Wednesday, April 29, through Friday, May 8, 2015: The Next Week or So:

I spent a peaceful night on Tuesday and woke up Wednesday morning just as good as new.  Except that I still had my huge bandages.  They are going to be with me for at least a week.  I need to remember not to scare strangers when I'm out. 

I felt better than I thought I should, which led me to overdo it a bit.  We went to Flagstaff to pick up a few items, and, by the time we got back, I was exhausted.  I went to bed before 7:00 and had a fitful night.  Thursday morning I felt better, but decided to take it easy for the next several days.  Late in the morning, Bill and Pat Wheeler showed up to stay with us for a few days. 

Their motor home could not make it up the driveway to our side yard due to its low-to-the-ground design, so it's parked in the street.  We haven't seen them in nearly a year and a half, and we had a great time catching up.

Friday morning, Jerry Whalen from Custom Sight & Sound showed up to connect up our Bose surround sound system.  The people who sold us the home disconnected everything when they left and I had no idea how to reconnect the maze of wires.  Jerry very efficiently put it all together.  Thank you, Jerry.

Troy Mortensen also showed up in the morning with his team for our spring landscape cleanup.  His crew did the fall cleaning after we left in October.  They took out many bags of pine needles, pine cones, and weeds from both yards.  The place looks a lot more presentable now.



Friday was a day of puttering around and swapping stories with the Wheelers.  Becky cleaned the barbecue (for what looked like the first time in years) and we had bratwurst and sauerkraut for dinner.  Yum.  After dinner, we watched Wild from the redbox, starring Reese Witherspoon.  It was kind of an odd movie, but it held our interest. 

Saturday was another day of just puttering around.  Bill and I made two trips to the hardware store for parts to fix a few things, and we both read a lot.  Becky made a smashing lasagna for dinner.  We watched the last 6 minutes of the L. A. Clippers game, as they headed into the second round of the NBA playoffs by edging San Antonio 111 to 109 in Game 7 of their first-round series.  I don't normally watch, or care about, basketball but this was pretty exciting.

Sunday was another day of puttering around, reading (I've started You're Only As Good As Your Next One, by Mike Medavoy), doing crossword puzzles, and watching TV.  I'm not allowed to do anything strenuous.  As a diversion, we decided wander to Spenser's, the bar at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, to have an adult beverage and to visit with Lisa D'Arpa, who tends bar there every Sunday.  (She's the wife of Jeff D'Arpa, the GCR hotel manager who was our first manager at Zion Lodge in 2003.)  It's always fun catching up with Lisa, and hearing about the D'Arpa girls, Lily and Shasta.

Sunday afternoon, I had noticed a bump on the left side of my neck.  By the middle of the night (3:00AM to be exact) it had grown some and started leaking blood.  The discharge instructions from the surgery specified that under those circumstances I should call the doctor's office.  I did so, expecting to hear a relieving tone from the fellow at the answering service and a promise that the doctor would call  me back in the morning.  Instead, he put me through to Dr. Boettcher who had obviously just been awakened and who was groggy for the first few seconds.  After a brief but thorough conversation, he suggested that I should come to his office at 9:00 in the morning.  Becky heard the conversation and, after putting a large gauze bandage around my neck to contain the bleeding, we all went back to sleep.  Promptly at 9:00, Dr. Boettcher took off all of my bandages,

checked all of the surgical area and pronounced that the bleeding was no big deal and would subside in due course as the bump simply drained its blood buildup.  He put on some new bandages, including a smaller one on the top of my head, and said I should return on Wednesday for another look. 

On the basic issue, the lab reported that the lowest lymph nodes in the area from which he had removed them, and the area around the big hole in the scalp, were clear of any malignancy, but that the middle lymph nodes had a trace of malignancy that might require more attention.  We are now going to be handed off to a set of oncologists, therefore, to determine the next steps.  At this point, I am satisfied with the progress, I feel fine, and am very positive about the future.

With the new, small dressing on the top of my head, I look almost human.  And I'm now wearing one of the neck gaiters we got while skiing in Bariloche, Argentina, 20 years ago as the covering for the bump on my neck that is still draining a little blood.  I can go out now and not look like Elephant Man.

