POTR #68 Undesired Events

Peace On The Road

Undesired Events

November 1, 2011

I remember back when I was a teenager that there was a joke that was told and at the time it seemed very funny. The question would be asked, “Do you know how to keep an old person occupied and happy for a couple hours?” And the answer was, “Ask them, 'Have you ever been in the hospital?'” Then we would laugh and mention someone who had been in the hospital having some operation. At that time I did have some interest in the “adventures” of the person who had been in the hospital but not a lot of interest. I will not try to say why, but as I have aged I truly have become more interested in the medical events of peoples lives. I suspect it is a lot due to the fact that I care for people more and I am closer to being in the same situation. I have experienced one of those situations now. As a much younger man I had thought that I never wanted to become an oldster who always told about “my experience in the hospital.” I WILL try to not be one who has nothing else to discuss. For a couple of reasons I feel that it is acceptable to write about my hospital adventure here. First, I have been specifically asked to write this in a POTR by one of my friends. Second, seven years ago I made a promise to some friends that I would write about the things that I did, where I traveled and what was happening in my life. This definitely has happened in my life. So to honor both reasons I will write this for you. At least this POTR is more than just the hospital.

We had a wonderful time in Rochester visiting our daughter. I retrospect I can say that we did not leave there in the best of shape. Our Jeep has a tire pressure monitoring system. If one of the tires drops to below 31 psi there is a light that displays on the dash. Since the motor home is diesel it has air brakes and therefore a compressor on board. I put some air in the tire and it was over a day before the pressure dropped below 31 psi again. Okay, just a slow leak and not something that I was overly concerned with. We started back to the Winnebago factory to have the rest of the scheduled repairs completed with a slow leak in a tire on the Jeep. We also have a tire pressure monitoring system that will tell me the pressure on all ten tires of the motor home and Jeep while I am driving. The first day I had to put air in the tire only once. Then it got more frequent till it was about once an hour, not a big deal but a real nuisance. We stopped in a town that had a Discount Tire store. I bought the Jeep tires from them. They spent a long time diagnosing the problem and discovered that the wheel itself had developed a hole and was leaking under the chrome plating. The solution was to get a different wheel installed. They took the tire off the wheel and put it on the spare wheel so that I could drive until I could get a wheel. Then they remounted the spare on the bad wheel and put it back under the Jeep. All of this was done for no charge. It would have been expensive anywhere else. I like Discount Tire stores. They have treated me fairly and they are in many states and all honor their service contracts.

Somewhere along the trip I turned on the motor home dash air conditioner and discovered that the only air flow was through the defrost vents in the dash. This was no big deal for comfort because we could run the generator and use the house AC, which we do on very hot days when we are driving. This worked well until the house AC stopped and would not run at all. Fortunately the weather cooled off a bit and we were not uncomfortable. However I was beginning to feel like with just a bit more bad luck we would not make it to Forest City, Iowa for the repairs at all. But on Sunday afternoon we did make it without further problems and were ready to put the motor home into the shop.

We stayed in a motel for two nights while the rear slide was effectively removed and the repair work was done on its leak. This is the leak that existed when it was new and had been “repaired” numerous times, that is until it rained. The factory techs were not happy with some of the wooden parts that were sent to them so they had to reorder other parts. If you recall one of the reasons to go the the factory was to eliminate the necessity of ordering parts. The factory would have all the parts in their warehouse. Obviously that was not the case. They did have many parts in stock. Like a new air conditioning unit which we decided to have installed. The compressor had failed and it was almost as expensive to repair as the cost of a complete new AC. A new compressor installed with old everything else just did not seem prudent. At least the complete new unit has a two year warranty. There were several other items that we had worked on also. Like a house or a car a motor home needs things done on a regular basis and there is just a certain cost that will occur.

The Jeep needed an oil change so we took it to the Jeep dealer in Forest City. They did a 27 point check and found every thing okay, except they found some rubber bushings that were worn and age hardened. The Jeep would make a clunking sound under certain conditions which a couple other Jeep dealers were never able to find. To replace them it would require a full day of labor to remove the front axles, put in the bushings and replace the axles. We told them to order the parts and we would come back later and schedule the work.

Unless it is necessary don't ever buy a new wheel for a Jeep. The cost new was about $425.00. I went to the tire shop where I had purchased the Vectra tires. They checked the leaking wheel and said they had never seen that sort of problem before. They found a wheel at a salvage yard a few hundred miles away and I asked them to overnight it instead of shipment in a week. At the time I did not know that I was not leaving in about two days, but instead would be in the area for over a month. Even the salvaged rim cost me $170.00. At least I had a spare tire just in case I needed it.

