Thousand Oaks to Paradise, California

Well, Paul got a clean bill of health from the spine doctor, Hooray!!!

He had a neck x-ray, acupuncture treatment, physical therapy, etc before being released from care. We packed up the motor home and hit the road, seems like old times. He was feeling so good that he wanted to drive, and DRIVE he did. He drove almost 500 miles from Thousand Oaks to Paradise, California.

We arrived about 9pm and found a parking place at the ELKS Lodge. Tired and hot we hooked up, leveled, put out slides and satellite up before hitting the sack. This is a quiet RV park by the ELKS Lodge with pine trees, oak trees and grass. It's right in the center of town but you wouldn't know it.

Saturday we ran a couple errands and had dinner at HULA'S Mongolian Bar-B-Que, the best I've EVER had ANYWHERE!!! (We waited in line for an hour and it was worth it. I don't wait in for much of anything!)

Sunday I spent a couple hours with my brother before attending church where my dad is second counselor in the bishopric. We then had dinner at one of my daughters house to celebrate Katy-Beth's 3rd birthday. I love my family and miss them so. What a blessing to have 3 daughters and their families together today.

Doctors and Surgery

Well, the news we've all been waiting for...Paul's neck surgery was successful. Yesterday the doctor cleaned up two herniated disks and Paul can feel with his fingers again and he has improved range of motion in his neck.

Hooray for Paul and thanks to Dr. Chiu. By the way, Dr. Chiu's planning to visit Anchorage twice a year, what do you know about that?

Also yesterday, we got the call from the doctor that the referrals came for Paul to see the cardiologist and endocrinologist. I called and got appointments for Sept. 1st and 3rd. Also my appointment with the primary care doc is Sept 2nd. It's starting to look like a 'perfect world' to me.

Oh and more good news, the lab report came in Wednesday evening that said everything looked good. My thyroid was NORMAL, after not taking any for 2 weeks!!! I was right, I was being 'poisoned' by taking any at all. Life is good!

I will have 2 doctor's appointments 2 weeks apart but that sounds like it's going to be simple enough to come home to Homer sooner rather than later, time will tell.

Surgery is over

Paul has come through the surgery with flying colors. The surgeon is very pleased with the success of the proceedure. Paul said he has more mobility in his neck and more feeling in his fingertips. He is still in post-op but should be walking out in the next hour or less.

He will take it easy today, walking and resting and seeing the surgeon tomorrow. After that appointment, we'll be free to 'move about the country', lol!!!

Our next stop is Paradise California to see my dad and 4 daughters before returning to Las Vegas for further doctors appointments.

Life is Good!!!

Left Homer and Arrived in Las Vegas

Well, that's a bit simplistic. We actually left Homer at 7:30am and made a few plane changes and lots of treking through the airports before arriving in Las Vegas at 5:00pm!

The down side is that several boxes of frozen fish bumped our luggage and we're WITHOUT!!! It may arrive late tonight but "a bird in the hand" if you know what I mean.

Also our rental car fell through. Hopefully they'll have something mid-morning.

Oh, it's 104' here too, ain't that just peachy, lol?

We're both tired and going to bed and hope tomorrow gets better.

Friday is our first doctors visit but we won't know anything because it's just to start the lab work and referrals.

We'll write more when we know more!

Finally, some News.

We finally have surgery dates for Paul's herniated disks in his neck, August 18-20



That means we will be arriving in Las Vegas the week before to see our primary care doctor for referrals to his cardiac and diabetes doctors. (all that takes 2 to 3 weeks)



From Las Vegas, we'll drive to Thousand Oaks, CA to see Dr. Chiu for Paul's surgery (actually a repair not a vertebra fusion). It's the same surgery I had about 9 years ago with the same doctor, very successful!!!



We will go from there to Paradise, CA about August 21 for a week's visit with my dad and 4 of my daughters. We'll then drive back to Las Vegas to see the other doctors (however long that takes). (But we all know that, when you're dealing with an HMO, it's never a perfect world).



In a perfect world, we'd be ready to fly back to Homer Alaska by the 10 of September, I'm just hoping to be back by the middle of October (I'm trying to be realistic here, lol)