Monday, April 10, 2006

I am having all kinds of grief this morning with the computer.  Right now I've have to get into my Journal through the back door and not use any of the normal channels for opening a program.  I don't know how long I'll be able to do this before it finally shuts down completely.

This was the most boring day of the entire winter.  With the possible except ion of doing a couple of things to the motorhome for the trip home, like check oil and air up the tires I mostly just sat around and waited for my doctor's appointment at 4:15 this afternoon.

The weather today was absolutely fabulous and well worth a trip to the pool in the afternoon but I guess I just didn't feel like having any fun.  For the last two weeks this stone has pretty much sucked the life out of me, even though I've been pain free most of the time.  At three o'clock this afternoon it was the first 24 hour-pain free period I've experienced.

We got in the car and headed to Ahwatukee to the urologist's office.  After we left, with fresh prescriptions of Toradol and Vicodin I was quite happy that I'd be able the trip all the way home even if I didn't pass the stone until then.  But then 2 more weeks of pain medication should almost make me bedridden by the time I get there.  I won't have enough energy to get out of bed.  The doctor decided that because of my situation and that because I was leaving next Monday, he wasn't going to do anything invasive at this point.

I was so happy that we stopped at Eatza Pizza on the way home and filled ourselves to capacity.  They have Regular, Dessert, Chicken and Fried Potatoes and pasta for the customers.  Very Good.

Tonight was Prison Break and "24" on TV and both were very good tonight.  As usual they ended in cliffhangers again.  And as usual I was so tired tonight that I watched the last show on TV in bed.  I think I was sleeping by the time it ended.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

This is the first official day of "totally screwed up computer."  It started going haywire yesterday but I thought that somehow I would be able to fix it.  At least enough to get us home.  At this point there is no "fixing" it   Formatting the Hard Drive seems to be the only solution available at this time.  I downloaded our e-mail this morning but I can't read it.  The icons on the Desktop open the wrong programs, and when I finally get a program open, it won't close. 

Jerry and Mary Milan and Len and Rose went with us for the buffet at JB's this morning.  The food was excellent and we all came away satisfied with ourselves.  Today was Senior day and a 20% discount on Breakfast.

After Breakfast we came home and Sharon defrosted the Freezer and then went grocery shopping.  We had to have a $50 grocery bill to get the 6¢ off on our gas on Monday.  She ran the bill up to 90 some dollars and got the discount ticket.

After she put the groceries away, we got dressed and headed for the pool.  The pool was very nice and only the second time we've been in it since we got here.  Len and Rose invited us over for a cocktail hour after the pool and we went over at about 4 o'clock.  We stayed over there until just before dark and then came home to cook our steaks.

I cooked the steaks on the grill and Sharon made up the Garlic Bread and Spaghetti for our Dinner.  We chased it all down with a little vino.

At 3 this afternoon, I had officially gone 48 hours without any pain.  Perhaps "stoney" has made his exit for this time.  We'll have to reserve judgment at least for now.

We sat and settled ourselves in front of the tube for the night.  Almost everything that was on tonight was a repeat.  I did, however, make it to 10 without much trouble tonight.  But as soon as it did roll around tonight I wasn't making any excuses for going directly to bed.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I was up at 1:30 taking pain medication this morning.  I went back to bed and fell asleep until my usual time to get up, but I continued on the medication until this afternoon.

I sat in my chair most of the day with my eyes jammed shut.  I wasn't going anywhere and I didn't feel like going anywhere.  Sharon stopped over to Walgreen's and refilled my prescriptions from Dr. Karlovsky, the Urologist, from Ahwatukee.  When she got back we found that they had shorted us 30 Toradol pills.  That's almost my entire supply to get home if I have trouble.  We called them immediately and went through jumping through a bunch of hoops to be able to get them tomorrow.  Apparently our insurance won't pay for the amount that was prescribed, so we'll have to pay cash for the remainder.

At 3 o'clock we were invited over to Len and Rose's for a little get together with Jerry and Mary.  We managed to get there right at three and Jerry and Mary arrived about 3:30.  I wasn't drinking today because of the pain medication so I was the 7-Up kid today.  We stayed until about 6:30 with Jerry and Mary leaving just before we did.  I had taken my last pain pill just before we left Len and Rose's so I was ready to nap when I hit my recliner.  I slept on and off all night missing most of the TV for the night.

Sharon went to bed about 8:30 having spent her entire day up until now.  She finally had someone to drink with today and she took full advantage of it.  I "stayed up" until 11 having napped most of the day already.  I certainly didn't need any extra sleep tonight.

Most of the shows on TV tonight were all re-runs.  I hadn't seen any of them, or for the most, part remembered any of them.  So I was pretty much watching original programming for the night.  Frankly I really didn't care much whether it was re-runs or original programming.  I had lost interest a couple of pain pills ago.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

As I woke up this morning I realized that today was going to be no better than yesterday.......painwise.   I spent the entire day on the couch today taking medication until late in the afternoon.  I actually had to get the oil changed in the motorhome before we leave on Monday, so I went out and drained the oil into a pan and then finished putting in all the plugs to keep the new oil in the engine.  By the time I was finished I was completely done in.  The temperature outside is somewhere in the 90's today and very tiring out there.

