Where was I when the lights went out?

In what seems like another lifetime now, I left home for triathlon in Corvallis, Oregon. I saw a few interesting things along the way, which I captured in pixels to share with you. Travelling along the north side of the Grand Coulee, I stopped at the museum at Maryhill looking for a restroom. I found a few other things, but alas, no public restroom.They did have a lovely view of the river.The neighbors like windmills.I took the old road just east of Portland because I was not in a hurry, and I love the green.Lots of other people seemed to have the same idea. Maybe that is because it was Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I was surprised that I actually managed to score a parking place by this pretty one. Traffic was backed up for miles on both sides.Later that day, I arrived at my cousin's house and spend a pleasant evening visiting with her family and some friends who were visiting from Virginia. The next morning, all my plans for the month of June changed. I may be able to pick up the pieces of some of them by the end of this week when I return to Washington. At that time, I will have three weeks to train for my next two triathlons.

Wrapping up our stay in California

Picking up where I left off a couple of days ago, my girl had a great visit with J complete with a visit to the mall in the afternoon. We watched Letters to Juliet together before J headed north with her mother. In the morning, I had the oil changed in my car, so it will survive the trip home. At the mall, I purchased a bike rack at REI, so I can bring our bikes home with me.

I spent much of the day Friday on the phone with various doctor offices attempting to obtain follow up appointments after my girl returns to Washingon. It seems that some doctors want to see her medical records before making an appointment. They didn't want to take my word for what happened and what had been done to her. I faxed the surgery report to a couple of them and managed to convince them to make appointments for her. Then we requested records to be sent to the doctors from the hospital, which seems to work faster than asking them to send us records and carrying them to the doctor. All is in order now.

Today we have been hanging out and resting. I worked with the bike rack and the car and the bikes, and I think they will get along with each other until I make it back to Washington. Tomorrow, my girl and I are planning on driving up to Sequoia for the worship service her team is putting on in the morning. We will spend the day in the park seeing the bits that are close to the road. It will be good for everyone there to see her up and about again so soon after her fall.

Monday and Tuesday we hang out here, then on Wednesday we load up my little Fit and head for PA for the night. We decided that the grand plan for driving my girl home was too much time in the car for her, so Thursday morning I drop her off at the airport for a direct flight home. I will head north after she is on the plane. I am not sure how far I will drive on Thursday, but I plan on stopping by my sister's house on Friday to see my niece graduate from community college. On Saturday, I head for home for the first time in three weeks.

A day of appointments

This morning started early for summer vacation, departing at 8:30 for our first appointment at 9:00 for minor adjustments to my girl's brace. The brace man added more foam to the back, which makes it more comfortable and less likely to rub her the wrong way as she puts it on.

I thought we had plenty of time between that one and the next one around the corner, but by the time 10:30 rolled around we did not have much time to wait for appointment number 2. This one was with the folks from the Trauma Team who were her doctors in the hospital. The purpose was to remove the Foley catheter and see if my girl could go on her own. Removal went well, and the waiting and drinking started. We had a break before our next appointment, so we stopped by medical records, who could not do anything for us because we did not have my girl's ID with us. We consoled ourselves with In N Out for lunch, then raced back by the cousins house to collect my girl's ID before her 1:15 appointment with her surgeon.

We discussed a few things and they removed the staples from her back. She is healing well, but I will still be applying a bandage to her back for a few more days. We forgot to discuss plans for driving home a little at a time, so we will be calling him back tomorrow to see if he approves that plan. If not, we will be checking airline schedules to fly my girl home. We did obtain copies of the surgery report from him, which will facilitate finding follow up care when we return home.

After drinking all day, my girl had still not peed, so we returned to the office for appointment #2 to check in. They wanted her to drink and wait another hour, which she did, but without success. When we went back to the office, they reinserted the catheter. We will follow up with a urologist when we are home again, but this is not unexpected considering her injury. We returned to the cousins house around 5 in the evening exhausted.

My girl found a new burst of energy shortly after 8 when her friend J and her mother arrived from Truckee for a visit. The girls will spend the day together tomorrow giggling and remembering all the good times they have enjoyed together.

Hallelujah, she is a free woman!

Yesterday was a long day, and last night was even longer, but my girl has been discharged from the hospital and is well enough to use my computer all morning. Now that I have these keys under my fingers again, I can catch up on the events of the day.

Sunday morning, I went to church with my nephew and his wife, while Aunt C and Couin J visited once more with my girl before heading north to Washington. After church, Cousin B and I stopped by Subway for some lunch. I ordered an extra large sandwich, in case I needed something for dinner, but my girl ate the second half for lunch instead. It is good to see her hungry and wanting food. It helps when it is the kind of food she likes.

She had been cleared for discharge with a catheter due to a urinary tract infection, but she still needed to move her bowels before we took her home. Without going into details, it took time, but something finally made it work. My brother D has said earlier in the week that he would stop by on his way from LB to PA on Sunday afternoon. He said he would come by mid afternoon. Around 7:45 we knew it was mid afternoon. We had a nice visit, after which I realized that I needed a 24 hour pharmacy to pick up pain medicine before I took my girl home. The nurse assistant and I consulted the internet to find the right Walgreens close to the hospital. They agreed to keep her until I made the run for the drugs, to keep my girl from having to make the extra stops on her way home.

When all was said and done, it was almost midnight when we returned home. I tucked in instead of turning on the computer. This morning, my girl was up and ready for breakfast and happy not to be in the hospital anymore. She was so happy in fact that she sat on the couch with my computer until a few minutes ago.

Life is good, but the adventure is not quite over. She has follow up appointments on Wednesday here to check her back and remove the catheter which we brought home. Then we will think about when she will travel back to Washington. After she returns home, she will wear her brace for three months and start physical therapy after six months when her back is completely healed. She will set off metal detectors wherever she goes for the rest of her life.

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate your replies, even if I do not have time to respond to each one. I do share your messages with Diana. I will continue to add updates, but not daily. I will be sure post how the appointments go on Wednesday and when she is ready to travel back to Washington.

Even when I feel like nothing is changing, at the end of the day I realize how much progress we have made. I managed to fit in another bike ride today, which helps my sanity.

Today my girl was perky and cheerful. She texted me to request favorite foods from the store before I arrived, and enjoyed a drink from Jamba Juice I picked up for her during the day. She also nibbled at the In N Out fries her Aunt C brought back with my dinner. Eating is good, and as she eats more her appetite improves. We had a delightful afternoon with Aunt C and Cousin J who left Olympia, Washington yesterday afternoon with the express purpose of visiting my girl. They are heading home after visiting with her tomorrow morning for a short time while I am at church with her cousin's family praising God that I still have a daughter and that she is recovering so well.

My girl took her prescribed three walks this afternoon, touring the 9th floor of the hospital supported by one of the nurses and by me. She leaned on us much less this evening, and was walking much faster as well. It is wonderful to see her up and moving around. They took her away for a CT scan to see if there is something that they can do about her bladder function. We are awaiting results of that before discharge. If all goes well, my girl will be discharged tomorrow, but we have learned to take each day one at a time.

Thank you for your love and prayers.