Whew!!!

Well, we drove home without any incident and went to the doc on the following Monday. Our doc was concerned but not overly so. When asked why the Phoenix docs made it sound as if he might not even make it home, he shrugged and thought that they were just being overly cautious. He scheduled a nuclear stress test for Bob and carefully explained what it would show and what he was looking for. (He is so good at that.) The doc told us that he would call immediately if there was something critical, otherwise it would be a few days. Bob went for the test last Thursday. (I wound up home with a cold and a temperature.) We kept waiting for the phone to ring. When it did not ring we tried to tell ourselves that it was good news, but it is hard to keep waiting like that. While we waited we talked about how frightened we were about me trying to hook up the trailer and drive it home if Bob was too sick to do so. We both agreed that we would feel safer if we had a class C motorhome (one built on a truck chassis). Then if something happened I would not have to deal with trailer hook up stuff - which I could do if all went well, but could not do if there were any problems. So we started researching Class Cs. We looked for used ones because new ones are SO expensive. We drove around to many of the dealers and got a feel for what was out there. We had hoped to have a shorter one that would fit into the driveway, but none of the floor plans had any kitchen counter space - my one big criteria was enough room to put up the dishpan - that's all - it didn't seem like much, but we could not find it. So we started looking at bigger ones. They were more expensive, but we decided that this would be the last RV we bought so we needed to get what we wanted. We found one online that we really liked and called to make sure that it was still available and were told that it was out for the weekend on "demo." that didn't sound good. It was either a rental or it was close to being sold. finally we found one that was a really good price. We went to look yesterday and it was in really good shape with very low mileage and everything we needed - counter space, above the cab bunk for the grandson, double sink, oven. And this one has a walk around bed so that I don't have to crawl on the bed to change the sheets or make it. (I got pretty good at it, but it was still hard to do.) So we traded in the trailer and the pickup for the class C. We decided that we really do not need to have two cars - it is so rare that we both need to go somewhere at the same time. We can get a tow bar to pull my car when we go for long trips. So today I spent the morning pulling stuff out of the trailer. While I was doing that the phone rang. . . . and it was Bob's doc. The doc said that the test was a very good picture and it shows nothing wrong with the heart. That's right NOTHING WRONG. The doc had no explanation for why the EKG had changed. He said that there was no evidence of a heart attack or of any ischemia. I asked if it could have been the stress from being so dehydrated. He thought it was possible. I asked what happened next and he said that we could redo his EKG at some point in the future and see if it reverted back, but other than that, nothing. He said that Bob could stop taking the beta blockers and not worry about it. I couldn't stop grinning. I was so relieved. So now we get back to our lives.

Much better

We are both much much better today. The symptoms have subsided. We have talked to our Doc in Portland (actually his nurse, but close enough) and faxed him the results. Bob has an appointment on Monday. we will leave here on Thursday morning and take our time going home. But Bob felt good enough to actually go to the pool and take a swim. It was delightful.

The adventures keep coming

Well I just reread my last post and was surprised at how positive it sounded. Bob was not better. He was continuing downhill. He could not keep any liquids down and was vomiting and had diarrhea. We finally called the advice nurse from our insurance company and she was very clear that I should take him to the hospital to get rehydrated. So at 7 pm we left for the hospital. Luckily there is one less than 3 miles away. The RV place was very good about giving us printed directions to things, including the hospital. There was a long wait in the ER waiting area. Bob looked like he was getting weaker and weaker. when they finally took us in they moved pretty fast and began rehydrating him, giving him antibiotics, taking EKGs, blood work, CT scans. They were even worried about the wound on his foot from walking on a pebble. At about 11 pm they told him that they wanted him to stay overnight. They htoiught he might have pneumonia. By 1 pm he was in a room. Although they would have allowed me to stay the night, I decided to go home because I was not feeling well. I did not sleep well that night and got up with a pretty good headache. I got back to the hospital. by this time the doctor had come in to see Bob and told him that it was not pneumonia, it was just the old scar from his surgery. But then another doctor came in and told him that they were worried about his heart. While I was there he had diarrhea several times and the last one was black, i.e., bloody. So we told the nurse and she ordered occult blood test for the stool. Guess what, it came back positive. By now I was feeling pretty bad. So I went home, got in bed, and immediately started getting nauseous. After I had a pretty violent vomiting epid=sode I wanted to make sure that Is tayed hydrated. So I stayed in the air conditioned trailer all day and kept drinking as much as I could. At about 5 pm Bob called and said that they wanted him to stay another night because of the bloody stool and the heart issues. By 8 pm I was feeling better. I got a pretty good night's sleep and got the hospital at about 7 am. (I wanted to be there when the docs came in.) I asked Bob a lot of questions about what the docs had said. He didn't know the answers and told me that he was confused by it all. I told the nurse that Bob was confused and she came in and repeated what the docs had said. They were asking a cardiologist and a GI specialist to do a consult. Bob was feeling pretty poorly and they were still giving him saline by IV so it seemed good that he was still there. His appetite was still pretty bad. Finally the cardio doc came and shoed us the EKGs. They were clearly irregular and we had no idea if that was normal for Bob. She wanted to do further tests. We said okay to a stress test, but they wanted to do somehting more invasive. We talked about it a long time and even called Stef. We decided that if we were going to get that kind of test we wanted it in Portland where our records were. The GI doc wouldn't do anything until the heart issue was resolved. So at about 3 pm, the hospitalist doc came in and gave us all of his records and released him. When I saw the records I understood why they wanted to hospitalize him. He was seriously dehydrated and there were lots of other issues. But he was finally released at about 5 pm. I went and got his prescriptions filled and we tried tos ettle down. Neither of us was feeling very good, but it was better to be home. But we both woke uyp this morning feeling much better. We had a good night's sleep and we both ate a good breakfast. We are going to stay where we are for a few days and then decide what to do next - probably drive home.

Be careful what you wish for

Well, we did want it warmer, but not quite so warm. According to the Weather Stations thermometer it was 105 in the shae this afternoon. Now it is down to 98 (with an 8% humidity). I have always been very hesitant about using air conditioning. I don't like the sound and then I never get used to the warmth. But today I had another reason, besides the heat, to turn on the AC. Last night Bob was sick all night. He vomited at least 6 times. Then in the morning it did not get better. I went for a one hour walk and he told me that he did it three more times. I finally went to WalMart and got some meds, some ginger ale, and some saltines. I don't know what worked, maybe just time, but he was better by about noon. He thought he had a fever so I gave him some DayQuil. I then went to the pool and sat in the sun and in the pool for about 2 hours. I figured that was enough for this white skinned lady. When I came back Bob told me that he had had an accident in his jammies and had put them in the hamper in the bathroom. Well this is a very tiny bathroom and when I stuck my head in, it stunk. I turned on the fan and put in a smelly candle, but it did not help. So in this heat, I trudged over to the laundry and did all our laundry. (It was time anyway, but I was hoping for cooler weather.) The good news is that our AC is really working well and that is helping Bob. He is feeling better. Tomorrow is another day.