Surgery Went Well – BUT

AJ, AZ  High 104  Low 84

I need to get this all typed up before I forget it.

We left the house at 4:30 this morning and got checked in at 5:25. It didn’t take long for them to take him up to pre-op prep. When he was all hooked up they took me up and we visited with the anesthesiologist , several doctors (interns?) who were learning how to check his pulse in his feet and mark the feet. They also checked out his lump and marked it all up with purple pens. Then the surgeon came in and went over everything one more time. At 7:30 they sent me back down to the waiting area and took him off to la-la land.

At 9:00 the surgeon came out to talk to me. Told me that Jim was doing really good and the lump turned out to be a seroma which is a collection of fluid that builds up under the surface of your skin. They form after a rather extensive extensive procedure where a lot of tissue is removed or disrupted. This happened back in 2012 when he had his femoral artery in his left leg operated on. The surgeon was able to clean it out and he put a drain in it which Jim will have for a week or so.

Then he did the angiogram to check out the right leg. This is where the BUT comes into play. There is a blockage in his groin area and it could not be fixed with a stent. It is going to require another surgery for him to clean it out and put a patch on it. That means that Jim is still going to have trouble walking. This is not an emergency situation so Jim and I will do some talking to figure out what we want to do.

Our options are to go ahead and head north after he heals from this surgery and then have the surgery when we get back, or to stay here and have the surgery. Our main problem is our driver’s licenses have to be renewed in South Dakota and winter is an issue if we get any later into the year.

It took forever to get him into a room so I finally got home at 2:30, ten hours later. Boy were the girls glad to see me. I had put puppy pads all over the floor so they were okay. Early to bed tonight.

Keeping Occupied

Apache Junction, AZ  High 104  Low 85

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough for either one of us.

In the meantime we’ve tried to find things to keep us from going nuts while we wait. I haven’t been on line for a couple of days so I hope everyone is having a great time.

Jim washed the Bungalow and the truck. (And, of course, it rained last night.) He got a larger plane and has been flying it several mornings. Anything that needs to get done is always done early in the morning before it gets too unbearable.

We’ve watched more movies this last month that we’ve seen in our entire lives. Our library card has been a lifesaver.

We met up with Bob and Jo for lunch at Sal’s Gilbert Pizza. I don’t eat cheese so I don’t eat pizza but I have to admit their pizzas look really good and very interesting. Jo had a ziti pizza and Bob had a spaghetti and meatball pizza. Definitely not your typical pizza. (I didn’t take any pictures so check out Bob's blog.) Jim had a Stromboli that was really good but I had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten.

It was like taking a walk down memory lane. Back in the 1990’s we lived in Kalispell, MT where the county fair was held. There was a food vendor at the fair who sold Italian sausage sandwiches that were fantastic. The sandwich I had at Sal’s was just like that. It had sausage, green and red peppers and onions with Marinara sauce. It was sooo good. Can you tell we’ll be going back there again?

Had to follow up this lunch with an ice cream treat. We ended up at Udder Delights. I don’t eat ice cream (it’s a dairy thing) but everybody else said it was really good.

We also went out to dinner with two other couples from here in the park. Al and Wilma and George and Melva. We went for Chinese food and followed that up with a visit to McDonald’s for hot fudge sundaes and ice cream cones. Being here all summer does have its perks.

One of the really great things about this time of year in Arizona is that you don’t have the crowds. We don’t need to make reservations anywhere and there are no lines.

Now I’m going to rant just a little bit – We have had four hiker deaths in the last 8 days here in the valley. All four deaths have been related to the heat and lack of water. There was a grandfather who had medical problems which the heat exacerbated and his 12 year old grandson who tried to walk back for help and died of heat stroke. A 29 year old woman was hiking Picacho Peak with her fiancée in 105 degree weather in the afternoon. The other was a women who was hiking one of the peaks surrounding the valley and when she got to the top didn’t feel very good. So she sent her husband and son back down the mountain without her. It took rescuers several hours to find her body.

So what is wrong with people. If you insist on hiking in these extreme temperatures, at least make sure you have plenty of water with you, know your limitations and hike in the cooler temps in the morning. These deaths are so needless; if only some common sense was used.

Enough of my rant. I just feel bad for their families.

I’ll post a quick update tomorrow after Jim gets settled in his room. They are going to keep him overnight.

Scheduled!!

