Beautiful Monday

First, Welcome to new 'Followers' to the Roadrunner Chronicles:

N&J

Jessica

and our new friends

John and Judy 

who sold their house a few days ago and will be full-timing in the not-to-distant future. Congrats!

Thanks to all for joining us on our adventures!  Looking forward to your comments and hearing from you!

Yesterday started off with a beautiful sunrise.  I was up early (4:30 ish) after our first comfortable night back in the Roadrunner.  I guess while we were gone, there has been some nasty weather here in the campground.  But yesterday was a beautiful morning to get some coffee and hang out by the lake before everyone got up.

Shortly after breakfast I headed out for a brisk 45 minute walk around the campground.  We have some good walking roads around the area and very little traffic.

After that, I concentrated on some computer work.  I am finishing up expenses for the month of May and taking a look at the how we did on the budget for our first full year of full-timing.  I will be publishing that soon and redoing the budget.  It needs some tweaking to be a little more realistic.

Yesterday I was reading one of the blogs I follow, and saw that John and Sandy did a better job of setting up there budget and it needs no adjustments.  Check it out:  Mothership RV - Our Travel Adventures  In fact they came in at a whooping $743 under budget last month.

In addition to reading my favorite blogs, I made a few calls to see about next year's TV service and internet service.  We cancelled a portion of our Direct TV movie options and saved ourselves $36/month.  Then I called Autonet Mobile and asked if we save money by paying our $29/month all at once.  Nope on that, but good to know there is no price change this year.  I also asked them about a booster antenna and will likely get one in the next few weeks.  My bandwidth is fine now but can anyone have too much bandwidth?

After lunch we went to a followup appointment with my cardiologist.  I had a very good report on the angiogram from 3 weeks ago.  She had one more EKG done and it looks like the other two I have recently done ~ abnormal EKG.  But the angiogram is more conclusive and she was not concerned.

My goal is to get with the exercise and aerobic activities so I can lower the bad and increase the good cholesterol in a couple of months.  I have heard that before, so it is time to get with it.  That way I can stay off more meds.

One of the neat things since our stay here at Haas Lake has been Pam's flower box garden.  She wanted to grow some basil and yesterday it was ready to harvest.

She cut some, washed it and put it in a blender with some olive oil so we could have pesto pasta.  It smelled great and tasted even better!

I think a baseball game was on last night but don't remember it.  I dozed off before I got up and went to bed.

That was our beautiful Monday.

Glad you joined us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Only 90 more to go...who will be the next one to 'Follow'?  Let's keep it going...and thanks!

Medical Monday but I'm in good shape

Don't really know what to call yesterday, but I arrived at the hospital on time for my 9:30 AM angiogram.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but the hospital is in an area that is a little run down.  But you can't judge a hospital by the way it looks like on the outside.  Inside, it was great.  People were very friendly, the hospital was bright and clean and up to date.  It had been renovated and it was a 'new hospital' on the inside.

I checked in for my angiogram and waited about 30 minutes before I got taken back to the prep room.  The procedure wasn't scheduled until 11:30 AM so we had plenty of time.  I didn't take anything but my ID card and my phone.  I was told to leave all my valuables at home.  No camera so I don't have any pictures or 'before and after' results.

Speaking of results, I came out with a very good report.  Very minor blockage in two arteries.  Since I have a family history of heart disease (my dad died at 62 and my mom at 80) and my brother had a triple by-pass a couple of years ago, I thought it was a good idea.  I don't have a lot of symptoms except abnormal EKGs,  a left branch bundle block and pre-hypertension.  My cholesterol is around 200 ~ all of those things don't speak to anything serious but they are a little suspect...I wanted to check it out.

Bottom line:  I don't have any blockage (well some, but it is minor) and I should be fine with more exercise, losing some weight, watching what I eat and maybe some medication.  At 180 lbs, I am not obese, but I am not in shape either, so I need to get with it and be consistent.  None of this is really new but confirmation that things are OK is new, so it was worth it.