Sharon grilled out burgers for supper and I just returned to my position on the couch, where I remained the rest of the evening until time to go to bed.  Although I had only moved about 25 feet from the couch all day, to drain the oil, I was completely bushed.

Friday, April 14, 2006GOOD FRIDAY

I was up early again this morning and not feeling too tip-top.  By 8:30 Len and Rose picked up Sharon to drive to the Mesa Marketplace about an hour away.  I had intended to go with them but I didn't think that I'd be able to make it.

I just mostly sat around and watched TV until the wind came up and screwed up the dish.  I switched over to antenna but there were mostly Spanish speaking stations on today.  What time I didn't spend napping I spent watching TV.

My roommate came home about 3:30 and proceeded to show me all her purchases. It was mostly on the Grandkids except for a belt she picked up for me.  She also said that it was very warm in the Marketplace and that I wouldn't have liked it much.  I didn't care for it much here either.

We fended for ourselves for Dinner tonight.  Sharon didn't feel like cooking, and I didn't feel much like eating.  It was a match made in heaven.

The wind was blowing so hard tonight that we had to watch our regular shows off the antenna.  Luckily we could find them on regular TV.  But that was over by 10 and the Big Guy was off to the sheets.  The bedroom slide was in because of the wind and it was a little crowded in there, but we adjusted, just like we always do.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

The sun rose this morning on a new day.  The stone has apparently passed and I'm feeling quite good.  As soon as the sun came up I went outside and finished up the oil change on the motorhome.  I had done everything except put the new oil in, and that only took about 20 minutes.  It took a little while longer to put all the old oil in the empty bottles and get ride of it.

When Sharon got up she knew right away that stoney had taken a hike.....for now.  He'll be back but at least not in the near future, hopefully.

This was going to be our "get ready to go day" today since we'll be leaving on Monday and if the stone really isn't gone, I may not be feeling too well by tomorrow.  When Sharon got up she quickly got around to washing the car.  The dust and dirt from yesterday's wind had made a mess all over it.  It was a little dusty but not bad enough for me to worry about washing it.

We left to go and do some last minute grocery shopping and ran into Len and Rose at the store.  They we're happy to find out that my condition had rectified itself today.  They told us they would be at the pool this afternoon.

By lunchtime I was still feeling pretty good although getting tired from being on the go for the first time in 19 days.  By this afternoon the weather had warmed up considerably and we went to the pool for a dip or two.  We actually got tired of being in the pool but the same 4 people were still in the hot tub since we arrived, and we just waited until they got the hell out.  When they finally did, the water was barely warmer than the pool.  We sat for a couple of minutes and then headed home.

We had picked up most of our stuff this morning so all that remained was to dump and fill the water tank tomorrow.  It shouldn't take too long to finish up our preparations for leaving on Monday.

We had crock-pot chicken for supper tonight along with a Garlic/Olive Oil/ noodle dish that was very good.  The Chicken was seasoned "out of this world good."

After Dinner we settled in front of the TV for the usual Saturday night fare.  Since September, the usual Saturday night fare has been re-runs of shows that had been shown since September.  Tonight was no different except hat I lost interest about 9 and pointed myself toward you-know-where and settled between the sheets.  My day had definitely lasted long enough for me.

Sunday, April 16, 2006HAPPY EASTER

I was up early as usual this morning writing my Journal and Len and Rose picked up Sharon for Sunday Mass at 8:30.  I worked on the Journal and my expense sheets while she was gone.  She was back by about 9:30 and I was pretty much done with watching my Sunday Political shows by then and finished up with my Journal and such.  I had also dumped the tanks and filled the water while she was gone.  We were ready to roll tomorrow morning......almost.

After lunch we went to the pool early so that we'd be done by the time 3 o'clock rolled around so that we could make it to the Ham and Scalloped Potato Dinner that we had signed up for in the clubhouse.  We also had called Jerry and Mary Milan and told them that we wanted to see them today, to say our good-byes, and that we'd either come over there or they could stop by our place on their way home from their daughter's.

We were also planning to pull out of our site today and go fill the gas tank at the Safeway where we could get an extra 6 cents off on a gallon.  After $187 and some odd cents we left the pumps at Safeway.  Man this is going to be an expensive trip home.

We actually got back about 5 and Jerry and Mary came by almost immediately.  We called Len and Rose and they stopped over also for a couple of hours.  We managed to watch Desperate Housewives tonight during the later version at 9 o 'clock.  It was quite convoluted tonight and several stories were apparently making an appearance so it was hard to follow.  It didn't really matter since the last couple of weeks have been kind of messed up for us anyway.

By 10 we were ready to hit the hay since we'll be up early tomorrow and on the road.  The trip home starts tomorrow even though we'll be headed 90 miles west tomorrow.