Apache Junction, AZ  High 105  Low 84

Just a quick post to let you know that Jim’s surgery has been scheduled for July 20 at 7:30 a.m. He’ll be at Banner Good Sam hospital. No idea where that is so we will take a run out there so we can find it.

A Very Happy 4th

 Apache Junction, AZ  High 106  Low 82

We had the best potluck here in the park to celebrate the 4th. We had 17 people and enough food to feed four times that many. Tonight we’re staying home enjoying the peace and quiet.

When we camp in Helena we are outside the city limits and fire works can be shot off all times of the day or night for several days before the 4th and a couple of days after. The girls hate the noise and Jim and I don’t get much sleep. Definitely a nice change this year with not much noise and a good night’s sleep.

We haven’t completely become hermits in the heat. We went to dinner with Al and Wilma at Los Gringos Loco. It was “locals appreciation day” and they offered 40% off on food and $2 margaritas. Sure glad we are now considered locals.

We’ve had some clouds in the sky since monsoon season has started so we have actually had some pretty sunsets.

We also joined Paula for dinner one night. She works nights so it’s hard to coordinate getting together

Jim and I both got haircuts and the girls had their nails trimmed. We tried doing their nails ourselves but that turned into a complete disaster. Luckily we found a groomer here in AJ that only charges $5 per dog to do their nails. Best deal ever.

Jim got a graphic for the rear window on the truck topper. Bet you’re all surprised it’s a walleye.

We’ve had some break-ins and theft happening here in the park this summer. It seems that all the parks are having problems. We had four sheds that were broken into and we won’t know what all is missing until the people return this fall. We do know a small refrigerator was taken along with a couple of bicycles and a TV. Very frustrating. Not much the police can do except a drive through once in awhile.

The monsoon season has arrived but other than wind, lots of lightning and a little rain we haven’t seen much of it here in AJ yet. We did have a wicked wind the other night and were rockin’ and a rollin’.

That’s it from our little corner of the world.

Surgery Date Progress

Apache Junction, AZ  High 110  Low 89

We saw the vascular surgeon this morning and surgery will be scheduled for the week of July 13. They need to work with the hospital and the insurance company to get all the paperwork and approvals taken care of. When that is done they will call us with the date for surgery. Making progress.

The following is really for my records and may not be of interest to anyone else.

The surgeon came into the room and told us he was having problems with his computer loading Jim’s information. He sat down and asked Jim a lot of questions about his symptoms and how he ended up getting referred to a vascular surgeon. We walked him through the nightmare of doctor appointments and tests and told him that both Dr. Reuss and Dr. Ross had told us that Jim has a blockage in the artery in his right leg. We also discussed the surgery Jim had done on his left leg in 2012 and the large lump in his groin area that showed up after the surgery.

He then gave up on his computer and went out of the room to use a different computer. When he came back in, he told us that he doesn’t believe that Jim has a blockage. At this point I started to cry from frustration. He did apologize for the run around that we have had but tried to explain that cardiologists don’t understand femoral arteries and blockages. The cramping in Jim’s leg is not symptomatic of a blockage because it is in his upper leg and with a blockage the cramping would be in his calf.

He advised us that the lump on Jim’s left groin should be removed. He said if it was his Dad, he would remove it. We agreed with him although two other doctors had told us it was nothing to worry about. When Dr. Seigrist performs the surgery to remove the lump he will also do an angiogram down into Jim’s right leg. That will give us a definite answer on whether there is a blockage or not.

They will keep him overnight in the hospital. Don’t really know how long the recovery will be because it depends on what they find.

Once the surgeon determines whether or not there is a blockage, we will meet with him to discuss some reasons why Jim’s leg cramps when he walks.

So we are waiting once again but at least this time it is for a hospital room. Definitely progress.

We don’t have very many pretty sunsets this time of year but we had one the other night that was worth saving.

Happy Father’s Day

Apache Junction, AZ  High 112  Low 84

I thought this was such a great idea. The Young Women in Church made these for all the fathers and grandfathers.  They used an envelope and then decorated it with a tie. The Big Hunk was in the envelope along with a sheet of paper.

They had asked all of the children to fill in the blank – My Dad/Grandpa is a “Big Hunk” because _____.

Some of their answers are hysterical.

he honks the fire truck horn

he works

he jiggles his tummy

he’s handsome and awesome

he has big muscles

he can do a cartwheel

he’s a dentist and makes fake teeth for people

he lets me do stuff my mom won’t let me do

he has a truck

And many of them said it’s because he loves me.

