Take the Good with the Bad

September 13, 2008

Dear friends,

This is “How we be “ Letter No. 80.” Hard to believe we’ve been on the road four years, about to start our fifth year. What a trip.

The adventures are not all sterling, but certainly memorable. We’ve been in La Grande, Oregon for two weeks and I spent four days of it in the Grande Ronde Hospital. I went in for asthma, but we knew something else was wrong. I have been fighting the asthma for more than two months, and have been on high dose prednisone, which it always takes when it’s bad. But the three prescriptions for prednisone, gotten from my Bend doc and two urgent care centers, wereÂ
not enough to get over the hump. Urgent care only wants to treat you for a week, not three or four weeks. Anyway, by the time we got to La Grande, I knew I was in trouble so we just went down to the emergency room and I figured I would get a breathing treatment and maybe more prednisone to get me through to Bend. Turns out I have steroid induced diabetes and they admitted me for a regimen of more prednisone, oxygen and insulin. It was a great hospital but it wasn’t a good time.

I ended up with a very nice doctor who said “We have been trying to put the fire out with gasoline.” The high dose steroids interfered with my body’s production of insulin and the resulting diabetes probably prevented the healing of a low-grade lung infection which kept the asthma going. They were reluctant to let me out until I had a 90 percent oxygen saturation on room air.

I’m better now, have been able to work limited hours, and fortunately get a map done for this little park. I am tapering off the prednisone and the hope is that once I am off, my blood sugar will stabilize and I won’t have to take insulin. For now, I am still sticking myself four times a day and shooting up at least twice a day. I don’t feel very well and as tempting as it is to be brave and perky, I’m actually a little depressed. Also bloated, weak and shaky. I figure this is a wake up call and I’m on the program to drop 50 lbs.. I’m sure as the pounds come off, the perky, brave part of me will rise to positively irritating proportions and I’ll be writing testimonials.

We had a great Sunday supper with Bruce Nolf and Gerry last week. Gerry is such a good cook and uses all the fruits and vegetables they grow. We really enjoy seeing them. Today we went out to their place and raided the garden in their absence (they are camping somewhere in Wyoming). What a gift! We brought home tomatoes, zukes, plums,Â
peaches and blackberries. I made a peach and blackberry cobbler for dinner tonight and while it wasn’t as good as the one Gerry made (guess which new cookbook I’m using), it was almost as good. A great combination.

On Monday we will head for Bend to do our whirlwind doctor appointments. We were just going to drive over and stay at a motel, but I’m just thinking I might have to have some more testing done, so we are taking the Bird and will stay at Scandia. I’m having some serious vision problems which could be due to either steroids or diabetes, and hoping it hasn’t worsened a cataract. This is not a good time to have cataract surgery.

The good news is that Dave fixed the awning that was ripped off when the guy at Lake Sawyer ran into us. Dave ordered the parts from the factory and did the repair for $47.20. I thought he was exceptionally clever to find a very tall guy parked next to us the other day, who agreed to hold the awning up while Dave wound up the spring. It was very slick.

The night we went to the emergency room was not frantic by any stretch of the imagination, so I remember being sort of startled when I saw Dave’s belt hanging from his pants. Turns out the hook on the buckle broke off and he lost the buckle. We were both just sick. To make matters worse, I lost an earring, one of the silver hoops Davey bought me at the old Bangle Tree in Bend in 1976. The belt buckle was the silver swan we bought in Montana on a trip in the 70s. We looked everywhere, and turned in a description with the little Q-tip ladies at the auxiliary desk. Bummer.

We were so startled when one night after 9 PM this little old lady called and said she had found the belt buckle! Yee-Haw! Dave went over the next morning, had to go early because she had plans for the day, took flowers and thanked her profusely. Turns out she is the Auntie of Bobby Baum who used to work for the Bend Bulletin and they had a wonderful talk. What a small world.

And the next day Dave found my earring in the weeds outside the door here at our site. Very good omens, to find the things you lost and missed so much.

Love to all,