Mac is recuperating and Christmas

Mac is recuperating, but slower than we thought it was going to be. He has been in quite a bit of pain. I tried to tell him that he would have a lot of pain with abdominal surgery. Every time the doctor touches any organ, it bruises it. He says that he feels full all the time and I don't think that is normal. He is supposed to call his doctor tomorrow to make an appointment and to ask about that.

I will be having some minor surgery on Tuesday. I am having a really bad ingrown toenail taken off of my right big toe. The doctor is actually taking off the whole toenail and hope it will not grow back the same way. I have some nerve damage from a herniated disc surgery years ago and it is that toe that is affected. I have to be off my feet for 3 days...now isn't that convenient being 2 days before Christmas!

I am doing most of the cooking tomorrow night so it can just be warmed up. Jen will bring over the turkey and we will cook that on Wednesday since I won't be able to walk and Mac can't lift anything...we are such a sorry couple right now..lol

My mom and brother will be here. Also our daughter, her boyfriend, and our grandson will be here for the day. Hopefully there won't be too much trouble with dinner since Mac and I both will be kinda laid up...

We finished our Christmas shopping yesterday and I got the gifts wrapped today. I still have to mail a few out.

We went truck shopping on Saturday and found one that we both liked. We will decide tomorrow if it is the one for us. If so, I will post photos on my next blog.

We would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!!

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Gregg's Surgery

We were off about 9:30 this morning on our way to Olathe Medical Center for Mac's surgery. We got him all checked in about 10:45 and they took us back to the pre-op room for them to get him ready for surgery.

He was taken in to surgery about 12:20. Dr Anderson did the hernia repair first and it took about 30 minutes. Then Dr Metz went in and did the surgery on his vocal chords.  Both doctors came out and talked to me after each procedure and told me that everything had gone well.

He was in recovery until about 3:00 - 3:15pm. It took us about an hour to get him home. He's moving around pretty good but is hurting in the hernia repair area. The pain med's are not doing a lot for that pain. He says that the pain isn't bad in his vocal chords, so I'm assuming that the pain med's are working for those.

He is to take it easy for tonight and not lift anything over 10 pounds for the next 4 weeks and then increase weight by 10 pounds each week til he is back to normal...that will put a kink in getting some of the things done around here and getting ready for the new 5er.

He is eating some soup for supper and surfing the Internet...lol.  He will probably try to be in chat tonight!!

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Getting Ready for Mac's Surgery

Mac is having his surgery on Monday. He will be having two surgeries at the same time. Hernia repair and removal of growths on his vocal chords. Both surgeries will be done as an outpatient so I will be able to take him home sometime late Monday afternoon. I won't be getting any work done from him for several days...lol.

Heartland sent us some better photos of our new Augusta paint job, but we had to agree not to publish them until after the first of the year. Take my word for it, the other ones we saw, do not compare to the new ones that Jim Beletti sent to me...Whew, it sure is a nice looking rig!

These next few weeks are going to be crazy around here getting everything all finalized for Mac's retirement. We both have a few doctors appointments to get done before the 31st. I have dentist, dermatologist, and having surgery on my right big toenail...ouch.

The snow is almost all melted. It snowed pretty hard on Tuesday and we got about 3". Looked like it should of been Christmas!!

Speaking of Christmas, we still don't have our shopping done. I think we may just do gift cards this year except for the great granddaughter. A pink tricycle for her, I think.

Also have to get mom something..she's hard to buy for. She really doesn't need things that we can buy...so maybe she will get a gift card too! She's wanting some clothes.  Shopping done!! That was easy. Mine and Mac's was easy..a new 5th wheel and a new GPS. $$$

Well that's all for today.

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Sleep Study

We had our sleep study last night and I don't want to do that again!! We were hooked up to about 50 wires that monitered everything like breathing, eye movement, leg movement and much much more. We checked in about 8pm and it took 45 minutes to hook me up and 45 minutes to hook Mac up..I got to bed about 10:30, and they took him to his room and he got to bed about 11:30. I didn't sleep well. I spent most of the night laying there looking at the ceiling so they probably didn't get a lot of info on me. They did say that my oxygen levels did drop down from 98 to 66 a few times when I was asleep. That doesn't sound too good.

Mac on the other hand didn't sleep well, but he did have some sleep apnea episodes. They said that he did quit breathing 35-40 per hour so they hooked him up to a C-Pap machine about 2:30am and he messed with it for a long time and finally fell back asleep about 5:30am and was up again at 6:30 to take all the sensors off.

They took mine off about 7:00am and we were out of there and on our way home about 7:30.

We got home and brought our stuff inside, read our email and blogs.
Went to mom's and got her grocery list and went and got her groceries.
Now we have been looking at checklists and trying to decide what to use and make one up for ourselves in excel.