Tuesday was another repeat of the previous days, except that the Wheelers took us out to dinner at Kicks on Route 66.  I had a marvelous Mongolian Beef stir fry, while everyone else had something different.  The menu there is quite varied and everything we've had so far has been excellent.  And Chris was our server, again.  He's a hoot.

The Wheelers will be leaving for Kanab, Utah, Wednesday morning.  We've had a great time with them this past week.  It's fun to ponder that we first met Bill nearly 13 years ago at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a chance meeting that has forever changed our lives in a wonderful way.  Thank you, Bill.

The Wheelers left before we headed to Flagstaff for our Wednesday morning follow-up meeting with Dr. Boettcher.  He again said everything related to the surgery looked good and insisted that it would be a good idea to wash my hair(!) before much more time passed.

On the way back to Williams, we stopped at the oncologists' office to stir them to set up an appointment.  We quickly heard back that next Monday would be our turn.  We then stopped at Home Depot for a few things, including new coach lamps for the front of the garage.  The old ones are too small in the view of this design genius.  In the process of mounting the first one, I determined that the new ones are too big (but without the unnecessary finial on the top they are just fine) and I can't find the switch to turn them on. 

It turns out that they are wired to go on with the front door lights.  The lights turned on Wednesday night, right on schedule.

Thursday and Friday were mostly normal days, a little fixit here and a little fixit there, and a lot of dog-walking (by Becky) in between.  It's a little strange to be alone again, now that the Wheelers are gone.  On Friday, Becky also took the dogs to the vet for some shots and some routine blood work.  Apparently, she gave Ramsey his "drowsy" pill early enough that he was manageable. 

While she was gone, I received a message from the Justin Winery that they had cancelled our spring delivery because it was too hot in Arizona to guarantee the quality of the wine during the time it took to complete the deliveries.  At the same time, I noticed that it was snowing in our back yard.  I passed that information on to Justin, and they agreed to send the wine forthwith.  A few minutes later, the snow changed to just hail.  It must be spring.

The Friday night redbox movie was Unbroken.  Stunning film.  Absolutely captivating. 

     
   

Wednesday, April 22, through Tuesday, April 28, 2015: Our First Week in Williams:

Wednesday morning we left for Williams before 8:30 for the 287-mile trek.  Since we will gain an hour when we cross into Arizona, we expect to arrive by 1:00.  We were surprised to learn that three GPS sources said the shortest way to Williams was via Jacob Lake and Arizona 89A instead of back through Las Vegas.

The trip was uneventful and we enjoyed re-viewing the wonderful scenery along the way.  With pit stops and a quick lunch at the huge Indian "Trading Post" at Cameron, we arrived at Williams at 1:30.  It was great fun to start the process of having an extended stay at our house.  Because the water is not scheduled to be turned on until Thursday, we spent Wednesday night in the rig.  This time, we were able to park the rig so the satellite dish would "see" around the pine trees, and we thus maintained our usual viewing pattern. 

One thing we had not anticipated was the presence of so many deer.  Near sundown, more than 20 passed by through the lot next door to us on their way to the golf course.  Just a lovely sight.

We had earlier heard from Roy Henderson, a former boss of Becky's, that he and his wife, Mel, would be coming through Williams on their way down from the canyon, and we made tentative dinner plans.  It turned out that they inexplicably went off the grid and we never caught up with them.  We had dinner by ourselves at Kicks on Route 66, a newish restaurant in Williams that turned out to be very good.  We had an interesting chat with our server, Chris, who works as an IT guy at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff by day and a server at Kicks by night.

Thursday involved a trip by me to Flagstaff to pick up a few items and to consult with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Andrew David, who did my two-month radiation treatment in 2013.  He confirmed that the thing on my scalp was a malignant melanoma that required surgery---and soon!  He arranged for an appointment Friday morning with a Dr. Adam Boettcher, a plastic surgeon.  Thursday night we had a delicious pizza (from the Pizza Factory) for dinner.