Back to the angiogram.   Carrie (one of the nurses) got me all fixed up and ready for the procedure and said it would probably be a catheter through the groin although sometimes they go through the wrist.  Wrist?  I have never heard of that..

The hardest part was waiting for the procedure and it took the doctor about two hours to get to me.  About 2:15 PM he showed up and went into action.  This team knew what they were doing and didn't skip a beat so to speak.

I was awake through the whole thing and it was fascinating.  They went in through my wrist and it was  over in 15 or 16 minutes.  He said things looked good and no cause for worry or concern.  It took them longer to get me cleaned up and wheeled back into recovery than it did for the procedure.  Amazing.  I was very pleased.

The nurse put on a radial wrist, hard clear plastic band that had a small inflatable bag over the incision.  The band was secured with velcro.  The very small bag was initially inflated to apply a lot of pressure over the incision, then every couple of hours, the nurse reduced the pressure.  About 7:30 PM she was satisfied the incision was healing and closed properly.  She removed the radial band and put a very light splint over 3 x 3 inch clear plastic bandage on my wrist and put a light splint on the back so I wouldn't bend the wrist.

My hand is a little blue because that is the color of the antibacterial soap they use these days.  They no longer use the orange/brown iodine soap.

We watched a movie, "The Morgan's"  and I had a couple of naps.  Finally, we talked, signed some release forms, then I was discharged.   I am to followup in 7-10 days with my cardiologist to finish up.  All in all, it was a great day and I am glad I had the angiogram done.  Now I know how things are with my heart muscle and it is in good shape.  But I need to stay on top of things.

On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's for a sundae and then got back to the RV in time to watch some baseball before we went to bed.

It was a good day and the weather here continues to be terrific.  Today is supposed to be the same.  Hope is it summer where you are!  Thanks for following the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Follow Up and My Brothers

Yesterday was a regular kind of day with not a whole lot going on.   I was going to post some pictures of Wal-Mart where we went grocery shopping but thought better against it...  :)

A highlight had to be going to see our new internal medicine doctor ~ Dr. Yuzon.  She seems very analytical, attentive, concerned and thorough.  My physical three weeks ago showed an abnormal EKG which was followed up by a stress echocardiography last week.  I went to talk to her about the results yesterday.

I know from long ago not to get a false sense of security from good results on stress tests.  How many people do we all know that had issues (like dropping dead) shortly after a stress test that didn't provide any clue?

Besides a left bundle branch block that was identified, there is a need to get to the bottom of this so I will add a followup to the cardiologist to the calendar next week.  As what has become familiar, the cardiologist said on the phone, 'I don't want you to be real concerned about this, we just want to figure out what is going on.  It doesn't look like there is a huge cause for worry."

Ok, good.  I won't.  But I am going to follow through on this and name it and treat it if possible.  There is some abnormality, there is some funny business going on, so let's find it and fix it.  Meanwhile, I feel fine with no symptoms that jump out.  No clogged arteries (at least from what they can tell) no shortness of breath, no weakness etc.

So that was the event of the day.

Except for a nice long call from older brother Marty.  He retired a couple of years ago from the corporate business world after his last stint with Levi Strauss in San Francisco.  He is currently building a Professional Business Coaching practice aimed at helping dentists.

It is interesting to see how he is going about it.  Little by little he is getting there and I have no doubt he will build his business and help folks.  He is already helping some clients.  He is driven and he will succeed.  His business is called, "What is YOUR Pain Point?".

My other brother Reid owns and manages a cleaning business (commercial janitorial) in Albuquerque called:  Environment Control - Albuquerque.  Third brother Brad is an Architect in Fort Worth with Cameron Alread and Associates.

I usually talk with each of them every week or two and recently saw Reid and Brad.  We have always gotten along well and have high respect and love for each other.  So it was good to catch up with Marty for a few minutes.

Pam and I plotted our strategy for a nice day and it looks like we are off later to the Henry Ford Museum in nearby Fairborn, MI.  We are looking forward to some sunny and warm days and the weather folks said some is heading our way.

Hope your week is going well!  And thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!