Capitol Reef National Park

We made it to our RV Park in Torrey, UT yesterday in a timely manner with no issues.  We have very limited internet here and as I write this I do not know for sure if or when it might actually get posted.  Probably no pictures to post while due to slow speeds and erratic coverage.  Perhaps if I stick to text only I can make this post work.

Today we were set to make our first run into the park however as I write this is is very dark and raining pretty hard with thunder and lightning.  This was in the forecast and not a surprise.  In fact we went for a walk and watched it coming.  I have picture of that to post later.

So today is a stay at home, stay inside day but that is OK because we will be here a full week.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

As mentioned in yesterday's post today we made a side trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument which is about 20 miles from were we are staying in Cedar City, UT.  Cedar Breaks reminds me of Bryce Canon although not quite as impressive or as large.  The snow normally accumulates to about 20 feet here in the winter.  This year it was only seven and is mostly gone now.

As is normally the case with these kinds of photos it is very difficult to show you the scale of what you are looking at but, trust me, it was a long way to the bottom. 

Finally On The Road

Traveled just 175 miles today from Las Vegas to Cedar City, Utah.  We are traveling with our friends Larry and Linda who also have a motor home.  They had visited us for two days in Las Vegas.  We are glad to be away from the desert heat.  All is well and we are looking forward to traveling to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  Hope to post some good photos after tomorrow's outing.

The Countdown Is On

It has been pretty quiet here around the blog for a while.  Arlyene is done with all her surgeries and is doing great.  We are just a little over a week from being joined by our friends Larry and Linda on 5/30.  They will visit with us here for a couple of days and then we are off together heading north.  We plan to stop at Cedar Breaks National Monument and then spend a week at Capitol Reef National Park.  After that we will slowly work our way up to Sagel, Idaho for a couple days, then Leavenworth for almost a week and then back to Bothell on July 1st for about 6 weeks.  Lots to do there and the time will no doubt go fast.  After Seattle we head for Red Bay, Alabama to have some work done on the motor home at the factory where it was born.  Then we will be heading back across the south towards Las Vegas, most likely getting back here in early October.  But more about all that later.  For now we'll just wake up the blog and post this snapshot of the first part of our summer heading for Seattle.  Should be lots of good photo ops along the way.

Pre Surgery Trip To Death Valley

Before you ask, No, the trip to "Death Valley" and the surgery had nothing to do with each other except timing.  

Before surgery we decided to get the motorhome and Arlyene out for some exercise so we went to the nearby town of Pahrump where there is a decent RV Park.  We were there for four days between surgery #1 and the more recent surgery #2.  We used Pahrump as our base camp for a trip into Death Valley to check out camping areas for a longer trip next March.

Our round trip "Track" from Pahrump to Furnace Creek and back.

Our day trip into the National Park took us down to 190 feet below sea level.

The temperature at -190 feet was 82 degrees the day we were there.  By contrast when we reached the highpoint of the trip, Dante's View it was 67 degrees at close to 5500 feet.

Death Valley is an interesting place and we plan to go back but I would never want to be there when rain was threatening and certainly not in the summer where it has been known to reach into the 130's..  That is just a bit too toasty for us.

Here are a few more snapshots of what we saw.
(As usual you can click on any individual picture for a larger view.)

Arlyene's journey to reconstruction

The brief backstory:
Following a partial mastectomy and radiation treatments in December, 2012 (invasive ductal breast cancer x 2 lesions), I developed a very large, hard mass that wasn't going away.  On February 5th, 2015 I had a total mastectomy, followed immediately with an implant to keep the muscle expanded and donor tissue added for preparing area for surgery #2 (two surgeons, one surgery).  The pathology report described the mass as a "very large, chronically inflamed, seroma/hematoma."

Surgery #2, on March 13th, 2015:
I elected to have a DIEP flap reconstruction which means the plastic surgeon moves my own skin and fat from my abdomen to the prepared breast area.  This micro-vascular surgery (connecting capillaries, veins and arteries) is delicate, tedious (7 hour surgery), and only done by a handful of doctors in the U.S.  

My doc told me I would be in the hospital, closely monitoring the blood-flow, for 3 to 4 days.  What I didn't know was how restrictive that post-op period would be.  I had to be on my back with my head elevated and knees flexed 24/7.  They didn't want the newly attached vessels to be pulled.  That also meant that for 24 hours I couldn't eat or drink in case they had to roll me back into surgery stat because I had sprung a leak, or developed a clot.

When I finally did get out of bed I had to walk bent at the waist, with my knees also bent--I looked like I was doing the 95 year old shuffle.  THEN my doc said I had to walk like this for four weeks!  Let's just say that shuffle and four bulb syringe-sized drains will be limiting my being in public to just the post-op doctor visits.

On day two in the hospital I developed Atrial Fibrillation.  Because I was in a teaching hospital, at 3am, my bedside was packed with students/residents from Coronary Care.  They were salivating, secretly hoping I would stay in A-Fib so they could "convert my heart" (shock it back into normal rhythm).  Fortunately they checked my blood chemistry first and discovered low electrolytes.  After administering potassium and calcium my heart went back into normal rhythm (two hours in AF).

Surgery #3 will be scheduled after all the swelling is gone (probably mid-May).  They will make me symmetrical.  I will be able to wear horizontal stripes again : )

Thank you for your prayers, your notes of love and encouragement, and happy birthday wishes (day of surgery).  My younger sister said she wants to be knocked out when she turns 68 too. 

I have been so very blessed with the best group of friends and family members that anyone could ever have--I love you all so much!!!

Arlyene

HAWAII 2015

Have not figured out how to get the motorhome to Hawaii at a reasonable cost so is it a lot cheaper to fly and pay for a hotel.  That is what we did January 20 - 30th.  We pretty much had 10 days of doing very little - although our caloric consumption stayed on par with running a couple of marathons!  Oh well, it was our vacation and a belated 45th wedding anniversary present to ourselves.  We shared our 10 days with good friends.  Some where already there and left before we did.  Some where with us the whole time.  This was our 6th visit to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel in the last 20 years or so and it is still one of our favorite places.    We really splurged and got a room facing the beach.  Three of these pictures were taken from our balcony.

The trip from Las Vegas added an extra four hours or so to the trip.  Two between here and Portland, OR for a plane change, plus layover time.  We left our hotel room at 11:15 am west coast time and finally got home at 12:30 am.  That made for a long day.  Worth it in the long run. We slept in until 9:30 the next morning, unheard of!  We are unpacked and the laundry is done and now all our efforts (mostly Arlyene's) is going into being ready for the Superbowl in a couple of hours.

GO SEAHAWKS!

What better place for a rainbow to begin????

Thankfully the rainbow ended up on the rocks but not the boat.

Sunset from our balcony on our last evening before heading home.

With Linda Bergo