Our time back in our former home county fast approaching an end for this time around, we remained camped out in the back of the Petaluma Elks Lodge. I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality and consideration during my surgery process. I had a few P/T sessions to attend for post-surgery, which were pretty normal as far as surgical P/T goes (aka: a waste of my time). We also got to attend the Gladiator’s (6 year old grandson, Maximus) first Little League Baseball game of the season. Lots of picture taking…
Showing up for gameday, battle face ready…A little pre-game fielding practice. “I got it!”Pre-game BP, crushed it!That searing look of concentration…Trying out the catcher’s position…
We managed to fall into a fairly good weathered Sunday. We took Max and his mom Jenn back to the Point Reyes Lighthouse area so we could go see the Elephant Seals. It was just a short hike near the Chimney Rock trail and we could view a large colony of the critters just across the water. But we hiked to the rescue boat house and found a small group of juvenile Elephant Seals sunnin’ themselves just a matter of feet from where we were standing. Max got a kick out of that.
Looking down at the colony just across the water.OK, let’s zoom in… Opa, the Gladiator, and his mama Jenn, getting photo bombed by the sunbathers.Jeanne and I mugging for the camera. Nice weather, even though we are in sweatshirts and windbreakers…Jeanne, Jenn, and Max with the bay behind them.Some of the babies sunnin’ out behind the boathouse.Aaaaaaaaaaawww!The Lifeboat Station. The Elephant Seals could care less about the humans gawking down at them…“Do you mind, buddy? I’m trying to get some shut eye here!”
For the last 4 days of our stay in Petaluma, we moved over to the Petaluma KOA. Our son, Chad, had 4 days of training in nearby Napa, so he brought our 2 year old granddaughter, Miss Hailey Marie, with him and we picked her up for the duration of his training. Hailey had a blast “camping” at the KOA. But that is as expected; the Petaluma KOA is one of the best KOA’s nationwide, hands down. There is a ton of activity for the young’uns to keep busy. And Miss Hailey went absolutely wild on the bounce pillow, jumping on her short little legs for an hour straight! She wore Opa out just watching her! While Hailey was staying with us, we had Max and Jenn come visit as well. The two kids had a blast. Lots of picture taking…
Our home at the Petaluma KOA. Woody (the owner) did a nice job of converting a lower tent camping area to some nice RV sites with W/E (50A) and a daily honey wagon that empties your tanks, whether you are there or not (if you leave your wet bay doors unlocked for them). Home, from a side view.Of course, little Miss Hailey knows how to find the mud puddles after a rain…Hailey was drawn to the bunny at the petting zoo like a magnet…The Queen of the playground!“Lookout, Oma, here I come!”The tube slide, one of Miss Hailey’s favorites!Rain boots don’t quite do the trick to keep our clothes clean…Woody is telling Hailey, “You are crazy, kid!”Rock climbing Hailey, with Oma in tow.We got Hailey a scooter while she was here in Petaluma. Here is the start of the Battle of Following Assembly Directions…SUCCESS! One scooter, to go! Miss Hailey on her maiden voyage… Hailey and her Oma swimming the heated pool at the Petaluma KOA.It can’t get any better…riding a scooter at the petting farm!The slide pro, Miss Hailey, on the roller slide.“Yeah, I’m a-gonna try to climb these ropes!”Hailey and Oma blowing bubbles for Woody to chase.Now, that’s what I’m talking about! Bouncy bouncy bouncy! “Catch me some air!”“OK, Oma. Try to keep up with me this time!”“I had an Elton John moment when I saw these goggles.”Max liked feeding the goats at the petting zoo.Nothing like a little face painting…“I got me this here bee ’face painted’ on my hand!”Max performing the world famous “butt slam” on the bounce pillow.The next World Tandem Jumping champions for bounce pillow competitions, the Gladiator and Miss Hailey.Max showing off his rope climbing skills.Rock wall climbing? No problems!
