Sunday, June 17, 2018 to Thursday, June 21, 2018

Sunday, June 17, 2018 to Wednesday, June 21, 2018

Sunday, June 17, 2018
Today is moving day from Hillside RV Park in Oswego, KS to Treasure Lake Resort in Branson, MO where we will be parked for at least 3-4 weeks, maybe 5.  Dean's surgery is Monday, June 18th.  We know we will remain in Branson until Dr. Anderson releases him to pull the rig.  He has a follow-up appointment with Dr. Vorheis on July 23.  We are not sure if we will remain in Branson until then or not.  We may return to Oswego for awhile before returning to Branson for the last follow up appointments with doctors before we head east to see our son and his family in New York.  We have finally decided to quit trying to make plans on when to leave and just wait to make plans once the final doctor appointments are over.  The original route we planned to take has been scrapped, and we will now follow a pretty straight route to get to Matt's, with several stops along the way.  We talked about rushing once we got the chance to go, but have decided we just need to slow down and we'll get there when we can.  This life is supposed to be about slowing down and enjoying each and every day.  Rushing all of the time is stressful for both of us and we want to be relaxed and enjoy our time with the kids once we get there.  That's more important! 

We decided I would drive the van and lead the way to Branson.  We will be making quite a few trips back and forth to Springfield, and once Dean has his one week checkup, we know we will want to do a few things here in Branson.  I think we'll save on fuel purchases by using the van versus the truck and even though I don't mind driving the truck, I prefer driving the van.  We are in the process of making a decision whether to sell the van or not.  We really do not have anywhere to store it for long periods of time while we are traveling, we don't want it sitting out since it's almost always been garaged and we really don't use it except when we are in Oswego.  I have enough family in Oswego that if I had to have a vehicle to use if Dean was using the truck, I could probably find someone to either take me or let me use one of theirs.  Since we are together most of the time, I don't imagine that would happen often, and knowing I won't have it, we could arrange our schedules around that for the most part.

Misti stopped by this morning to wish Dean a Happy Father's Day and we had a nice visit with her before she left for church.  We left the park around 10. 

I had to stop to use the restroom once we reached Springfield.  Dean didn't need to stop so he went on, arriving at Treasure Lake just a few minutes before I pulled in.  (I stopped at Freddie's to use the restroom and decided I'd get something to drink.  When I went to pay the young man waiting on me asked if that was all I was having.  When I said yes, he said it's on me.  Wow, that's the first time that has ever happened to me.  I thanked him and said God Bless You - he said, The same to you.  I need to pass this on when I have the opportunity.)  

At the office we paid for a 3 week stay, parked the truck and Bentley in the overflow parking, then took the van to find a site.  Fortunately we found someplace that worked perfect for us, especially since we have two vehicles.  It is a pull through site which is always a big plus in Dean's book, with room to park the truck behind us, and enough room for at least two cars to park in front.  It is a really wide site.  When you register the office gives you a card to place on the numbered post at your site, so before we went back to get Bentley we did just that, so it wouldn't be taken by someone else while we were gone.

Once we had Bentley parked Dean set up outside and I got to work setting up the inside.  Dean is on an all liquid diet today due to his upcoming surgery tomorrow.  I made him Campbell's chicken and noodle soup - he drank the broth and I ate the noodles.  Misti sells Advocare products including protein shake mixes.  I had purchased chocolate peanut butter ones from her awhile back.  Dean had one for breakfast and another tonight for supper and it really helped him make it through the day. 


Monday, June 18, 2018
We left Treasure Lake around 8 this morning and arrived at Cox Hospital South about 8:45.  Dean has several family members arriving and we wanted to be sure to see them before he goes to the Surgery Prep room.  It was about 9 or a little after when Joyce (sister), Marie & Jerry (sister & her husband) were walking toward the front door.  His brother Larry & wife Sandi arrived a short time later.  Brett and Misti both arrived a little before 10, when we expected Dean to be called back for surgery prep.  Dean checked in for surgery about 9:30 or so.  We waited quite a while before a lady walked up and asked us if we had a pager and if it had gone off.  Yes we did and no it had not gone off.  She asked the name and come to find out Dean had a defective pager - they had been trying to page him.  We headed back to his surgical prep room.  We had sufficient time there for most everyone to come back to see him before they took him to surgery.  

