A busy day. On January 19, our first trip out of the campground, we went to the local Starbucks, 8 miles up the road in ‘civilization’ and spent some time getting e-mails, paying bills and making phone calls, things we can’t do in the campground. At that time we found out that my uncle, Fred, was having real troubles with his left leg. He had a blockage above the knee and above his ankle such that blood could not easily get to his foot. He’s had several infections and his doctor told him that he needed to get ‘bypass’ surgery. I thought that ‘bypass’ meant heart surgery but, in this case, it means any surgery which creates a blood flow passageway around a blockage and his bypass was going to be in his left leg.
And, today we went into the hospital to see him. Well, first we had to find the hospital. He had told us Mercy Hospital and, like a simpleton, I didn’t say ‘which Mercy?’ Oops. But luckily, there are only 4 Mercy Hospitals in the San Diego area. Only 4? But we figured out which one he was at, probably the Mercy Central which is the closest to his home. Here’s the irony: as we were making the last turn into the hospital parking lot, my brother-in-law, Tom, called to tell us that Gary’s father, Lug, had been taken to the Emergency Room of the hospital in Fort Dodge, Ia. with excruciating stomach pains. Oh, no, but Tom said he was on his way up to assess the situation. Ironically, Cathy, Tom’s wife and Gary’s sister, is staying a month in a rented condo in Austin, Texas where their daughter lives.
But, we were at the hospital to see Fred and could only wait for Tom’s return call. We popped in on Fred without warning and I think he was glad to have the distraction. And, if anything, Gary and I are good distractions. At one point, we thought we’d let him have some rest and he was pretty insistent that he was not tired and wanted us to stay. I think he was lonely. Finally we left about 1:00, knowing that my aunt, Marilyn, was coming, got our computers and headed into the cafeteria. I thought soup sounded heavenly and they had 7 bean soup. Sure enough, there were 7 different types of beans: lima, pea, kidney, navy, chickpea, green and black. (Let’s see, how many others counted the number of types of beans in the soup today?) It was hot, delicious and hit the spot. The banana did also. We did some online work and then headed back to Fred’s room to see Marilyn.
Since his curtain was closed and she was not there, we sat outside the elevator to greet here. It was great. She got off, looked at us, looked away, looked at us again then turned to walk towards Fred’s room. ‘Not so fast,’ I said. And then she recognized us. We were out of context and she did not expect to see us there so didn’t. Hugs all around but when we settled into talking, I suggested that we meet her for dinner later and she could then spend some time with Fred.
Gary and I then hiked over to the nearest Wells Fargo for some money for Hawaii. And, believe me, it ended up as a hike down and then up some dirt cliffs rather than a city walk to get to the bank. We’ll take the city walk on the way back. But, we can find hikes anywhere we go.
Dinner was great and we enjoyed the chance to catch up with Marilyn. Unfortunately time passes quickly and we took Marilyn home and headed back to our RV. We knew we’d return to this area after we had been in Hawaii and we all thought we’d see each other again then.
In the evening, Dawn, Gary’s younger sister and a registered nurse, called to say she had driven to Fort Dodge to be with Lug in the hospital. She obviously understands lots more about the hospital process, sickness and Lug’s condition than we could. She is obviously concerned but said that his condition was stable for the time being. The doctors were trying to get his pancreas, which was inflamed, back to normal so they could do a CAT scan to see what was going on inside him that was causing his so much trouble. There are other problems but this is the most serious right now.
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