Think things are looking up

Loretta didn't get the new medication (Cyclosporine) right away due to cost. The doctor went to bat with insurance company and got price down to $5 from $316 for a month's supply. Guess there is a biggggg profit in medicines?? So it was the 16th when she went back to doctor for blood and urine tests. She got a call this week telling her to reduce the Prednisone to 80mg every other day. She had reduced to 100mg last week. She will be on that dosage for 2 weeks and goes in next Friday for tests again. But hopefully things are starting to come together. However, the high dosage Prednisone interferes with her sleep, so every other night she hardly sleeps.

Think she is starting to feel better though. Thursday, she suggested we go to Chattanooga where she wanted to visit the Tennessee Aquarium. We had an enjoyable visit there, and she walked almost all of the way using a walker. I expect the tour took about a mile. While there we located Sherrie Crossley the granddaughter and daughter of long time Ham Radio friends from our home area in NY State. We had a nice but short visit with her as she was on duty.

I had still been having problems with the toilet in our trailer, so from the aquarium, we went to Camping World and purchased a new one. We came back home through Alabama to see some different country and had supper in Huntsville. By time we got home, we were both pretty well beat as it had been a long and busy day.

Yesterday I started to install the new toilet only to find that I needed a couple of items. So I went to the house to see if they possibly had them. Bill said that they didn't, but Sharon said the computer monitor had quit. So I went to see if I could get it working again. I got out of my chair to change location of power plug and when I went to sit back down, found the chair had moved. I fell backwards striking my head and arms on the edge of a heavy oak dining table. 2 small cuts on my head and lots of blood. Bill and Sharon both work in the medical field, so they cleaned me up and inspected the damage. It appeared rather minor, so as soon as I got my bearings, Scott drove me to a nearby lumber store, then Home Depot to get the needed items for installation. I then finished that job before taking the rest of the day pretty easy.

My head hardly hurts this morning and likewise my right arm. There is still a knot on left arm and I seemed to hurt all over last night, but I am sure everything will be OK.

Nuff for now
GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.com

Back to Circle P Farm

On Saturday 3 Mar, we went to Daytona Beach as planned and had a nice visit with Loretta's family and relatives there. On Sunday, Sue's parent's pulled out and we saw them off for their trip north. In the evening we went to Ruby Tuesday's with Glenn and Sue for our farewell dinner.

We then got on the road Monday morning heading back to Tennessee. The trip was pretty uneventful, except a couple of occasions. First we came upon an object in the road that looked like a short 4x4 that I could not get around due to no shoulder and oncoming traffic. I centered it and then dixcovered it was a metal object. Something in the truck hit it and I looked back to see one sewer hose hanging out of the holder. As soon as I found a shoulder wide enough to get off, I put that back, then looked under the trailer for possible damage. Fortunately, the only damage was that the inside cap of the hose holder had been knocked off. So I removed the hose and carried in the truck bed for the rest of the trip. Then as we neared Americus, GA, we encountered a large amount of damage from the recent tornadoes. In fact, some roads were still closed and police were directing traffic several days after the storms.

About 50 miles before Birmingham, AL, we received a phone call from Loretta's son Steve. They were in the process of moving from Jamestown, NY to Macon, GA and were about 50 miles north of town. So we arranged to meet them at the Flying J where we had a nice visit before they moved on. We fueled, dumped tanks and filled water tank there also. We arrived at the home of Loretta's daughter Wednesday where I got parked and set up.

Thursday, I took Loretta to see her Kidney specialist. They had already incresed her Prednisone back to 150mg every other day. She was told that she had suffered a relapse and the protein in the urine sample was 2 grams. So he is trying another medication now. She has to continue the Prednisone tapering back to 50mg in 2 weeks. In addition to the new medication, he doubled the dosage of 2 that she has been taking. SO - back to sleepless nights the days she takes Prednisone. She wasn't able to start the new medicine as soon as planned because the pharmacist informed us that it wasn't covered under our insurance and a month's supply would cost over $300. On Friday, the doctor arranged for it to be covered by insurance so she did get started on Saturday and will have to go in this week for evaluation on that. At least there doesn't seem to be any side effects from this one.

Also to make life more exciting, when we got back from doctor on Thursday, I discovered water on bathroom floor. It was apparently coming from the toilet, so I removed that Friday and dissasembled it. I discovered a gasket for the drain valve had deterioated and of course had no replacement. The whole drain valve assembly should be replaced. Of course that would happen here where parts are difficult to get. The week before we were parked about 1 mile from a Camping World store that would probably had needed parts. It took me a few days of experimenting, but yesterday I was able to make a new gasket and as of now it seems to be working OK.

It is a bit cooler here than Florida so one propane tank went dry overnight. As it is a beautiful day, we went to Texas T Campground for propane then stopped at Soda Pop Junction in Lynnville for lunch.

Guess that is it for now.

GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.com

Got some news that we didn't want to hear

From the Moose Club in Sarasota, we also went to Venice to visit long time friend Nancy Nickel. Nancy is disabled and this was the first time we had seen her out of bed in many years. She was moving around her new house in an electric cart. The house is great and has many amenities for those confined to wheelchairs, including a pool with lift to get in and out. Still have to have work done on the lift so she can get out of it though. Sure some improvement from the single-wide mobile home that she lived in for many years. We also visited my brother Clair and his wife in Englewood and had dinner with them. While we were there we watched the Fort Meyers parade in which their grandson Chase was with the "Young Inventors". He is very talented and has several inventions. Like his father a decorative painter, he will go far. Has already won several full scholarships to various universities. We had hoped to visit another long time friend Bob Lyons, but he wasn't home. Surprised as he is also housebound.

On Monday the 19th, we stopped to get additional extended life coolant at the International dealership (cheaper there than Wal-Mart), and having them tighten some connections from the repairs they had done. Then we hooked up and moved to St. Augustine to the home of our friends Glenn and Sue. We have visited them in Arcadia for several years, and they recently moved here. We spent a few days unwinding and visiting and I assisted Glenn with a few projects he is working on. I took Loretta to a nearby Lab on Friday to have required test done for her doctor in Tennessee.

We spent 3 days this week touring Old St. Augustine on the Red Train Tour, getting off at several stops to tour attractions, buildings, etc. Loretta has been having a lot of trouble walking, but did get around quite well. We had been having beautiful weather with temperatures in the 70's and lots of sun. But Thursday that changed with all night under a Tornado Watch. Didn't get much rain and winds weren't too bad, unlike many other places in the southeast. Then yesterday it started to rain and has ever since, so the yard here looks like a wading pool. Much more and we won't have to gotten the pool operational, HI.

We hadn't heard from doctor, so I called yesterday to find that the Lab hadn't provided the necessary information. So back to the Lab to have that and another test that the doctor wanted run. Then the doctor called later to inform us that the Protein in her urine was back up to 2 Grams. Should be near Zero. They said to go back to 150mg of Prednisone every other day - she had gotten down to 10mg. Also doubled some of her other medication. She had an appointment for the 6th, which we had changed to the 29th. But the doctor wants to see her soon and rescheduled for the 8th. We had already made plans to go to Daytona Beach today to visit her family there. But we will have to cut our visit here short, and head back to Tennessee the first of the week.

Please keep Loretta in your prayers.
GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta

You can email us at Andy@W2UCZ.com