Two weeks of recovery done....

I had my 2nd post-op doctor's visit this morning.  Every time we see him he seems to change the gameplan a little.  Originally he said I had to stay put for a month, and then I could leave for a couple of weeks. Last week he said I could leave for a couple of weeks after today.  Today he said I need to come in again in 2 days and again next week- then I can leave for 3-4 weeks.  No big deal but we have to keep adjusting our plans. So now we are going to stay here for another 3 days and then leave for the other Rv park that's not too far away.
      Overall though, the surgery went awesome and my recovery is going very well. The muscles in my foot seem tense, as if they aren't working quite right.  He said that's because I haven't had much range of motion in that joint for so many years, the muscles haven't really done much work in a long time, and now they are.
        So, Paul is finishing some projects and possibly starting another one.  He may build in an electric heater into the wall so we won't have to use the portable one we have.  We have a furnace with a full heating system but many times we just need a small electric one to take the chill out of the air.
The weather has been great, although its getting a little cold at night.  Last night it was in the mid 30s. Today its in the high 50s and the sun is out.

Dinners!

Last night we went out to dinner with friends and had a great time.  Tonight we went out to dinner with friends and had a great time. Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner with friends, and I am sure we'll have a great time!  I'll have to go on a diet, but it's worth it.
   Originally we were going to leave here this weekend and drive to an RV park about an hour from here for a couple of weeks, but we are going to stay here until my doctor's appointment on Tuesday instead.  Paul has been on a buying frenzy, buying "stuff" for the trailer while he has time order it, get it shipped and install it all. So far he has installed a water softener, but he wants to secure it better, so he has that project to finish.  He bought a heating element for one of our air conditioners so it can be used as a heat source, and he has that installed.  He ordered a part to install on  the awning to our largest slide so that water won't puddle in it, but it hasn't arrived yet.
In general he's been getting a lot done while waiting to be able to get on the road again.

One week of recovery done...

One week down, a few more to go....I had my first follow up visit yesterday and was very happy to hear that I will probably only have to stay in Michigan for another 3 weeks instead of 5 weeks.  Because this surgery was less invasive than the one originally planned, the recovery is faster. He did say that once the damage builds back up again (hopefully 5-10 years), my only option will be joint replacement.   I still have to wear the Cam Walker for another week, but that's ok, I really don't want to smash my foot at this point anyway.  I can walk around as much as I want as long as I don't overdo, so we are checking out wedding venues and making plans to go out to dinner with friends before we leave here this weekend (headed about 45 minutes south).  I think we may head to the West Virginia area for a couple of weeks before coming back to Indiana for Thanksgiving.

the view from my lounger

Michigan

Well, I am sure it wouldn't surprise anyone at Valassis to hear that I have a sore throat.  I went to visit my former co-workers and friends, and talked non-stop for about 3 hours.  It was so great to make the rounds and see everyone, although there we a few people I missed. I am hoping to see people again before we leave.
   We are at Haas Lake Park again- we arrived here after spending a couple of days in Muncie with Jess and her new fiance. I've discovered that I don't take any pictures when I am visiting people.  The only pictures I took in Muncie were of Jess trying on wedding gowns, and I can't post any of them!  Tomorrow we are checking out a couple of potential wedding venues for Jess since its the last day I'll be able to do anything for a while.  I had a doctor's appointment this morning, going over the details of my foot surgery that is scheduled for Wednesday.  I was pretty much assuming I would get crutches and be able to hop around as much as I want, as long as I put no pressure on my foot, but he tells me I need to pretty much stay home for  two weeks and keep walking to a minimum.  Ugh. 
Anyway, since I will be recuperating, and not exploring, there won't be too many blog posts in the next few weeks.