Dr. Anderson said the surgery would be about 2 hours long, and shortly after the two hours passed he came out to see us and let us know things went well.  Just shy of two hours later a young lady came to tell me he had been taken to his room.  When we got there, I knocked on the door and went in.  Dean was awake but not very coherent.  We had the same conversation over and over, reminding me a little bit of the movie Groundhog Day.  What a relief the next morning when he asked me the same questions for the last time.  While I knew it was the medicine talking it was a bit disconcerting to hear him ask me every 30 minutes or so the same questions over and over.

Fortunately, Dean had a private room this time, and we both had a good night's sleep.


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

When Dean's nurse came in this morning to take his vitals, about 4 am, Dean was glad to find out I was in the room with him - asleep on the couch.  He could not see me and thought he was alone, and wasn't even sure where he was, thinking he might still be in recovery.  

I knew all was well when he started asking for something to eat!  Thank you God for taking care of my husband...and he really has.

Dr. Anderson stopped a little before 8.  He told Dean he would see him on Tuesday, June 26.  He is to stop downstairs from his office to have an x-ray before coming up for his appointment.  He said they sent samples to pathology but he thinks he will be fine.  He has to wear a catheter until the appointment on Tuesday.  Dr. Anderson said it was fine to walk as much as he wanted as it would be good for him.  After having lunch, we were released to head home a little before 1.  

We went for a walk later in the day, making a quick stop to visit with friends Frank and Joyce, who are parked a row over from us.  They have been wonderful, checking on us to see if we need anything.

Today is my son, Marc's birthday.  What a blessing he has been to me.  It's hard to believe my kids are grown with kids of their own and doing such great things.  Many of you follow Marc's Facebook Page - Sawshack Redemption where he posts pictures of many wood products he makes for sale.  I am so proud of him, for the husband and father he is, for the work he does and for doing such a great job of checking in on me and Dean regularly.  I love you Marc!

A little later there was a knock at the door.  When I answered it there was a woman standing there who looked very familiar but I could not place her.  She had noticed our Labette County tag and originally being from the area she decided to just say hello.  Well, to make a long story short, I'm so glad she did.  She was a sister to our former neighbor down the street, Lee;  and, I had visited with her and her husband many times while I was working for the City of Oswego when they purchased property in town and were thinking of building a new home there.  No wonder Marilyn looked so familiar.  She walked back over to their Excel 5th wheel (that they purchased from the same dealer we purchased our Heartland from) to get her husband, Bill.  Dean came out and we set at our picnic table for an hour or more where we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  It sure helped the evening pass.  Thanks again Bill and Marilyn for stopping by.  It was great to see both of you again!

During our conversation we told them about our Escapees camping club and encouraged them to join, and we sure hope to see them at a future rally or casual campout.

We called it a night about 10:30.


Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Today was pretty quiet.  We walked a bit this morning, and again later in the day.  For the most part Dean watched TV and I spent some time doing laundry and cooking.

It started raining not too long after our walk and rained almost the entire day.  

Later in the day, around 4:30 or so, and after the rain stopped, we went for a ride just to get Dean outside for awhile.  I had called our UPS mail service yesterday in Pittsburg, KS to have our mail sent to the Branson post office via General Delivery.  We decided to see where it was located and then drove on to Hollister to drive through the "older" downtown area just to check out what shops are there today.  It's been many years since we had driven by.  There were a few changes.  I just love the architecture of the buildings there.

We have received a few phone calls with folks checking on Dean and several comments on Facebook or Messenger asking how he was getting along.  We do appreciate each and everyone of you who has said prayers for Dean and I as we have gone through this trial in our lives.  Your prayers and thoughts have been so helpful to us and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  We are very pleased with how he is doing and know this will all pass soon and we will return to our everyday life.


Thursday, June 21, 2018

We made a trip to Walmart today - partly because we needed a few things, but again just a chance to get out.  We took our time walking through the store, looking for things on the list before finally heading back to Bentley.

What a beautiful day it was today, as it was much cooler with a nice breeze.  We set outside for a short while.  Dean is still doing good but wasn't feeling quite up to par today.  He watched a number of shows on TV and later in the afternoon I walked over to Frank and Joyce's motorhome to visit for awhile.  Joyce and I set outside and it was so refreshing to be out of doors with a cool breeze, and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Dean was feeling much better when I returned.  I fixed dinner and then we watched a movie, "The Mountain Between Us" which was pretty good.  We ended up purchasing one moth of Internet services from Treasure Lake so we could stream movies from various Internet apps like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc, saving our hotspot for writing the blog and downloading pictures .... now I just need to take some pictures to share!

Another day passes with Dean feeling better everyday.  Thanks be to God for his healing and his love for us.