Home At Last

Tennessee and our house never looked better than it did this afternoon when we pulled into the driveway. There has been alot of rain so everything was all green and so pretty. Our neighbor had done our lawn and caching friends had cleaned inside so all was ready for our return. What can you say about friends like that? Thank you so much.
We had a lovely visit with our friends in Harmony, AR with a promise to meet up again in Bell Buckle, TN on May 23 when we attend GeoWoodstock 7.
We unloaded just minimum things out of the coach tonight and will work on the rest tomorrow as we feel up to it. Joe has a Dr. appointment tomorrow afternoon but nothing else pressing right away.
Thanks to everyone who has kept up with us and remembered us daily with thoughts and prayers. The hip is doing well and it is just now a matter of time and healing. I'm supposed to be putting more and more weight on it until we go back down for a check-up in mid July.
We'll keep you posted.
Sharon

"It's 3 O'Clock in the Morning-We Danced the Whole Night Through"

Now I know you OBW(?)'s know that tune from a few years back. It doesn't exactly mirror my sentiments thus morning but almost. It is indeed 3 o'clock in the morning and I HAVEN'T slept(or danced) the whole night thru, not even with an ambien. It's so strange because last night I slept 7 hours and didn't even hear Joe when we got up to walk off a cramp. I don't understand how 2 nights can be so different. Maybe it has to do with major surgery just a little over a month ago, anesthesia, pain medicine, antibiotics, etc,etc,etc.
We arrived at our friends' house here in Ft. Smith around 3 PM on Sunday afternoon and had a nice visit with them. One of their sons came over to see us,too. We were all in the same church together over in Tokyo, Japan back in the early 80's and they have been special friends ever since. They have 2 boys that were the same age as our James so we did alot of things together. Joni is now an emergency room Dr. and Larry is still piloting and teaching it to others.
Joni had to work tonight and will be in about 6 AM so we will have breakfast with them before heading out. We'll be traveling over to Harnmony, AR to visit with another couple that we have known thru our sport of geocaching.
Hope all of you are sleeping right now and enjoying good dreams. I'll work on facebook a while and then see if I can catch a few "zzzzzzzzzz" before 6 AM.

Hello Ft. Smith, AR

We finally got out of TX yesterday. We had a gorgeoous trip up to Durant, OK and then east into AR and up thru the hills-God's mighty handiwork in nature is just breath-taking. We did a little caching along the way and then by the time we were ready to settle down for the night, we couldn't find a decent RV park. That brought us all the way in to Ft. Smith last night at 10 PM. We don't like going that late at night but didn't have any choice this time. We found our first "Circle W" park (that's Wal-Mart) and "tucked in" right behind a big motorhome. It was so nice and cool that we slept with the windows open and I had the best sleep I've had in quite some time. We were in no hurry this morning as we aren't scheduled to be to our friends' house until mid afternoon today. More later...

Going In Circles

We left Lewisville yesterday and had a fun caching day. By the time we found all that we had on our list, we were just about back to Lewisville so parked in the same place last night. That was quite an adventure for us yesterday since we hadn't cached in so long so today we are staying put right here and resting up. We'll do laundry and computer work and head out tomorrow. At this rate we'll be home by 4th of July.

Speeding Right Along

We've made it all the way to Lewisville, TX today(7 miles from the hotel). We dropped our son off at the airport this morning and came here early for a day of rest and relaxation. It is so beautiful today and we had the windows open here in the coach until mid afternoon when we put the AC on and laid down and took a nap. No definite plans as yet. Hope to cache around this area tomorrow before heading to AR. We have never been up the western side of AR so we want to go up that way to Ft. Smith where we will visit some friends. All is well here-more on our way later.

Been Released!!!!!!

Got a great report from my hip Dr. today and we says we can go home. He was, however, happy to know that we would come back down in mid July for another check-up. X-rays looked good and he wants me to put more and more weight on the leg up to 100% by the time we come back in July-with crutches the whole time.
We got meds filled, had lunch and now with the help of our son, we're packing up the coach. We plan to leave at 7 AM in the morning, have a couple breakfast tacos and then drop James off at the airport. He is on his way to Los Angles on business.
Then we will take the next few days to get home-we aren't in a hurry and don't want to drive hundreds of miles a day. We plan to visit 3 friends in Arkansas and possibly even go up to Branson, MO before getting home.
Thanks to everyone who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers these past weeks. We have felt your friendship and can never tell you how much it has meant to us.
We will try to write on here during the trip home if we have internet access.

1 Doctor down- 1 to go before freedom day

We saw the infection Dr today and she is happy with my progress and the results of my blood work this week. She sees no reason why we can't go home. She wants me on the present dose of the anti-fungal medicine until May 4 and then hopefully she'll reduce it some. I will continue to have blood work done after returning to TN. We discussed my sleep problems ( I only had about 1 1/2 hours of sleep last night)and she couldn't come up with any solution at this time. I tend to think that after I finish taking coumadin (last dose next Tuesday) that maybe that will help-we'll see.
We see my hip Dr on Tuesday and hopefully we'll be on our way home Wed. We'll probably take 4-5 days to get there-we are in no hurry. It seems like we've been down here for years so we are anxious to get back home and get back with life again. Thanks to everyone who has remembered us during these days. Will keep you posted.

Out and About

We didn't have any appointments today and the weather was pretty so we took a little day trip west of here. Our destination was Justin, TX where there is an outlet for jeans and shirts and boots-place we have visited often in the past when we lived here in TX. We were able to do a little easy geocaching, also, which was quite a treat after a month hiatas. With our little motorhome where we have our bed and bathroom as well as sink and "frig with us, it makes it a very nice traveling day. We stopped at a nice park and let Bulli have a good run and we also visited 2 nice restaurants. Next 2 days are to be cool and rainy so we are glad we got out today. I did really well on the trip but looking forward to heading to bed.
Sharon

Slow But Steady Progress

Not much to report this past week. Things are going along pretty well. Having physical therapy 3 times a week here in the room. I am moving the leg and hip and supposed to be putting up to 50% weight on that side. It's a little strange after not putting weight on it at all for nearly a year. The stitches and staples came out this week and the incision site looks great. There was no drainage like last year. We spend alot of time just sitting and working on the computer and watching TV-what else can you do while healing is taking place?
I'm on coumadin as a blood thinner so have to have a test every several days to check my blood levels to determine what dose to take. This will continue only until April 21 when I will discontinue the coumadin.
Had visitors from out-of-state today so it was a nice diversion from our daily routine. Expecting another couple today to come for lunch-always nice to see friends from long ago. This was a couple who were in our church in Okinawa back in the early 80's.
We are still on track for seeing my hip Dr. on the 21st and heading home on the 22nd. Will let you know if anything changes.

Getting into the routine again

We're getting settled in and back into our Plano routine here at the hotel. PT started yesterday and they will come 3 times a week. We aren't doing anything strenuous, just trying to get the muscles back in shape in order for walking to take place before long. Supposed to be putting up to 50% weight on that side but haven't had the courage to get anywhere near that yet. Home Health care has checked in,too, as they have to keep close tabs on my blood levels since I'll continue to be on a blood thinner until April 21.
We have an appointment with the infectious Dr. on the 16 and then with my hip Dr. on the 21st. so we know we'll be here at least thru that time. Our son will be flying in on the 18th and stay until the 22nd, so the plan (if all is going well) is for us to take him to the airport on the 22nd and begin our trek back to Tenn.