The next morning, Dr. Boettcher confirmed everything we had heard, explained the upcoming procedure, and scheduled the surgery---for next Tuesday!

We had lunch at Hiro's Sushi, a favorite of ours in Flagstaff, so dinner was just snacks. 

Since our arrival on Wednesday, we have been on a tear to get everything that is not necessary out of the rig and into our house.  We have so much stuff, it's amazing.  When Becky is not walking the dogs, all we do is move stuff.  I also perform a few maintenance chores.  It's exhausting, but rewarding.  The next time we go on a trip, the trailer will be lean and mean.  And the house is now developing our personality.  We hung Becky's great grandmother's handmade quilt in the hallway.

Saturday night, Becky made chili for dinner---to help ward off the cold and windy weather these past few days.  It was excellent, and did the job.  We had been alerted that there might be snow in the forecast for Saturday night, and it did just that.  We woke up Sunday to a beautiful two-inch blanket on the ground.  How exciting.  But, what happened to spring? 

Sunday and Monday were largely repeats of the previous days, with more projects and more emptying of the rig.  But on Monday we were finally ready to make the big move to get the rig into the RV barn.  We've never been certain it would fit due to its height, and every time we measured, we got an inconclusive answer.  The final accommodation was to lower the hitch three inches.  That was not as easy as I thought it would be.  We finally took the plunge and---Ta Ta Ta Da!---we made it.

The ground was a little soft from the Sunday snowfall, and we spun the wheels a lot in the gravel backing up the grade, but it worked.  We were so thrilled we killed a $50 bottle of Justin Isosceles with our Cioppino (which I made) for dinner.  What a great way to enter the next phase---my surgery on Tuesday.

Monday night had neither of us getting much sleep, probably due to subconscious (certainly unspoken) concern over the pending surgery.  We left at 8:00 the next morning for our 8:45 appointment at the Surgery Services Registration desk at the Flagstaff Medical Center. While waiting for the next step---to be taken to Pre-Op---I recognized Michael Hyatt, a former co-worker at The Grand Hotel at the South Rim, who was also waiting.  His wife also stopped by, and we all had a nice chat.  Pre-Op took quite a while because, in part, there was a necessary two-hour medicine IV drip as a part of the procedure. 

In the down time, I read, chatted with the nurses, had a consultation with Dr. Boettcher, and just observed the very active business in the area.  It was a busy day in the operating rooms, as well, and the one they had assigned for my surgery was not available until nearly an hour after the assigned time. 

When I was finally reeled into the OR, a bunch of green-clad people suddenly emerged and I knew the party was going to start in earnest.  The anesthetist did her work and I was asleep in seconds.  I woke up 2 1/2 hours later in the Recovery Room, a little dis-oriented and very thirsty, but in no pain.  I had a large bandage wrapped around my head and another on my left thigh (the source of a skin graft for my scalp).  Becky met with Dr. Boettcher, who told her everything went fine.  We'll know more next week when the lymph nodes that were taken out of my neck have been analyzed.

It took a while for the anesthesia to wear off enough for me to go home, then, after my release, we stopped at Walgreens to fill a prescription for some pain medicine, and we finally arrived home at 8:30.  Becky and I, and the dogs---who had spent the day in the truck when Becky wasn't walking them---were totally exhausted.  I was also quite hungry but my mouth was so dry that the appropriate food stuck to it instead of easily passing through, and I gave up after a few tries.  Even though I was not in any pain, I took one of the designated pills at the designated time, just to be on the safe side.  In total, the entire day's experience was easier then I had expected.   



  

Wednesday, April 15, through Tuesday, April 21, 2015: Possibly Our Final Week in Hurricane:

We initially thought we would stay in Hurricane for the entire month of April before moving to Williams.  The weather in Williams has been so good, though, that we have tentatively decided to head there on April 22.  Wednesday was a typical day, walking dogs and shopping at Wal-Mart.  Kelsey and Ramsey love basking in the sun!

Thursday the wind came up and helped turn the weather very cold.  We splurged on breakfast at The Main Street Café, purported to be one of the best restaurants in Hurricane.  This was our first time there.  It's a tiny place where you order at a counter.  The food was terrific, though. 

