Hanging up our keys

When I started this blog I thought we would be traveling a few more years. We have been hanging around in the midwest for medical reasons. Trying to get everything taken care of so we could go a few months without Dr. appointments. A week ago Thursday we found out that Dick has yet another medical syndrome that necessitates lifelong treatment. He has myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which is a bone marrow disorder. It is considered cancer and could mean in time that he will have to have regular blood transfusion. At present he is being treated with the grown hormone that sends the signal to the bone marrow to create red blood cells. Dick was anemic enough this spring to require a blood transfusion and has been seeing a hematologist to find out what the problem is as he did not seem to be absorbing iron from diet and pills.

We are in the throes of discussing what to do. There are good reasons to stay in the community where we have lived for many years. However since we moved here I have felt like an exile. I wanted to return to the Pacific Northwest to live when we retired. Dick wants to live in the desert southwest. So we go round and round our choices.

It is nice to have choices but hell to decide.

This Week

Woke up to the sounds of a thunderstorm this morning. It has been raining now all morning with no sign of let up. This is a far cry from the heat wave of last week. It is rather pleasant to sit here and watch the campers pack up and leave while we sit here in comfort in our motorhome.

I am getting the place ready for Dick to take care of the next few weeks. I will be having surgery Wednesday and the Dr. told me no lifting for 6 weeks, no driving for at least 3 weeks and that I would be in the hospital for 24 to 48 hours. I hope stairs are allowed as I have to climb at least 4 to get into the motorhome. When we go shopping our system is to have me go inside and then Dick brings stuff from the car to the door and lifts it up to me and then I put it away. He is going to have to do both for the next few weeks. Lifting up gallon jugs full of water will be good strength training for him.

After years of not playing bridge I find I have a new bridge group. We will be playing weekly until Dom and Nancy leave for Tucson in late September. We have been playing once a month and last month said why don't we play more often. I enjoy the challenge of communicating via the signals of the bidding and the attempt to make the bid with difficult hands. One way of staving off cognitive decline is to exercise the mind and bridge is a good mind exercise with so many variables.

I have a lot to learn about how to manage this blog. Perhaps while I am recuperating I will learn how to add pictures and add a side bar with the blogs I read.

I am reading more and more blogs and when I want to comment many of them won't let me unless I have a blog through blogger. So this it my blog and I can refer to it when I post comments. My plan is to post about our travels. We live in our motorhome full time and travel North America. Sometimes we spend several months in one place and some times only a day or two. I will have to see how this blog evolves.