So it was back to Atascadero, CA, for us as we returned Miss Hailey to her parents, Chad and Crissy. Crissy was still somewhat infirmed, healing up from a recent auto accident she was involved in which broke no bones but did mess up her foot and mobility quite a bit. So we did another week of granddaughter tending (x2) for Miss Hailey and 7 week old Miss Ellie Grace. And the Atascadero Elks Lodge came to our rescue again, allowing us another week at their RV lot (we were a little premature per the local city regulations, but we won’t tell if you don’t). So far, being a new Elks member, I have to say, the Elks people are just plain quality folks and we thank one and all for all their patience and assistance during this whole medical fiasco stay.
Definitely a huge negative for the once great state of CA, now fast becoming intolerable.More of the lovely traffic of northern CA, which sadly has become the norm these days…Little Miss Hailey visiting “the Elk” at the Atascadero Elks Lodge. Little Miss Ellie Grace, coughing some zees…Oma, Hailey, and Ellie.Chad and his new 7 week old daughter, Ellie Grace.Chad, Jeanne, and Crissy supervising Hailey Marie on her egg hunt.We had Hailey do a belated Easter egg hunt in the backyard, with Daddy looking on…Hailey not only wore herself out, she did Opa in as well!
Oh, yeah, I gotta catch you up on the case of Gout from Hell. So I finished the first 5-day round of Prednisone. From the first night of meds I got immediate, but not complete, relief from the excruciating pain in both feet. Just a twinge of pain remained and it stayed that way for about 20 days past the last of the Prednisone. But that 21st day it exploded back in a big way. The doc scripted another round of Prednisone, this one the diminishing dosage type for 9 days. I am on the 9th day now, and absolutely no sign of gout pain! Holy moly, I hope this holds out this time…
Saying good-bye in style. If you’ve never partaken of this nectar of the gods, you’re missing out. KBS Barrel-Aged Stout by Founders Brewing. Wow!Woody had been chasing these guys all over Chad’s backyard the whole time we were here.Little Miss Hailey Marie, looking rather stylish! “We’ll see you on the flip side, kid!”Little Miss Ellie Grace. “What are you up to, missy?! That look says ’I am fully prepared to embark on some new adventures in babysitting!’”
I think this must be the shortest post I have done so far. This catches us up to date for now, until next post…
Well, after the epidural injection did not work, surgery was in my near future. I have about had it with doctor office staff. It seems whenever I am in dire straits, the staffers seem to “only” have appointments way far off in the distance. My surgeon could only get me on the table on 2/28, so I had a whole month of intense pain to endure in the meantime. I did get a scrip for muscle relaxants and pain (Percocet!) to hold me over to surgery. For the uninitiated, Percocet is a heavy opioid that leads you to Wonderland in a big way. I took half doses to keep from going to Zombieland and that worked pretty well, left me somewhat functional.
To kill some of the wait time I got an appointment with Freightliner in Sacramento to try to resolve my Gremlins problem in my dashboard emergency warning lights and buzzers. They were good to get me in and out, but again they were not sure of the cause. This time they changed out the whole warning gauges module and said that should do it. I got to drive the bus back to Atascadero and by golly no issues for that 200+ mile drive.
We spent another week with our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, Chad, Crissy, and Miss Hailey while staying at the Atascadero Elks Lodge. It is so much nicer being able to stay in Atascadero than to do the daily driving from Paso Robles in to visit.
Miss Hailey playing with her stickers we picked up for her at Mrs. Grossman’s in Petaluma. Haily loves her stickers. Hailey and Oma playing in Hailey’s play room.Gotta teach them kids early…babies go in the car seat when driving to the grocery store.More tragedy. Chad’s family pet Lucy had some serious spastic episodes while we were there. To the vet’s, they thought maybe a brain tumor, not good prognosis. Lucy returned home and March 15 Chad informed us he had to have her euthanized that morning. More crappy news for a generally crappy month. RIP Lucy!
We got hit with terribly sad news while in Atascadero – a very close family friend and one of my former co-workers/partners at the Sheriff’s Dept., Jon Watson, lost his battle with throat cancer and passed on to a much better life. (We were disappointed that we were unable to attend his memorial service, it was just after I got released post surgery.) Rest in peace, my friend!
Jon Watson, with his partner “Koogan”. RIP, my friend. Jon and Koogan, doing what they did best!
