Saturday, June 4, 2011

Whew! Nothing like spontaniety!

It's been wild and woolly around here! Don't worry, not medically; Ron's been fairly stable the last 6 weeks or so! Good thing, since end of school year is always super busy; and this year was no exception!

Between semester exams, preparing work for summer school, a great family celebration of Grandma Nordell's 92nd birthday, graduation parties, wedding showers, etc., I feel I hardly saw my hubby the last week or so of school, except when I fell into bed at night!

In the midst of the fray, our 32nd anniversary came and went...I worked late, had a doctor appt after work, our department hosted a graduation party for two of our students but finally made it home just in time to give my sweetie a kiss and wish him a happy anniversary! Woo hoo!!!

Hallelujah summer officially began for me Sunday, May 30!

The big news around here is, we are always on the look out to do something special for our anniversary, and that opportunity arrived about 10 days ago. American Airlines had been celebrating their 30 year anniversary (just babies compared to us, haha!) and were running different specials each day...I happened upon the day they were having a GREAT discount on all vacation packages using frequent flier miles.

So....we are leaving bright and early Sunday (yes, tomorrow!) morning for San Francisco! We are super, super excited! God promises to work all things together for good, and one good thing that has come out of Ron's extensive medical bills is the miles we keep earning! Our airfare, hotel and car rental have ALL been covered by miles, thus far the cost to us has been a total of $85! The rest of the trip will be financed by the unexpected escrow overage check we recently received, as well as an anonymous gift Ron found in his Bible last month...thanks anonymous; what a blessing you are!!!

This entire week has been spent making all the necessary medical arrangements needed for travel for Ron. We have names of hospitals to contact in case of emergency, along with detailed, concise medical history synopsis in case we were to need to go to hospital, as well as name and number of one of Dr. A's med school classmates in Berkley (just across the bay from where we are staying); all medical paperwork in place for airline travel and to be able to pass security and the wheelchair ready to go. We typically have TPN and daily medical supplies shipped when we travel, however our insurance no longer covers this and the cost was going to be $200 (it HAS to be kept refrigerated and weighs around 40 lbs...UGH!); therefore, we have chosen to have it checked in along with our luggage. A major hassle when we get to San Francisco, but we won't have to worry about bringing it back since all the supplies will be used up by then. Praise God, Aaron will be taking us to the airport so he'll do all the luggage and box wrangling when we check in! Thanks, Aaron!!!

We will check our e-mail daily so if you have any fun ideas of things to do....e-mail them to us!!!

We'll take things pretty easy. With the exception of our one booked excursion, we will do things that we can mostly drive around and see. Anything else we have to assure wheelchair accessibility.

The one thing we have booked is a "Jail and Sail"; 90 minute audio walking tour (well walking for me, riding in wheelchair for Ron!) of Alcatraz and then a sunset cruise of the bay.

We hope to drive down Highway 1 to Pebble Beach one day; maybe drive to Napa another day; and Muir woods and Sausalito another day. We'll play each day by ear, seeing how Ron is doing that day. We'll spend mid-morning to afternoon doing the tourist thing and then spend our evenings back at the hotel chillin'. Of course Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings will be spent cheering on our Mavericks!

Please pray for safe travel, as well as a medically uneventful vacation. We could really use a low-stress time of refreshment! It's always a huge step out of my comfort zone to be so far away from our fabulous doctors, hospital and our support group. But I also know how important it is that we put our trust in God, not man. He is with us wherever we are, not just here. And He will supply whatever needs we may have, even in California!!! I have to choose to "be anxious for nothing". It's also imperative that Ron have some semblance of "normal" enjoyment of life and things to look forward to. But I tell ya, it's hard to step out in faith sometimes...even when it's to do fun things!!!

Look forward to sharing great things with you from our visit to Northern California. Will think of you often as we enjoy highs of 60 each day!

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