Then things really fell apart. I have to be a bit vague about events for a while. I remember being tired for a while. Erma says I was not acting right for two days. Normally if I don't feel well I sleep for an entire day, get up and resume where I left off. I have snapshots of the events that followed and only a few of them. A lot of what happened I have learned from Erma. I was sitting at the table and she said that she thought she should call 911 and get me help. Of course I said I was okay. In a bit, whether seconds or minutes later I do not know, I fell out of the chair sideways. She said “I am calling 911”, and that time I agreed. The next snapshot is two men leaning over me, then the next one in being in a vehicle going down the road. I found out later that I was checked and had a fever of 105⁰ and they were traveling at over 90 mph getting me to the hospital. Erma was following behind in the Jeep. It has been years since she has driven a car that fast. After that it was about two weeks before I really remember much else. The 105⁰ fever indicated that I had an infection of some sort and they spent considerable time trying to determine what was infected. They of course ran the usual tests and found nothing wrong. It was stated that I was a puzzle to them. At one point I asked what time it was. When Erma pointed out the large clock on the wall I said there were two clocks. That got more attention from the Dr. and they ran a Cat-scan and an MRI which determined that I had not had a stroke. I remember thinking at one point that I must have had a stroke. Later when I heard someone telling Erma that I had not, it was sure a relief. A neurologist was brought in and he had a spinal tap performed. Then it was necessary to wait for the culture to grow for a day to determine that I had a viral infection. And still longer to determine that it was the West Nile Virus. During these several days the Dr. was saying, “If he survives this----”, which is not something that Erma wanted to hear, I did not know it was said. Since it was a virus there was not a thing that could be done except give me medication which would prevent any other infections. My body would have to fight off the virus on its own. I had very little knowledge of what was going on around me. I was never aware that there were four nurses getting me out of and back into bed. I was never aware that for a while I had a nurse 24 hours a day sitting by the bed just to keep the oxygen mask attached to my face. I understand that for a while I was not a good patient. I did not like the oxygen mask and I fought having it on.

Finally somewhere around two weeks I started to rally. I heard comments about my improvement being amazing or marvelous. I spent another week out of intensive care, sleeping most of the time. My daughter came to the hospital in spite of starting a new job and needing to attend to her new duties. That uplifted my spirits. Most of the time my spirits were asleep along with my body. Still it was wonderful to hear her say, “Daddy, I love you. You have to get well.” One day she went with her Mother to get something to eat. When she got back I said to her, “You weren't here when I needed you the most.” She instantly felt bad and asked, “What did you need?” When I said, “I got lonesome.”, she knew that I had not lost my sense of humor and I was just teasing her. I think perhaps that was also one of the first things I said that indicated that I was starting to recover. The other statement that came through to me was one time when I was fighting the CPAP oxygen mask and Erma was trying to get me to leave it alone. She said, “You have to leave this on to get better. You have to get better because I need you.” I will say that if a person is out of contact with reality for whatever reason it is good to talk to them and some of it will filter through the subconscious and be of value on a conscious level.

I was moved to a regular ward where I continued to improve. At one point I heard someone say that I would be moved to rehab in a couple weeks instead it was less than a week. I could sit up and get myself across the room with a minimum of help and sit on a chair without the danger of falling off. Needless to say I was very glad to get moved to rehab if for no other reason it meant that I was getting better. The only thing that was good during those three weeks was the fact that I lost weight. I do not recommend the hospital to lose weight, but I did lose 30-40 pounds and that is desirable. Erma says I ate more for her than anyone else during that time. Apparently I was simply too tired to eat. I only have one snapshot of her feeding me. It was not until my last week of being in the hospital that I remember going to a dining area and eating with other people. It quickly became evident that I was better off than several of the people that shared the dining area who had strokes or brain operations. There was a double knee replacement there also and he was doing best of all of us.

Before I was to be released we discussed our options. There of course was several options but except returning to Texas they involved staying in the cold for winter. Erma went to a fellow at Winnebago and he recommended a man who had delivered motor homes but was now retired. He drove us to Texas in three days. I spent those days laying on the couch trying to sleep as much as I could. It was a very long three days. When we arrived in Bentsen Grove there were people coming out of the streets to welcome us back and offer us help in setting up. There are several places that we have friends who would be willing to help but here they at most are a few hundred yards away instead of miles away. I have had more offers of help for anything I need than I would care to try to count. The first night that I was out of the hospital and slept in my own bed was wonderful. I could sit up and get out of the bed so much easier than at the hospital and take care of my night needs. But it was not until I was parked in BGR that I really slept well. I did not have the stress of needing to get up early and be ready for another day of travel. I was set with all the utilities that we use in daily life and would not need to move for months. I was not aware of how much stress I was under in Mason City, Iowa.

I regret most the necessity of giving up my volunteer activities here in BGR. I am getting better consistently, but still I can be very tired in minutes. Talking can exhaust me some days. Recently I was getting something out of the basement of the motor home. Without thinking I knelt down on one knee. I was instantly in trouble. I could not stand up on two feet. Erma does not let me get out of her sight for long. She came out and said, “You got yourself in a pickle.” She grabbed me by the waistband and lifted enough weight so that I could stand up. I am very thankful for a very caring helpmate.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road