A couple of proposed long dog walks turned into much shorter ones as the result of the cold and windy weather.  During one of the walks Becky took with Ramsey and Kelsey, I drove to Wal-Mart for some goodies and saw the three of them shivering down the sidewalk while I was on the way back.  Being a good husband and father, I offered to pick them up.  All three of them quickly accepted the invitation.

The rest of the day was spent (by me) reading (I started "I" Is For Innocent by Sue Grafton)

and (by Becky) packing and otherwise preparing to drive to southern California on Friday for a weekend of socializing with former co-workers at a reunion and meeting with her siblings on matters relating to their parents' trust.  Friday morning, we dropped off the dogs early at The Animal Tender Pet Resort in St. George,

then stopped at Enterprise Rent-A-Car where Becky picked up her rental car and headed off on her adventure.  I returned to The Main Street Café for a repeat of yesterday's breakfast.  (A Yogurt/Granola parfait.)  Just yummy. 

I returned home and watched a number of Frasier reruns.  They were consistently funny, as usual.  And I read, and did a few crossword puzzles, and played a few games of Free Cell on my laptop. 

Saturday I returned to the Main Street Café for a third shot at its delicious Yogurt/Granola parfait, then returned home to finish the Sue Grafton novel and to top off the trailer tires.  I then started reading Murder In The First by Dan Gordon. 

At 4:45, Becky called and I joined in on the trustees' meeting---for the next two hours.

First thing Sunday morning I finished Murder In The First, then made scrambled eggs for my breakfast.  (The Main Street Café, like most restaurants in Hurricane, is closed on Sunday.)  I puttered around until it came time for me to meet Becky at The Animal Tender Pet Resort to pick up the dogs,

then pick up dinner at Panda Express, then return her rental car, then head back to Hurricane.  Becky was exhausted, so after dinner and a little TV we crashed. 

Monday morning, we loaded the dogs into the truck and the four of us headed for Zion National Park.  We had a bootleg red pass to drive up the canyon, so we parked at the lodge.  Becky laid some of her father's ashes at the base of the beautiful Fremont cottonwood tree in front of the lodge. 

We then had lunch (a pulled pork sandwich for me) and mingled in the gift shop where we said hello to a few former co-workers who are still there, and---amazing---we ran into Jack and Gail Parr, who were on our Normandy-to-Paris river cruise last August.  They were at Zion on a bus tour of nine states in eleven days.  It was fun seeing them again.

Just before going to Zion, I heard from Dr. Robin Berger, our dermatologist, that the thing she had cut out of my scalp the previous week had been reported to be not quite as benign as she had thought, and needed further evaluation after we get to Flagstaff on Wednesday.  (That made it certain that we would leave Hurricane early.)

After returning from Zion, we made a trip to Costco to load up since Williams is more than an hour away from the nearest Costco.  We then had dinner and crashed.




 

Wednesday, April 8, through Tuesday, April 15: Week Number Two in Hurricane:

We had a touch of rain just after midnight Tuesday night, and Wednesday started out colder than we have experienced so far in Hurricane.  It was in the 40s.  We will survive.  Becky went to St. George for her annual bone density scan.  She passed.  Otherwise, Wednesday was just a normal day.  I started up a new novel, Zero Day, by David Balducci.

Thursday, we went to Kimball Forbes again, this time to pick up our new hearing "devices." (They don't call them hearing aids anymore.)   Our old ones were 11 years old and we understand there have been some improvements in the technology.  The new ones are a little smaller than before.  It will take some time to acclimate to them. 

Friday was Dermatology day with Dr. Robin Berger in St. George.  She found something on the top of my head that she decided to remove.  The hole in my scalp is the size of a quarter and it took several hours to stop bleeding.  I'm sure all will be well, but for the time being I'm afraid to take a comb to my hair.

