A Year Later

It’s been over a year since I last posted. I’ve only been on the road again for about six weeks. While I was in Columbus, I moved back into the house for the Winter because keeping an RV warm during really cold weather goes through a lot of propane and would still be cool.
Turns out I was in Columbus for surgeries. Yes, plural. I had four surgeries overall. I had a kidney stone in each kidney and each was the size of a quarter. Lithotripsy, where the doctor blasts the stone with a laser, didn’t work. We did that twice. While that isn’t a surgery where they cut me open, it’s still surgery because it damages the kidney and it takes time for the kidney to recover. When my doctor realized the Lithotripsy wasn’t going to work, he told me I had two options. One where they could run a tube up through my urethra, blast the stone, and remove the pieces and, two, surgery where they go in through my back into my kidney, blast the stone, and remove the pieces. I’d already experienced the surgery where they try to get to the kidney through the urethra and the tube isn’t long enough to reach my kidney so that left me with one option. I was referred to a specialist who performs only this surgery and prostate surgeries. Since she does both kidneys at once, it’s called a Bilateral Percutaneous Neprolithotomy. I had two of those because, after they do the procedure, they do an x-ray (KUB) to see if they got all the pieces of stone. If not, they go in again the next day and retrieve the remaining pieces. I had one piece which showed on the x-ray so they went in to retrieve it. However, it was embedded in the kidney tissue so they couldn’t remove it. That was two surgeries within 24 hours in February.
I did really well with the surgery. My pain was really low. However, I quickly noticed I wasn’t able to sit up for more than 5 minutes. I got out my anatomy book and realized they’d had to cut into my muscles of my back which allow me to sit/stand up. Oops, I hadn’t thought of that. It took about 3 months before I could sit/stand up for a half hour without needing three hours of sleep afterwards. So, again, I was in Columbus all Summer and it was HOT! The hottest Summer I’ve ever experienced in my 60+ years of life. First, it started in mid-May which is extremely early for that area. And, it almost immediately went to 90 degree days. We had 90+ degree days for about 2/3 of the Summer. Normal is maybe 90 degree days for a maximum of two weeks. I got a lot of rest since I couldn’t go outside in that heat. 🙂
Again, I was asking for an early Fall. I got my wish only not the way I expected. Just like Columbus had skipped Spring and went straight to Summer, we skipped Fall and went straight to Winter in October! Normally, we get the first freezing nights no earlier than mid-November. I left Indiana on October 31st because of freezing temperatures. I got to Oklahoma in three weeks. That’s fast for the way I like to travel.
I did treat myself, while in Oklahoma. I went to Pawhuska. For those of you who watch “Pioneer Woman,” on Food Network, you understand the draw. There’s the Mercantile, a shop, refurbished by the Drummonds which serves food, baked goods, and also has clothing, Knick-knacks, etc. The food is excellent! The Mercantile is worth the visit. Pioneer Woman was offering Lodge Tours while I was visiting. The Lodge is where the Pioneer Woman records here cooking show and is located on the Drummond Ranch. I visited the Lodge and on multiple occasions I ate at the Mercantile. The town of Pawhuska brought a smile to my face. It’s a very small town, no stoplights, and the friendliest of people.
The cold weather was chasing me again so I left after a week and drove to Texas. I’m where the weather is pretty normal for this time of year so I’ve slowed down my travels and am sitting for one or two weeks at each stop. I’m also not driving as far when I travel. Texas is a really nice state. Way more hills than I imagined. It’s also very sporadic in its weather. One day it will be 69 degrees and the next 32 degrees. One day the winds will blow 26 mph and the next no wind. So far the sun shines about half of the days. I could see Texas as a viable place to live long term. I’m in the middle of the state along I-20 and the weather doesn’t seem to get really hot, most days, during the Summer. I’ve not been here during the Summer, that’s just what my weather app has shown me. I’m heading to New Mexico where I plan spend the Spring/Summer/Fall roaming the state.
My health is better than before the surgery in all respects. Traveling so quickly really tired me. Since slowing down my energy is picking back up. I’m happy back out on the road. I will say I don’t feel like I’m happy to be away from Columbus. While I don’t wish to liver there anymore, I’m fine with being there. So, I guess I finally learned to be accepting of wherever I am at any given moment. 🙂 It was a difficult lesson for me to learn. I’m sure it will come back around and I’ll get to learn the lesson even more deeply. All lessons seem to be cyclical. 🙂
I hope to write more. I’ve been absent because I didn’t want to write, not even in my journal. So, I wasn’t.