Many of you commented that we should head up to Montana and have Jim’s surgery in cooler weather. We actually talked about it and we both agree that’s not something we want to do for several reasons. Jim really likes the doctors down here and does not want to start all over again. It may be hot down here but Billings, MT is having storms on a regular basis with warnings of high winds, hail and even tornadoes. We do not want to sit in our son’s driveway for six weeks or more. I would drive both him and his wife crazy. That’s just the way I am. So we are here until this is over with.

I hope all the Dad’s out there had a fantastic day. Normally Jim fixes chicken wings on the grill for Father’s Day but that’s not happening this year. I won’t let him be outside that long. So we’ll have homemade Szechwan Chicken.

I Thought We Were Making Progress – NOT!

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Trying to Beat the Boredom

Apache Junction, AZ  High 105  Low 79
I’m trying to find little projects to keep Jim busy while we wait for the medical field to get their act together.
The ceiling strip came unglued so I had Jim climb up and put some glue on the strip. The hammer was a perfect fit to balance on the top of the slide and hold the strip in place until the glue dried. Now let’s see what else I can come up with to keep him out of trouble.
Hot again today. But let me tell you, I’ll take 106 with no humidity over 80 with 90% humidity any day. It may be like sticking your head in an oven but at least I can still breathe. One of the problems we do have is that the ground is so hot on the girls’ paws. Not much shade out where we are supposed to walk them so most of our trips are really short.
Except in the morning when it’s still kind of cool. That’s when Scooter and Jim go rabbit, lizard and coyote hunting. We have two coyotes that are living their lives right outside our park – dining on all the rabbits we have in this area. So far they haven’t been aggressive – probably because they have been so well fed. Skitz and I saw one of them when we went out, bout half way down the sidewalk. Skitz barked and then headed back for the gate as fast as she could, all thoughts of peeing gone.
We finally had an appointment with Jim’s surgeon today. After looking over the paper work he wasn’t happy with Jim’s kidney function. He had Jim donate more blood and now we wait once more. The surgeon will see the test results and he may have to refer us to a kidney doctor. Once we get the kidney situation straightened out, we can get surgery scheduled. That probably won’t be for several weeks yet.
Boredom may do us in before anything else. Jim feels really good except his leg cramps from lack of blood flow when he walks.

 


Apache Junction, AZ  High 114  Low 82
It’s hot. Yesterday Phoenix tied their record of 115 on June 17 and we’re headed that direction again today. I sure am glad we bought that second air conditioner.
Jim has been out flying his plane a couple of mornings. He had a rather hard landing and we had to wait for the hobby shop to get in the gear box he needed. He now has two of them – just in case.

We bought new awning fabric. Ours was so rotted that it was barely hanging on by a thread.

With the sun so far north, it beats down on the door side of the RV all afternoon so having an awning really helps keep the rig cooler. Jim did all the work to get the old awning down and the new one ready to go.

This morning (5:30 a.m.), Al came over and helped Jim put the new awning up. With his help it took less than an hour to get it all ready to go. You really do have to get started early in the morning so you can finished any outside work before it gets too hot.
I sure am grateful they haven’t left yet for the summer.






This is our pretty new awning.

Also the awning offers some shade on the rocks so the girls don’t burn their feet when they have to go out. Let me tell you, they are really quick. Well, except for in the very early mornings when Jim and Scooter go out to unlock the gate and go rabbit hunting.
We’ve seen a couple of good movies – The Imitation Game and The Cokeville Miracle.
We are both pretty discouraged this afternoon. We finally found out that his kidneys, although not great, are okay for him to go ahead and have surgery. We had an appointment scheduled with the surgeon on the 24th but after we got that go ahead Jim called and was able to get an appointment for this morning.
After the awning was up and we had our showers, we headed out for Phoenix and the doctor’s office. (This is going to be a rant – just warning you.) We didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor. He came into the room, read the reports and said – I can’t help you. I need to refer you to a specialist. And that was it. I know doctors are busy. But this was beyond ridiculous. I’m trying to justify the fact that he doesn’t take the time to read the reports he gets before he’s  sitting in the office with the patient. But he could have so easily had his office call us and tell us he couldn’t do the surgery and needs to refer us to a specialist several days ago. I know that’s not feasible in this day and age but I’m still really not happy about it.
The specialist’s office called us to make an appointment and the earliest appointment we could get was July 15. Jim asked if there was another surgeon we could see sooner and we have an appointment on June 30. 12 more days of waiting.
And that’s it from AJ.