We had Chinese food for lunch at the Hunan Palace near our RV park, then stopped at the home of Kent and Allison Couch here in Hurricane to meet their Dalmatian, Tahoe, and introduce him to our dogs.  Kent was (and remains) the accounting manager at the Zion Lodge when we started there 12 years ago.  They have a nice home with a big yard here in Hurricane, and the three dogs seemed to get along just fine, although we kept them separated by a fence just in case.  Tahoe and Ramsey are about the same age, are precisely the same size, and but for a few spots here and there could be twins.  They seemed to realize that they were similar.

It was fun spending time with the Couches.  Nice people.

Early Friday morning, our next door neighbor here in the RV park, Glenn, mentioned that one of the tires on our rig looked a little strange.  He told me it had cracks and a bubble in the sidewall.  I looked at  it and confirmed his suspicions.  After seeing the Couches, I went to the nearby tire place (American Car Care Centers) and the manager, Aaron Beard, said he would stop by later and take a look at the tire.  I know the tire is doomed, and Mr. Beard already has ordered a replacement.  In any event, they can mount a new tire at our site so we won't have to take the rig to their shop.  Yea!  He didn't stop by later, so we now have to wait until Monday to see him.

The Friday night redbox movie was  A Most Violent Year, with Jessica Chastain (from Zero Dark Thirty).  Not bad.

Saturday was back to normal with dog walking, Becky shopping for a dress (or two) for Meghan's graduation, and my making big inroads into Zero Day.  We watched more of House Of Cards Saturday night.

Sunday morning, I finished Zero Day. Before noon, our daughter, Donna, arrived from Park City, Utah, where she lives.  She and her husband, David, are now empty-nesters with two daughters in college.  David is at a trade show this weekend, so Donna decided to drive down the four plus hours to see us just for something to do. 

We last saw her in December, and it was really fun to see her again.  Since virtually all restaurants in Hurricane are closed on Sunday, we went to St. George, to the George's Corner restaurant, for lunch.  Frankly, it was only pretty good.  (I had a gluten-free pulled pork sandwich.  Donna recently discovered that gluten-free food is very helpful in some of her medical problems, and I thought I would honor that.)  The restaurant is run by the same people who run the nearby Painted Pony, which is considered to be the best restaurant in St. George.  Not long after lunch, Donna headed back to Park City.  It was hard to say goodbye.  It was really good to see her.

Sunday night we watched more of House Of Cards.

Monday was tire-changing day.  The fellow from Hurricane Tire Pros showed up, took off the wheel with the bad tire, returned very quickly with the wheel and its new tire, installed the wheel, then switched the spare with a different wheel so we would have matching tires on all four wheels.  Thank you, Hurricane Tire Pros.

After the tire guy left, we went on a search for a dog park in Hurricane.  It's located behind a large sports complex, and is brand new.  We can't wait to take Ramsey and Kelsey there.  The rest of the day called for relaxation---and more of House Of Cards.

On Tuesday, Becky headed up to Zion early to attack Observation Point, an eight-mile (roundtrip) hike starring at Weeping Rock. She hasn't done that hike for ten years. 

I tended to the dogs (they needed four walks) until she returned at 4:00, tired but exhilarated.  It was a short evening.

Thus ended our second week in Hurricane. 




        

Wednesday, April 1, through Tuesday, April 7, 2015: The First Week in Hurricane:

It was an easy 200 miles to Hurricane, Utah, on Wednesday. We left Pahrump before 9:00 and arrived at about 1:30, after losing an hour when we crossed into Utah from Arizona . (There is a 30-mile piece of Arizona thatI-15 cuts through between Mesquite, Nevada, and St. George, Utah.  That piece incudes the 11 mile long Virgin River Gorge, an awesome bit of topography.)

We are staying at the WillowWind RV Park in the center of Hurricane.  It's a nice place. 

We stayed here one time previously, in 2005, I believe.  The satellite-friendly RV spaces are all back-in, which is not our best suit.  We needed help from a nice man, Robert, one of the staff members, to get in our site.  We were tired from the trip and the setting up, which seems to take longer each time we do it, so we crashed after a simple dinner. 