"Christmas morning"

Thats what it felt like the other day when Paul and I were rummaging through our stuff that we have in storage. We brought to storage a few things that we don't think we need  anymore in the trailer- like the tennis rackets that I swore we would use now that we don't work anymore. More importantly (and fun) were the very few things that we had access to once we got there.  In the big metal cabinet near the entrance, we found the carpet shampooer!  We were able to reach both bikes, and one of my favorite small flower pots.  We didn't actually need or get that much stuff, but it was fun to sort through and see what we might want.  And being able to get the bikes was a nice bonus.  I hope we use them more than we did the tennis rackets, though.   The timing is good since we have to come back here in a month or so anyway, we should have a good idea by then as to whether they are worth keeping with us.
      I took a leap and booked my foot surgery today.  They are already booking in October and I will need to be here for a minimum of 6 weeks, maybe even 8,  which brings our stay here very close to the potentially nasty winter weather in November.  Our only other option is to put it off until spring, and we really don't want to do that because it will interfere more with our activities than if we do it now.  We may winterize the trailer for the last two weeks and stay in an extended stay hotel, but we'll decide that later.
   We had more visitors yesterday (friends from my work) and had a great, relaxing afternoon with them!  Paul really enjoyed meeting all my friends, since he has been hearing their names for years.   Last night was our last social outing- we went out to dinner with a friend of Paul's.  When we lived here, we would meet Al and his wife occassionally for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Al's wife couldn't be here last night, so it was just the 3 of us.  She is in Texas, staying with their 31 year old son who was just diagnosed with oral cancer and is beginning Chemo and radiation therapy.  Thats not something that any parent should have to handle, and they have dropped everything to be there for whatever he needs.  In addition to that, they are in the midst of planning their daughter's wedding, so their lives have been in quite an upheaval lately!
   Our visit here has been whirlwind and short, but it's nice to know that we will be back this way sooner rather than later.  Tomorrow we hope to head north.

Home sweet Home / Hurry up and Hike

I couldn't decide on a title- in fact I had about 5 that I wanted to use.
After an exhausting day yesterday, we were reunited with our "home" at 7 pm.    On Saturday I had called the RV park that we are staying at here to tell them that we would probably not arrive until Tuesday.  They had no problem holding the reservation for us. Sunday we checked in to a nearby  hotel, went out to dinner, and did our laundry.  Fun day, but not as "fun" as yesterday!
   Our doctor appointments started yesterday at 8:15 am and ended at 4:30 pm. Whew.  We sure did cram a lot of things into one day.  We both  almost escaped with a clean bill of health, but one of my doctors wrecked it.  Both of our physicals went fine, with our doctors telling us to go off and have fun for another year.  But the specialist who looked at my foot put the brakes on our footloose and fancy free ideas.  Apparently I need surgery to rebuild the joint that connects the big toe to the foot.  If I wait too long to do the surgery, it will be a joint replacement instead of a joint rebuilding project.  This isn't a total surprise to us, and its part of the reason I brought Paul in to see the doctor with me, so we could both hear the options.  We've pretty much decided that it would be smarter to do this now rather than risk more injury.  Thats where the "hurry up and hike" part comes into play.  When I said "now"  I really meant " a little later". We're going to spend the next month hiking the UP and across Minnesota, and then swing back down here.  I'll be stuck in one place for at least a month, with no traveling, so I'd like to see a little more before I do that.  We'll have to figure out the logistics of where we can stay etc. 
    In between doctors appointments, we talked to Keystone several times and after misunderstandings with our RV dealer here, we finally made arrangements for the Everest to be delivered to the dealer last night.  We even got a call from the driver while he was enroute, to confirm.   Paul's day was even crazier than mine because while I was at the doctors, he had to throw everything, including the cat, into the truck and check out of the hotel.  It was too hot to leave the cat in the truck, so one of us had to stay with the truck until we got the Everest- but!  It was so nice to have our own bed to sleep in!!
    Today was another flurry of appointments- some doctors, some other things.  Tomorrow there are even more appointments.  We're so busy with business stuff, the first time we'll get to see friends is this Thursday.