Summertime

Sorry folks, I had this sitting in my folder but never posted it, so you will get 2 blog postings back to back.

Retirement is a strange gig.  After 40 years, I am enjoying my first summer off. No summer job, no summer classes, not even summer camp. Aside from just enjoying a summer of relaxing, I have interspersed my time off with medical appointments. So some things stay the same, and some more stay the same.

I decided since Brent got to spend a week hanging out with his cousin Zach, going fishing, and then doing some more fishing, and finally ending the week with fishing, I should get the same grace to go solo and hang out with my brother and his family. I had a doctor’s appointment in Spokane, not an infusion, and figured this would be the perfect time to continue cruising west towards Seattle. The morning of July 20th, my highlander all packed up with honey, canned goods, fish, eggs, and a present for my niece I headed up to Spokane for my appointment and then was ready to head over to Seattle. But nothing ever goes easy. My doctor’s appointment was great. Don’t need to see that particular doctor for another 6 months (in my life that’s a win) and I was feeling solid. So hi ho, hi ho, off to Seattle I go. About an hour and a half in my eyes started to act wonky. Kind of felt like I was on a boat rocking back and forth, or if you’ve ever been in the situation where you are getting tired while driving and your eyes kind of cross, that’s what this felt like. Being a smart person (but not that smart), I pulled over at the nearest exit and thought, maybe I just needed to get up and stretch my legs. I had been up since early morning, drove 3.5 hours to Spokane, met with my doctor for an hour, then was 1.5 hours in to this leg. But nothing is that simple for me. I stepped out of my car to stretch my legs and stumbled like a drunken sailor. Grateful that a cop wasn’t sitting there as there is no way I would’ve passed a field sobriety test. I staggered my way into the gas station that I had pulled over at, grabbed myself some water and went to lay down hoping this dizzy spell would just pass. After a 30 minute rest I thought I would try it again – no such luck. Now I’m not so vain that I can’t admit I had a complete freak out. I googled the nearest ER and the hospital was only a mile away – something I felt comfortable driving.   But again, nothing is that easy. Even though I got the address for the hospital from THEIR OWN WEBSITE, I pulled up to the location to see a construction site, not built, possibly someday might be a hospital. So I call them, and at least their phone number was right, but then the gal is telling me where they are based on location – I AM NOT FROM HERE I tried not shouting at her, just give me your street address and I’ll plug it into my phone. So now I’m 2 miles from the ER but still don’t want to resort to an ambulance ride unless I’m unconscious, so I drive myself. Get parked and shuffle my way in. The good news, after 10 hours of tests, scans, exams – is that I didn’t have a stroke, nor did anything grew in the 5 days since my last MRI. But the bad news is I stayed in that new hospital for 2 nights. Never did figure out what was wrong, but after a couple of days of good drugs and rest, I was ready to drive myself back home (yes, bad decisions). Why would I make these poor choices. Well I was 3+ hours from my brother and 4+ hours from home. Both in opposite directions. I know no one in Moses Lake, WA so I wasn’t willing to just leave my car there hoping someday I would pass back this way. I know my family would’ve rallied and figured something out but I can be stubborn when I want to.  And I’m so over hospitals that the thought of coming back to retrieve my car was not something I wished to do.

So here I am a few weeks later, feeling much better, although I did make a friend drive me to treatment rather then flying solo. I got a good chewing out by my oncologist on needing to make better choices. And I little razzing from my sister-in-law wondering if I’m working on a “Hospitals of the Pacific Northwest Guide”. No, I’m not, but I will say I was impressed with the brand new beds that had cellphone plug ins, a robust menu with lots of choices – although that one might have been because this is one of the only hospitals I was conscious enough to eat, and the huggy bear that they gave me as the heating was broken in my room.

So a little bit of excitement to end a great summer.  I was very bummed not to see my brother and family, but they made up for it visiting me and I was able to finally show my niece how to can fruits. So great to have wonderful family and friends that will step in when I can’t step up.