Slight Reversal – Washington then Oregon

With mom’s breast cancer diagnosis, we have decided to tour Washington then Oregon instead of heading up the Oregon Coast into Washington.  So our plans now are to leave early Sunday evening, go as far as Corning, California, straight through the rest of Northern Cal and most of Oregon on Monday where we would camp just south of Portland, then continue our run up to the Olympia area where we will slow down, pick up highway 101 to Port Angeles where we can take a day trip via the ferry over to Butchart Gardens.  (if you click on the link, it will bring up a small pdf which shows a map and provides some of the history of the gardens).  From there we will follow 101 slowly down the coast into Oregon, with the option of heading on back quickly if the surgery happens quicker than any of us anticipate.

In a dozen days from now mom visits her surgeon, and two days before that she is having a “ct scan” of the area where her cancer was 20 years ago.  Time will tell how this is going to go, until then it is a waiting game and time for prayers.  She is very appreciative of those who have made contact with her through facebook, and I know she reads the comments on our blog too.  Her facebook  page is open to the public, and she will “friend” just about anyone who asks.  (facebook links above are to her page)  Of course, one has to be registered on facebook to really use and view facebook, which is one of my pet peeves about facebook.)

Sandy and Patti are having a little “sister time” up in Reno this weekend, they like to go up there at least once a year and have “spa time”, as they call it.  Not the biggest gamblers in the world…Sandy rarely plays anything over a penny slot, but they both enjoy their time up there now and then, and this time it is just the two of them.  Once they come back Sunday, it will free us up to head on out, and instead of fighting the traffic on Monday to get over to I-5, we will take off Sunday around 4 or 5.   As for the “pink ribbon” in the Reno picture, well, I think I am going to add that to my pictures this trip in memory of my mom…  

Mom Takes Bigger Steps – New Motorhome Chairs

Mom got in and out of bed many times today, sat up for over two hours, read the newspaper for the first time since Sunday (she reads it EVERY DAY), and had a pretty darn good day.  It hurts to walk, but the pain was much less than yesterday...tomorrow will be even better.

    

Sisters are in Las Vegas to see Celine Dion.  Every year after their busy season (both are very busy from just before Christmas through April with their jobs) they try and get away for a few days to a week.  This time they went down to Southern California to visit relatives, and then over to Vegas to “just see Celine” (and what ever else happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas).  Mom asked me to ask Patty to take of selfie of themselves and send it via text.  Well, here is mom looking at their selfie text.  Later, Patty sent one of Sandy playing the penny slots, and from the looks it, she must have won it big.

Tomorrow mom transfer to Pine Creek Care Center, skilled nursing home for physical and occupational therapy.  Marcia had a little over 3 weeks of this when she had her hip replaced a few years ago, and we are hoping that mom can get home in 2.  Pine Creek is just over 2 miles from their home, so it is an ideal spot for this….and Medicare.gov rates Pine Creek 5 out of 5 stars.  It is nothing fancy, but they have what it takes, and the staff were real real nice to dad and I when we visited today.

After we left the hospital we visited the La-Z-Boy just down the street.  We have decided to ditch the couch and get two recliners, which should be in by late July.  La-Z-Boy recliners have a feature that most do not….the back can be easily removed making them easier to get into RVs. They have a lifetime guarantee on frame, springs, reclining mechanism….but not on padding or upholstery.  The guarantee does not include labor, but the parts under the guarantee can be typically easily replaced by a handy person.

 

The recliners do not swivel or rock, per our request, and they will be leather and a color similar to above.  They will be made in July, should be delivered by late July, early August…we will know in a week or so if we were able to lay claim to the two already scheduled to be built in mid-July.  If not, then ours will be built in August.  La-Z-Boy recliners are not cheep….but as they say, “You get what you pay for.”  Since they are all over the USA, if we run into problems we should be able to get things taken care of easily enough.  With this addition, now we just need to get the engine tuned up, hoses checked and probably replaced, and I think we will be ready for an Alaska trip next year. 

Mom’s Baby Steps – Computer Hickups

No pictures of mom today, but she did get up a couple of times…took a few steps.  I could tell that it really hurt like “heck”, but she drove through the pain and did what she needed to do.  Doctor came by and told her that day one is the worse, day two is better, day three even better….Marcia had the same experience two years ago so we know what he was talking about.  Tomorrow we have to check out a few Skilled Nursing places where she can have her physical therapy for a week or so.  There are four within 4 miles of their house, and I am confident we will find one.  Wish “they” would have given her a list prior to today so this could have been worked out ahead of time…but mom was thinking it would be done at Sutter, which has a physical therapy area, but it is for spinal conditions…not for knee replacements.

Took my laptop to the hospital this morning so that I would have something to do as mom rested.  Well, the darn thing would not fire up…nothing….nada!!!  The caps lock has a little light, and it would blink five times. Nothing on the screen whatsoever.  When I got back I did some quick research and it says that I have a system board failure.  So I am going to find a refurbished computer just like I have, transfer the hard drive into it, and I will be back up and going.  Then I will get a new motherboard and put into it for use as a backup.  I am currently on a backup laptop that we brought with us…but it does not have Adobe Essentials and a few other programs…nor doe is have all the pictures over the past 3 years.  Of course I had a back-up to it all…in the other motorhome, the one that burned up. I just never did get around to backing it up.  The good news, the hard drive is probably ok, and I will get it all back.  Fingers Crossed, of course.

Mom’s Surgery Went Well

My 84 year old mother had hip replacement surgery today (Monday) at the Sutter Roseville Medical Center.  I followed mom and dad over to the hospital at 5:30….she needed to be there by 6:15 and to her, that means 5:45, which is when we arrived.  By 6:30 I headed back to my sisters to pick up Marcia and we arrived back there by 7:45.  We went into pre-op to give her one last hug for the morning, and off to breakfast in the hospital cafeteria we went, while dad headed home for an hour or so himself.  By 9:45 dad was back, and around 10:00 he asked hospital staff how things were going….  “Oh, she is in recovery already, should be in a room by noon.”

By 11:30 we were waiting in her hospital room for her to show up, and before noon they wheeled her in.  After a hour’s visit Marcia and I headed back to the motorhome to get some rest, and we were back by 3:00 so that dad could go home and do the same.  In the meanwhile, we had contacted all of the family who were working or who are out-of-town.  My cousin Donald and his wife Sherri came by as Marcia and I were headed home for our break, and my brother Bob came by while dad was home for his break.  Mom had a few cat naps, was very responsive, and had one pain shot around 2:30.  She could not have any narcotics until after 8:30 pm due to the type of medication they used during surgery, but she did not seem to need more.  At 6:00 dad came back, and Marcia and I went to eat dinner.  By 7:30 we met dad in the parking lot so that I could store his little scooter away in his car and off to home we all went leaving mom there to get some needed sleep.

We know that mom has been in the thoughts and prayers of many of our friends and family, and for that, we are eternally grateful.  Thanks to all.  Now the hard, long process of rehab will start.  She will be in the hospital for a few days, then to rehab, then rehab at home.  This will be a long, hard process....prayers still appreciated for her health, strength, and ease of her pain which will surely be hard to endure.