With winter soon on its way out, it’s time for an update although this will cover some personal health issues we’ve both been experiencing that have been no fun.
Marc really immersed himself into the shelter build in his oversight duties, which meant he was there most days at some point during the day, sometimes for hours. That became his major accomplishment of the winter. The building is about a month overdue but finally reaching the final stages where cabinets and fixtures are about to be installed.
One weekend, Marc suddenly felt some sharp pain in his back on a Saturday and thought he must have pulled a muscle. By Sunday it was no better, in fact, was much worse and then he took his blood pressure and found it extremely high, so he asked me to take him to ER. After three hours and some scans later, they determined he had a large kidney stone which was in the ureter. He was sent home with some non-opioid pain meds and a strainer and told to watch and see if it passed. By mid-week, other than a short respite for one day, the pain had not abated, so we headed for a urology center in Appleton. We didn’t make it there as Marc was insane with pain, so we again ended up at ER in a major hospital in Neenah, much better equipped than Waupaca’s small hospital.
Scans revealed the stone had become stuck so emergency surgery was ordered and after a day in the ER and the OR, I was able to drive Marc home with a stent. The stent proved almost as painful as the stone but at least this time they had given him opioid medications, which were of greater help. Several days later the stent was removed and Marc felt as though he was a new man! After nearly ten days of constant pain and not being able to do much beyond lie doubled over in bed, he was joyful to have that ordeal over with.
I managed to get through helping the shelter hold its online
auction, with all the sorting and distribution that entails at the end, and
then suddenly one day I started feeling so dizzy I about passed out. So, it was
Marc’s turn to take me in to ER. Nothing much was determined, with the
exception that I wasn’t having a heart attack and they suspected an inner ear
problem, and I was sent home with some referrals and a RX Dramamine pill which
did nothing to touch the dizziness. That’s been a couple weeks ago and the
dizziness comes and goes, sometimes to the extent that all I can do is sit
still or sleep. It will be a convoluted process to see an ENT specialist; I
have to have an audiogram first, which an appointment wasn’t available until
April and of course, the ENT guy is booking out until mid-June. By June, of
course, we hope to be north, so that will entail the three-hour drive back here
to Waupaca. GURRRRR….
Moving right along, we’ve wanted to get the Hideout up for sale and knew we had to fix the refrigerator that went out last year. No fixing that; we had to order a new one to the tune of nearly $2000. The original is an Atwood, which they stopped making (well, of course they did) and we prayed the new Norcold would fit through the doorway. The new one fit in (surprise, surprise), but the old one wouldn’t fit out so Marc had to totally disassemble it. RV manufacturers make such sense with the way they build, don’t they?
As if that wasn’t enough, it also suddenly developed an electrical problem with all the exterior lights so Marc has been working on trying to chase that down for days it seems. That’s where it stands right now, so here’s hoping everything can be resolved soon and we can sit that baby out front with its For Sale sign and attract a quick and motivated buyer.
We’ve been batting around all sorts of ideas of our build projects for the north property this summer. Marc has to finish up some final touches on the boat house; a piece of trim on the roof of the shop; build a small insulated interior space/room for the well head pressure tank; and lay cement pads for the wheels of the big RV. We’re going to hire his contractor friend to help with a new set of stairs with handrails down the slope to replace the badly canted railroad tie steps before I fall on those and break my neck.
We’ve also decided since its waterfront lake property, we need to be able to enjoy it as such rather than just have a pretty view, so we’re going to build a small dock at the end of our boardwalk so we can leave the kayaks parked for much easier use and also occasionally leave the pontoon out and parked in good weather. With more room, I can also turn my bench to face the lake and maybe we can even enjoy some BBQing there.
Come along and I’ll spotlight it all in future blog posts!