We almost have the TT cleaned out. Only a few boxes left to carry out and then clean out the basement...that could be fun.

The people we talked to on the phone did not call to come and see the TT so hopefully someone else will see the ad on Craig's List and call. We have it priced to sell.

Well we need to finish the TT so I'm outta here...

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Cleaning out the TT and Dr's Appointments

Last night we spent a couple of hours boxing up our "stuff" in the TT just in case it sells quickly. I don't want to have to kill ourselves trying to get everything out. There sure is a lot of stuff in there. We sure won't put all of it into the new 5er. We will be more careful about what we put in it. We will pack it for full time living instead of weekend camping. We will try to finish it on Saturday.

We went in to Kansas City today for doctors appointments. Mine went fine. Mac is going to have to have hernia repair surgery in the next week or two. It will be done on as an out patient which is good. They will call us tomorrow sometime and let us know for sure the date and time.

We have to have a sleep study done tomorrow night which ought to be interesting. We check in at 8pm and will be done around 5:30am. I usually have a hard time sleeping in a new bed so we will see how that works out...lol

Not sure if we will go down to the Chetopa RV Center on Saturday or on Tuesday. It kind of depends on if that couple comes to look at the TT and what date they schedule Mac for surgery.

We got another photo of the new paint scheme of the Landmark. This isn't the model we are getting but it will give you a side view of the full paint job.

Well, it has been a long day and I need to get ready for work tomorrow.

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

 

Well, We Ordered It...YeeHa!

We placed our order for our Augusta. It was kind of scary and also at the same time very exciting.

The dealer called us from the National RV Show in Louisville and told us that if we committed today, that Heartland was offering a $1000.00 discount. So we made the plunge. The Augusta is going to look fabulous! The new options are great...They are offering a full body paint scheme instead of the combination paint and graphics. The upgraded paint scheme looks great. I will try to add the photos that the dealer sent to me by text. They may not come out real good but it will give you an idea of how the outside will look. This paint option will be offered after the show for $7995. but since we placed our order today we will get the upgrade for show cost at only $2500.00. Sounds like a deal to me. The company that are painting this new paint scheme only committed to doing 40 of these. He may do more and maybe not. So we couldn't pass it up.

They are also offering a new interior decor color called Godiva. They sent me a text with the samples on it but can't really tell the details of it. Said it is shades of tan, and blue.

We will have to look at the swatches when he gets home and we go over to make the final interior decisions. He also told us that we can have a wood door with glass insets installed at the bedroom entrance. That was really the only thing that I didn't like on the Augusta. It had a small accordion door for the bedroom door. So we are getting the wooden one.

Whew...this morning went fast with all the calls from the dealer and the text messages, but now it is final....we will be the new owners of a 2010 Heartland Augusta that should be delivered by Feb 9th 2009.

We will still be going over there this Saturday or next Tuesday to sign the contract and get all the other selections made.

Now all we can do is wait. That will be the hardest part of this. It will seem like forever before we get that call telling us it is time to pick up our new 5er..."Gus"

Today I can relate to the quote I always put on our blog...

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away....

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

First of all, Thanks everyone for your input about the RV colors. I think we have made the decision to go with the Slate color. Mac likes it the best and I like both. He is going to call the dealer on Thursday because he will be back from the National RV Show. Hopefully the new changes will all be for the better.

As of today I cut my work schedule back to 3 days a week for awhile. We have so many things to get done here at home and a lot of things to get sorted out with Mac's retirement. Dr Padfield was very good about it and said that it was fine with him. Things have been kind of slow and with that it helps me and him at the same time.

I'm trying to decide what to get started on next here at the house. We are going to go through the kitchen stuff and get rid of the things that we will not be taking to the RV. Next we have to get the Utility/Storage room cleaned out...that is the scary room! So much stuff stored there for years and we don't really even know what is still down there..lol

We have so much furniture that we will not be needing. Who needs 4 desks anyhow. I will try to list some of these things on Craig's List and see what happens. What do I do with my collections...I think I will split some of them up and give to my granddaughters.

Well I am off tomorrow and we are going to see another financial advisor. I hate this part. Who do you trust with your money...we are pretty sure we have decided, but still want to talk to this guy first. Also, we have to pick our "Retirement" medical plan. the company offers 3 different plans. One is almost the same as we have now and that is the one we will probably take if we don't have problems if we re-locate to Texas. That is a big question I want answered first.

We have set our mail forwarding up with Escapees so are ready to change our residence when we are ready. We will be going to Kerrville in March and probably on our way home we will go through Livingston and maybe proceed with the paperwork. We will have to keep dual residency until the house is sold and I am ready to retire which won't be for a while yet.
Well that is about it for today...

Counting down to Order date...5 days

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away...