So we returned to Petaluma counting down until surgery. Murphy, again, reared his ugly head with his screwed up list of “laws”. The day of my pre-surgery appointment with the sawbones (about 6 days out), I got the pleasure of developing a case of gout, something that I tend to do from time to time. Usually, past practice I would pop a Colchecine for 2-3 days and bingo, no more gout. Unfortunately, sawbones said I cannot take any anti-inflammatories or blood thinners this close to surgery and in any case not for about 6 months after surgery. He said it interferes with the fusion process. Great. So, back to full strength Percocet. He also gave me the good news – this surgery tends to exacerbate gout kinda big time. Great. Surgery day came and Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa actually did a good job for me. Dr. Athanassious from Santa Rosa Orthopedics (aka: The Bone Palace) also did an excellent job as my sawbones. Once I came out of Wonderland I noticed relief from the neck pain right away. But Mr. Gout was still with me. He was not just “with” me, he decided he needed to invite the whole Gout family with him. Normally I only get it in one foot or the other. Now, out of my cloud of anesthesia, I could feel gout in both feet. Doc was right, I felt the exacerbation almost immediately. Great.
Early on in my attack of gout. I was lucky I could stand then… Yeah, I survived the knife!This is what a few Percocets can do for you…Proud Daddy Chad with Little Miss Ellie. We were with you in spirit, son…New momma Crissy with their second bundle of joy, Miss Ellie. This is what relief from gout can look like. See, I can even put socks on the affected feet…I no longer have a titanium deficiency!
It was just an overnighter for me at the hospital, thankfully. Problem was after I returned to the motorhome, the double-barreled gout intensified to the point I absolutely could not stand, walk, or even allow a simple bedsheet to rest on either foot. I’ve seen a lot of pain in varying degrees in my 58 years and was pretty proud of the amount I could take. But holy cow! This round broke me down to a sniveling simp. No neck/spine pain, oh, OK, I guess these Percocets will handle the gout. Yippee, oh boy, flying without an FAA license! (Made me pretty useless for a few weeks, anyway.) My savior was an appointment to establish a primary care physician here in Santa Rosa. She scripted me with a 5 day Prednisone regiment and AAAAAAAAHHH! Immediate relief! I just finished my 5th day and time will now tell if it will take. Now to cross fingers and hope no gout for the next 6 months.
While convalescing and with the gout relief, we eased back into a little more normal activity. We had the opportunity to meet up with my cousin Cheryl, whom I have not seen in, ahem, 40-some years. We had a very nice time catching up and telling stories. Luckily, she was only evacuated from her home near Annadel Park in Santa Rosa during this past fire storm in October. Her home survived the fires.
Thanks for the visit, cousin Cheryl. We enjoyed the catch up!
During the recovery period the weather has been less than optimal here in Petaluma. Lots of rain and cold. But we did find a clear day to load Jenn and Max up and head out to check out the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The day was beautiful, but cool and windy. And we all survived the daunting 330 steps (one-way) to the lighthouse. They call it the equivalent of a 30 story building. A plus was we got to see several of the whales spouting on their yearly tour north up the coast after birthing down south.
Jenn taking a selfie with Jeanne and I, trying not to get blown over by the wind. The Point Reyes Lighthouse.The Point Reyes Lighthouse from a closer vantage point.After climbing down those 330 steps, it is time for a rest with snacks. Maximus the Gladiator doing a coast watch. “Hey, Max, the whales are out in the ocean, look that way!”With the heavy wind, critters like the red tailed hawks could remain stationary in the air while in their “attack mode” looking for Hawk snacks.There were lots of coastal deer, chowing down on grass while whale watching with the humans. The problem was I could not be fast enough to catch the small whale spouts on camera, so hence, no photos. Sorry… The Gladiator, tree bound.A shot north toward South Beach and Drake’s Beach. It was a beautiful day on the Marin County coast.Max thinking we are crazy to embark on this descent.
That about catches us up. We still have a bit of California time to burn to finish up medical issues, babysitting issues, and maybe take in a couple of the Gladiator’s Little League games, then look to head north for a change of scenery. Until next post…
