The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #24 in MD, DE, & VA
11/21/98
only 234 miles, odometer reading now 28,540.
From Maryland, Hi Everyone!
First I want to thank all of you who wished me well and put me
in your prayers. I am starting this letter before the surgery,
I'll finish it with a report after surgery.
The miles on the odometer are from two trips to VA (about 60 miles
each way) to get my mail at my daughter's place and to road test
the work I have done on the motorhome. I also got to help celebrate
my great granddaughter Madison's 3rd birthday. I also tested updated
programs from Delorme, that's Gus's program. Gus still has a head
cold and he will now talk to me when I am in Canada using AAAMapnGo.
Both Street Atlas USA and AAAMapnGo still have a lot of errors
but they did fix some things. They say they want us to submit
corrections and I will. In the past, some of my corrections have
been incorporated and some were not, I'll keep trying. I also
ordered an updated receiver with the new programs. I ordered a
new receiver the last time I updated the programs and I could
not get it to work with my 6 volt power supply till now. Now I
have both receivers working with my power supply. Each of the
receivers will track 12 satellites. They are the latest technology,
however they both take several minutes to get a 3D (Longitude
& Latitude with elevation) fix on the satellites. The old
receiver that I got when I first ordered GPS only tracks 5 satellites,
it still works and it gets a 3D fix in about one second, so much
for the latest technology.
The road test of the tranny with the new vacuum modulator worked
much better than it did. It now stays in drive like it is supposed
to, but some times it won't shift out of low till I put the lever
in 2nd and back to drive, then it works OK. I changed the filter
and fluid not too long ago. I guess I'll just have to wait till
it gives me some more clues as to what can be wrong. I still haven't
found the bad connection to the starter but I have run another
wire from the starter solenoid to a push button on the dash, now
if it don't start when I turn the key , I just push the button
and I'm on my way.
Several months ago I stopped for fuel at a truck stop and they
had a big stack of Cobra CB receivers that were factory rebuilt
and priced right so I bought one and finally got it installed.
Not only is it a CB radio it is also a weather radio and with
it was a book that lists all of the weather transmitters in the
US and the channels they transmit on. I put all this information
on my map so I can keep it tuned to the correct channel as I travel.
If emergency weather information is broadcast it will alert me,
it will even turn itself on, if it is off. So now I don't have
to worry about a storm catching me sleeping.
On the 2nd I met with the surgeon and it is set for the 12th.
He told me he was going to remove 2 feet of my colon, I said "TWO
FEET" why so much. He said "The rest of the colon will
adjust and the loose bowels will not last forever". We got
to talking about just what the colon does and he explained that
it removes water and firms up the stool. In his book it's a stool,
in my book it's a turd, a "stool" is something to sit
on.
I think my daughter gave you a report the day after the operation,
like she said, everything went well during surgery and the prognosis
looks good. However, after surgery not every thing went well,
the first problem showed up when I went to recovery and because
I have this Defibrillator someone decided that I would have to
have a heart monitor on my heart. That, in itself, was a stupid
decision, my defibrillator is the best damn heart monitor there
is, and it doesn't have to be monitored. The next problem was
the weekend, now if you have been in a hospital you know the weekend
in the hospital is a different world, not too many know just what
is going on. Well I ended up on the second floor with a heart
monitor on, when I should have been on the fifth floor like the
other surgery cases. After my first breakfast, which was only
liquids, as it was supposed to be, they showed up with solid food,
this I was enjoying. Until it hit bottom, then there was hell
to pay. As the nurse explained it to me when I asked her how they
could go in that little hole they cut in my belly and take out
two feet of colon. She said they make a small incision, reach
in and pull all my guts out and put them on the table. Then they
cut out what has to be removed, sew it back together, poke all
those guts back into that little hole and sew it shut.
The liquid diet is needed while the guts are filling so they can
move around and get back into to the correct position. In my case,
this did not happen, let me tell you, it was hell. I have never
seen so much importance given to the lowly stinking "fart".
The nurse comes into my room each morning and asked if I had passed
any gas last night, if I say "yes" she says "wonderful"
if I say "no" she looks at me like she thinks I'm not
trying hard enough to get well. My well being depends on being
able to pass gas, the loose stools will follow and I'm on my way.
I could not pass gas, the gas was there all right, the only way
I could get rid of it was to belch, every time I did, I would
get this foul taste in my mouth. After awhile, I would get nauseated
every time I just looked at food. After I finally threw up all
that solid food that I was not supposed to eat, and I was on a
liquid diet with an IV going in my arm, I started feeling better.
I was released went home and after I threw every thing up one
more time I knew I was returning to normal, now it will just take
some time before I'm back behind the wheel headed south, then
I will really feel good.
I did get the design for my third brake light finished in time
to take it to the hospital. The design is on sun screen to cover
the plastic spare tire cover, all but the word STOP are hand stitched,
this is time consuming. I got much of it done when I was not feeling
too bad. It will say "TAKE TIME TO STOP AND SMELL THE COFFEE"
The word STOP will light up when I put the brakes on. I was going
to say smell the flowers but that is something I don't take time
for, I always have time to stop for coffee. I hope to have some
adventures in the south to write about
in my next letter.
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits. 11/21/98