It’s
nice to be home. Both of us have enjoyed
just hanging out in our house and relaxing.
The first few days we were home we had plenty of things to get caught up
on . . . buying groceries and income taxes!
Those things being behind us we have simply hunkered down and enjoyed
being home. But as everyone knows, life
doesn’t go smoothly all the time and we’ve encountered a few bumps along the
way.
When
we started this blog we promised ourselves we would be transparent about the
good and the bad, the fun and the blasé, the exciting peaks and the challenging
valleys. It’s about our life while
retired and how we react to and learn from it . . . Our Retirement
InSight. So, in full disclosure, while
we were traveling in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, I was sick a good deal of the
time. Naturally, I blamed it on
“tourista” and managed the symptoms but I was not feeling well for most of the
trip. Remembering my Thanksgiving
hospitalization, Bob was very concerned about me, and actually thought about
coming home early. I was determined to
go day by day, and am very thankful for our trip.
However,
one of the worst days I had was the day we were flying home. I nearly collapsed (well, sort of did) in the
airport and the de la Cruz Roja showed
up to offer their medical services.
After getting some cold water and a chair I began to feel better and of
course I was determined to get through security, down the concourse, out to the
gate and onto the plane. Success! After a safe flight home, about 24 hours with
two layovers, I knew I’d survive.
I
immediately got into my physician’s office and he suspected that I had gotten a
gastro bacterial infection while in Nicaragua (our first week) and never really
kicked it. Hopefully, being home, drinking
clean water, eating more normally, and relaxing should help me recover . . .
and a dose of antibiotics couldn’t hurt either.
Good plan.
But
I had a couple very rough days and woke up with crushing chest pain, my arms
tingling, and extreme nausea. Wait! Could this be a heart attack? We were not taking any chances so off we went
to the ER. My second visit in just over
three months and a few days after my 67th birthday . . . boy was I
feeling old that morning!
The
ER is a fast paced place! They waste no
time in hooking up a patient with chest pain to all sorts of monitors and
immediately try to draw blood and start an IV.
Unfortunately, my veins would not cooperate for either but after many
pokes (I think I counted 11) they finally got the IV placed in the back of my
hand. And after about an hour it failed,
or as Bob said “IV gone bad.” The nurses
tried again and again, and finally brought in the PICC nurse who specializes in
difficult placements. She got the IV
placed and off I went for a nuclear stress test (as if I wasn’t stressed
enough.) The nuclear tech said it was a
good thing I’d just had my birthday because he could lower my target heart rate
and it would be easier to complete the test.
I passed.
After
5 hours in the ER and about 7 in the observation room, and a myriad of cardiac
tests, I was released. The cardiac
hospitalist suggested I see a gastric specialist; his conclusion was my heart
is okay (that’s good!) but something’s not working right creating lots of
pressure and therefore angina pain which is easily confused as being a heart
attack. Despite the very stressful day,
I’m glad we took it seriously and checked it out. Given the last few months of gastric problems
it would have been easy to ignore and who knows what might have happened if it
had indeed been cardiac distress. So
much for my mini-health crisis!
One
thing that really annoys me is car trouble!
We take good care of our vehicles but sometimes things happen. Bob came home from Costa Rica (with a sick
wife) and found the battery in his truck died.
He wasn’t terribly surprised because he’d been thinking it should be
replaced. There were also a couple
recall notices in the pile of two month’s mail.
So after jumping the truck, off he went to get the other issues taken
care of. Naturally the dealer didn’t
have the parts in stock, so it took a few days but now he’s up and running
again.
Then
Bob took our car in to have the tires rotated and we were told we needed new
rear brakes. Really, at 45K miles?
Our trusted tire/brake shop tried replacing the entire brake assemblies,
but once installed they couldn’t get the brakes to engage. They put the old brakes back on and said they
would call the Volvo “help” line.
However, we were leaving the next day for a trip to Seattle so we called
the Volvo service department and asked them to look at the brakes. Yes, they thought the rear pads should be
replaced but nothing else needed attention.
Two hours later, and half the estimated cost we drove off safer and less
frustrated. We’ve lived in the
Tri-Cities off and on for 30 years; this was the first time we’d ever been
disappointed by the local shop.
The
purpose of our trip to Seattle was to attend the “Fur Ball Auction & Dinner”
sponsored by the Homeward Pet Adoption Center.
https://www.homewardpet.org/ Our daughter serves on the Board and is passionate
about their mission. We attended the
event last year and had a good time. It
was also a good opportunity to connect with Amy and Mike, and also with Shane
and Alex. We hadn’t seen “the kids” since
Christmas and missed them! I’m sure they
felt the same! Anyway, the evening was
fun and the fundraiser a big success.
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| The family! |
Bob
finally has time to do something he always wanted to do - build houses with
Habitat for Humanity. He wants to do 1-2
days a week when he can. The first day
he went on a Saturday and pounded framing nails with a hammer the entire day .
. . no nail guns for newby volunteers! His
arm was sore for the next 2 days. He
quickly learned that on Mondays and Wednesdays there is a regular “old-farts”
crew of retired folks, who have lots of construction experience, which would be
a better fit than Saturdays, when a slew of younger folks show up. So the next Wednesday he joined the regulars
and did roofing all day, but at least they allow the seniors to use nail guns. The third day he installed siding, again
using a nail gun for most of it. He
comes home dog-tired but feeling very satisfied by the community service. He also thinks he’ll make some new friends
among the old geezers.
Spring
has finally sprung! The neighborhood
golf course has been watering for a week and it has quickly turned green. The trees are budding and blossoming, and the
early spring flowers are in bloom. It’s
a nice time of year.
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We
are looking forward to a visit from my mother who lives in Colorado; she had
snow last week so I think she’ll enjoy our warmer temperatures. The plan is to take her to see the tulip
fields near Mt. Vernon, WA (north of Seattle). www.tulipfestival.org/
Each year over one million visitors view the
300 acres of tulips growing in the northwest part of the state. We’ll also take Mom to Victoria, BC Canada to
see lovely Butchart Gardens. Of course
there will be more family time in greater Seattle, so we have lots to look
forward to.
Our
retirement in sight for today . . . no matter what comes your way you have to
embrace life as it presents itself.
Get through the challenges and appreciate the joyful times. Thanks for following along on our journey!
