Back Home Again in Indiana

I am once again a Hoosier! 

I now live with my daughter, Kris, and my two granddaughters, Adrian and Katie.  Fort Wayne is my new home.  And I have a new e-mail address: rlaughlin2@gmail.com

So how did this all come about?  Well, it is not a pretty story, but I am feeling much better about things now than when this sordid tale began.  My stamina and strength started fading early in 2012, and I got to the point where I had no appetite and no energy for anything but the most simple of chores.   After collapsing on the driveway on May 17th, when taking my trash to the curb, I knew I had to call 911.  So they carted me off to the Hudson Medical Center, and I spent the next five days there.  

After several tests, pokes and prods, I  learned that my pancreas "is shot."  It caused a blockage that didn't permit the common tube from the pancreas and liver to let bile flow, so in a matter of days (before being hospitalized), I became jaundiced. It was a condition nearly impossible to screen for, so earlier diagnosis was really not possible.  By the time jaundice is detected, it is far too late for treatment in nearly all cases.

However, what the docs were able to do for me was to put a stent (plastic tube) in to permit bile to move again, and they told me that it will provide me with relief.  The interesting thing is that I was never in any pain before this.  I was just weak and lost quite a bit of weight.  I only weighed 115 pounds when I was put in the hospital. 

Kris flew to Florida on Sunday, May 20th.  Her girls were still in school, so she had to make arrangements for them to stay with other folks in Fort Wayne while she came to be with me. On Monday, May 21st, she was able to bring me back to my house.  I wasn't jaundiced anymore, but I was still very weak. 

Realizing that I couldn't live alone anymore, I agreed to come back to Indiana with Kris.  It was hard for me to leave Florida -- I truly loved it there -- but I had to do it.  Kris and I had often talked about moving back (after she adopted the girls), but Lomie and I felt Florida was home, spending 26 years there.  Kris had no trouble convincing me that she and my granddaughters were thrilled that she would be kidnappng me back to the Hoosier state.

We met with a Realtor on Wednesday to get the house on the market, and on Thursday, Kris met with a woman who owns a company called "Everything in the House," to take care of selling the furniture and other things we left, plus clearing everything else out of the house.

Kris packed up what we needed to take from my den on Tuesday and part of Wednesday, finished packing things from my bedroom also on Wednesday -- taking mostly summer clothes, but a few long pants and sweaters and a jacket for later.  Lomie's room was pretty much already sorted through, because I spent a lot of time doing that after she passed last August. Thursday and Friday, Kris boxed up a few things in the living room and kitchen.

On Saturday, after loading the last few boxes in my Cadillac Eldorado, we were ready to head north shortly before noon.  Kris said the car looked like the Clampett's from The Beverly Hillbillies.

It was Memorial Day weekend, and Kris had mentioned earlier in the week, when we were deciding when to start the drive to Indiana, that she didn't want to drive through Atlanta on a Friday afternoon before a major holiday.  So I thought, "Why not Thursday?"  But that idea was quickly abandoned when Kris told me there was a lot of stuff she still needed and wanted to go through...photos, old dishes and cookware, crocheted pillowcases and such, and other momentos from her childhood.

Even with the air conditioner running in the car, it couldn't have been hotter driving.  It was 97-98 degrees outside all day.  About 30 miles south of Atlanta, at around 4 p.m., we got backed up on I-75.  We moved only a mile or two in 2 hours, then were detoured west 8 miles (then north) to get back to I-75.  A semi had wrecked at 1 p.m., then caught on fire. 

Throughout the trip, we hit rest areas for most of our "pit stops," but I was still so weak, that walking was a struggle.  Kris steadied me to the door of the men's room and waited until I came back, then walked me back to the car.  The only other times we stopped was to gas up or go to a drive-up for sandwiches and cold drinks.

We continued north for a few hours more on Saturday, and stopped for the night at a motel just south of Chattanooga around 10:30.  Sunday morning, we got back on the road by 8:30.  It was still blistering hot outside.  We made good time until we got near Horse Lake, Kentucky, when the left rear tire blew.  Luckily, Kris was in the right-hand lane and within 30 yards of a rest area.  She called 911, and we were towed about 2 miles to a tire center (owned by the tow driver).  About an hour later, we were back on the road. 

Kris and I had been enjoying our time driving together, and when passing through each state said "Goodbye, Florida...Goodbye, Georgia...Goodbye, Tennessee...Goodbye, Kentucky...HELLO, INDIANA!!!"  We were feeling pretty good and looking forward to being in Fort Wayne before dark.

If bad luck comes in 3's, though, we should have known something else was ahead of us.  And our bad luck #3 was about 40 miles away from Kris's house on the north side of Fort Wayne, when another tire blew -- this time it was the right front tire!  Two blown tires in one day?  Seriously?  Once again, we were fortunate to be in the right-hand lane, and coincidentally, we were -- once again -- about 30 yards from a pull-off, this time it was an abandoned weigh station.  Kris called 911 again to get a tow truck.  We knew the car would need to be towed to Fort Wayne, because we needed to get home.  She also called friends to come pick us up.  State troopers stopped and checked to see if we were alright, and one of them told us that the extreme heat was taking its toll on tires over the weekend.  My tires were less than 18-months old, but I guess since I had only driven mostly to Winn-Dixie every week or so, they were not ready for the long-distance inferno.

When Kris's friends got to the weigh station, we told them about our Sunday ordeal.  The tow truck showed up about 5 minutes later, and we decided to take the car to the Wal-Mart tire center about 3 miles from where Kris lives.  We got to Kris's house about 10:30 that night.  The girls were outside with flashlights and had crepe-paper streamers decorating the outside yard light and front door.

I am occupying what was Katie's bedroom.  While Kris was in Florida with me, she had the girls bring in her oak bed with a 6-foot headboard that was stored in the garage.  Katie's twin bed was moved into Adrian's room, so they are sharing a room now.  I am close to the living room and bathroom.  Kris set up my computer on a desk in my room, and she brought me a two-drawer file cabinet so I can re-organize all my papers.

Adrian has been making breakfast for us quite a bit, and Kris makes lunch and supper.  Every night before I go to bed, I drink an Ensure (the muscle-building varity). My appetite has improved each day and so has my strength and endurance. 

On Thursday morning, May 31st, Kris got a call from the Realtor.  There was a very good cash offer on the house!  5 days on the market and we got a very good cash offer!  Hooray!!!

On Saturday, June 9th, I mentioned to Kris that I thought I needed to spend more time up.  Early on, I had just been getting out of bed to eat in the living room at a little table put in front of the Lazyboy, or go to the bathroom.  She said she had gone to sleep the night before thinking the very same thing!  So I decided to try to walk some outside every day.  Kris walked me down her driveway -- it's sloped a little -- and I walked to the next house's driveway and back.  I have been making 3 or 4 walks a day, plus going to get the mail, ever since.  I take my cane with me, but don't use it unless I need it for balance. My distance gets longer each time.

I plan on making more additions to my blog now...so if you want to check in, the Nonagenarian Non-Sense is now 91 and getting better every day.