Adios San Antonio - Mar 2009

We left San Antonio Wednesday morning (March 4th) with mixed emotions. While we are absolutely tickled to get back on the road, the excitement is tinged with the sadness of having to say goodbye to our family and friends. We had great fun while there and already we're missing everyone.

I had to let the blog "rest" during our two-month stay because we were so darn busy. What is a typically busy time for us (with numerous appointments with doctors, dentist, vets, RV & car maintenance) was compounded with a whole bunch of unexpected events -- some good, some not so good.

The biggest, not-so-good event was that Frank's Mom (Mary) broke her hip. How she did it is still a mystery, but in early January she was walking around with a lot of pain in her hip. Thinking it was just bursitis, she got a shot of cortisone into her hip. Then, after a week of no improvement, she sought out a second shot. Her doctor insisted on an x-ray and afterward told her to immediately check into a hospital because she had a hip fracture and needed surgery.

Mary went into the hospital on a Saturday and was confined to bed, to prevent the break from getting worse. Surgery was scheduled a LONG four days later. After three days of recuperating from surgery, she was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for a couple of weeks of physical therapy. During this time, we moved into her house and took care of her dogs and household chores. The family took turns staying at the hospital, but we were there much of the time since we didn't have jobs to worry about.

When Mary finally was able to come home, we stayed for another couple of weeks just to help around the house and take her to doctor appointments since she still was unable to drive. After a couple of weeks and several sessions of therapy, Mary graduated from her walker to a cane and was doing well on her own. Here is Mary, Terry (Frank's sister) and Cameron (Terry's grandson and our grand-nephew.) Cameron (who was learning to walk) thought it was great fun to use Mary's walker to hold onto while he pulled himself upright.


No sooner had Mary gotten home from her hip surgery, the next not-so-good event happened -- Frank's sister Katy had a stroke and once again the family was back at the hospital. She was in the hospital for several days and we were all so worried about her condition. Luckily, she had no significant damage but she had to go on an lifetime of coumadin as well as several days of physical therapy, but she was able to return to work a couple of weeks after the stroke.

The other not-so-good stuff:
Scotty (our 10 year old dog) injured his leg and was determined to have an immune system problem (probably rheumatoid arthritis) that was causing his ankle joints to deteriorate. We'd been treating him for osteo-arthritis for years with not much success, so now we'll have to change treatment. Meanwhile, he's limping a lot and not enjoying his walks anymore.

Rudy (our 12 year old dog) has had a heart murmur for years and each year it has gotten progressively worse. This year, his heart went into early heart failure stage and he was put on yet another medication to treat the symptoms and possibly prolong his life awhile longer. We are happy to report that this new drug (Pimobendan) has given him a new lease on life. He's energetic again and still enjoying our walks.

Ok, so what about the good stuff? The best news is that Frank's brother Mike got married to Shelley. We love them both so much and wish them many, many happy years together. Here's a photo of the happy bride and groom.



And, we enjoyed more good times shared with our friends. Here we are at the annual gathering for brunch at the Guenther House. A special time to enjoy good friends and good food.

We miss all of you -- see you next December!