the case with Dr. Barnes, we sat in our little room until 5:30pm when he finally made it in to see Jim. He looked at the blood tests, commented on the liver test, and finally realized why we were really there. So he had Jim climb up on the table and looked at the hernia and determined that it was probably strangulated. He immediately called the ER to schedule a CT scan for Jim, and we headed over there for the scan. Then they put him in a room to wait for the results. Jim got pricked and electrode to monitor him, and we waited. RN came in and a Dr. came in and finally Dr. Krone read the results and determined Jim was not in immediate danger; told us to come see him the next day, and schedule surgery for Friday.
So that’s what we did. Saw Dr. Krone on Thursday morning and went to Baylor Surgicare on Friday morning. It was a fast and simple procedure, just a fat globule that had gotten encased in his abdomen. The doctor cut that away, sewed Jim up, and now he is recovering here at home. And lo and behold, he actually has a belly button now. I looked at him last night and nearly fell over.
He was not in much pain Friday night and even went to the clubhouse to watch TV, but now on Saturday morning as he had not taken any pain medication, he discovered the pain had set in. So he took a pill and is now resting.
December 20, 2019. Jim laid around all week recovering from surgery; this morning had an appointment with Dr. Krone who said everything looked good but do no lift anything heavier than 10-15 lbs. still. Jim did go shoot pool this afternoon, which he really enjoyed as he had not done that for a couple of weeks.
Saturday we leave Tres Rios for Houston, staying at Green Caye for two weeks. I decided on staying longer than a week as there are some museums and such that I want to visit that we did not get to over Thanksgiving.
December 29, 2019. Arrived at Green Caye on Sunday, December 22, and on Monday I drove up to Josh & Karen’s to babysit Ellie & Jason for the day since both Karen & Josh had to work. Josh had the rest of the week off, so that was the only day I was needed.
Christmas Eve we went to candle light service at Hope Lutheren Church and then went to their house to spend the night so we could get up on Christmas morning with everyone. It was a late night as church was over at 9 and then we sat around talking. Then to bed, but the bed was lumpy and not very comfortable. I don’t know if it was the mattress, mattress topper or pad, but neither Jim nor I slept very much and my back hurt the next day. (I think I will look at the bed and maybe buy a topper for the bed when we come down to stay in January.)
It was nice Christmas morning; Ellie & Jason got a lot of things they wanted such as more Legos for Jason and an iPad for Ellie. I gave Karen the maple syrup we bought while in Ohio; and Josh got two Steve Richlein books. Ellie & Jason were given a duel present of Lasar Tag and a couple of books as well.
Ellie also got a huge set of acrylic paints, so I hope she does some good painting. Jason also can draw very good and did some drawings that he took from something he saw. He did an excellent job on them.
Josh has been given an opportunity to take over a side job from a co-worker who has had this job since 2013, but now has terminal cancer and wants Josh to take over his job. He works specifically for State Farm and looks at foundation issues when a homeowner files a claim. Josh’s job is to go to the homeowner’s house to interview them, take pictures, do an analysis and then write up his recommendation. He wants me to help him with the job since someone has to transcribe the oral part and put it into the report. Right now Rick’s wife has been doing that part, but she is going to give that up, rightfully so, and Karen does not want to do it, so I am going to work for Josh.
We drove up to Rick & Dixie’s house on Saturday (12/28) to meet with them and go over the claim Rick is currently working on with Josh. Dixie will complete this report and probably the next 2-3 and then Josh will take over. Dixie was very nice to talk with and we found out we have a lot in common – legal secretaries; knowledge of cerebral palsy (they had a daughter with the condition who unfortunately died this past year).
Josh is real excited about this new opportunity and is looking forward to it; it will bring in extra money. Each job will be billed to State Farm at about $3,000 or so, and then he has to pay three other people (one of them me). He keeps saying that he wants us to stay at the new RV park that is about 5 minutes from their house. It’s an expensive park, about $65 per night with PA being $34 per night, good for one week. That does not mean it will stay that way as PA resorts change so often.
I have been looking how to develop a website for him and get the transcription format on my computer. I also need to download some templets onto my computer.
Friday night we went to Starlight Cinema with Josh & Karen and Ellie & Jason to see Frozen II. The cinema is pretty cool – the seats are very comfortable and even reclines. They serve food and drinks with the movie as well.
December 31, 2019. Both Josh & Karen had to work Monday & Tuesday so we did not go over as they did not get home until late. New Year’s Eve we stayed at the trailer and did not go out. There was so much fireworks all around us that seemed to last well after midnight. Kept me awake, even though I went to bed at 10:30. Lucy did not like the noise and kept going back and forth between Jim on the couch and me in bed.