Thursday, by pre-arrangement, we met Ed and Cynthia Wong for lunch at the Painted Pony Restaurant in St. George.  It's been one of our favorites for many years.  Ed worked as a consultant with Becky at Sanwa Bank many years ago.  We last saw the two of them when we were in their home town of San Diego four years ago.  They have a second home at Lake Las Vegas now, and were spending the day in St. George on their way to Zion National Park on Friday.  They are a fun couple who have traveled to a lot of the same places we have been and we enjoyed sharing travel stories with them. 

Since we are Zion experts, of course, we gave them lots of advice about what to see.  (Incidentally, Ed and I both had a nice Asian Chicken Salad for lunch.  I washed it down with an Arnold Palmer or two.)  Lunch was our main meal for the day, so we just noshed for dinner. 

After dinner, we watched The Imitation Game from the redbox.  Interesting movie; not a barn burner.

For no known reason, Ramsey was a pain tonight and we ended up having to take a drive around all of Hurricane to finally tire him out.  It reminded me of when my kids were young we sometimes had to take them on a drive after dinner to make them go to sleep.

Friday morning, I picked up a book from the park library, New Rules, a 10-year old offering by Bill Maher.  I finished it Friday afternoon.  It's not that I'm such a fast reader; the book has a lot of pictures and is not heavy reading.  If you overlook his strong hatred for George W. Bush and his ilk, Maher can be very clever and the book is fun to read. 

I picked up Moon River And Me, the autobiography of Andy Williams, as a follow-up.

In mid-afternoon, we learned that Robert, who had helped us on arrival, had just been fired by the owner for having the temerity to disagree during a policy discussion.  Too bad; he seemed to be a very good guy and competent worker.

Saturday was the day to go to Zion National Park for our annual visit.  We parked at the Visitor Center and I read while Becky took Ramsey and Kelsey for a walk on the 3.5-mile (roundtrip) Pa'rus Trail. 

We then met Kelly Guymon for lunch at Oscar's, the most interesting sandwich (etc.) place in Springdale.  We worked with Kelly at the Zion Lodge many years ago (he's still there) and he has been a good friend ever since.  We had a good time learning all the current secrets of the lodge personnel.  (I had a delicious chicken wrap at Oscar's.)

The Saturday night redbox movie was Tammy, with Melissa McCarthy and a host of well-known actors.  Except for a very few high moments, it was perfectly awful.  But it cost only 80 cents to rent so it wasn't a big loss.

After the movie, I watched the last nine minutes of the Kentucky/Wisconsin basketball semi-final game in the NCAA Final Four.  I understand the entire game was as good as the last nine minutes---Fabulous!       

Sunday was Easter, of course, and we generally relaxed.  In addition to the mandatory dog-walking, Becky watched the Sunday morning news shows and Interstellar from the redbox, and I read---and finished---Moon River And Me.  I have to admit that though I always liked Andy Williams I had no idea he was as big a star as the book explains.

Monday was our day to visit Kimball Forbes, our audiologist, for our annual hearing check.  This time, we just spent the hour hearing about new devices and the vast improvements since we bought ours 11 years ago.  We ended up ordering the new ones, which will be delivered Thursday.

Tuesday, Becky took the dogs to the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area across from the RV park we used to stay in when here.  They had a long hike there and returned just exhausted. 

While they were gone, I walked to the post office and picked up my medicine that had been forwarded from Pahrump.  That was the last of the three packages that had been mis-delivered to Palm Desert and forwarded to Pahrump.  Because I had no idea whether it would ever arrive, I had arranged for that last prescription to be replicated and sent to our Texas address.  That package should arrive here on Thursday.  I contacted the source to tell them the first one had finally arrived, and gave them three options:  I could send this one back, I could pay them for the replicated prescription (which, because of their error, they sent for free), or I could do nothing and get the double dose for a single price.  The fellow on the phone chose the last one, so I saved $240.00.  Hurray!

For at least the 30th straight year, I sent in an application for an extension of time to file our federal income tax return on Tuesday.  Since the six-month extension is automatic, I won't have to think about taxes again until October. 

Becky had ordered the second season of House Of Cards, the deliciously evil Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey.  It arrived on Tuesday and we started to watch it Tuesday evening.  What  way to end our first week here.