Backpacking Bill

Although I embrace any suggestion that I am an old guy (old, I’m older than dirt), in my heart I do not consider myself old. I go to the gym, I walk miles a day, I take on home projects and I do Yoga several times a week with Tina. But, the number is there and the number is 76 – big.

All that being said, events sometimes overtake me. The most recent event is one that is still playing out. Here is more information than you need; I went in for a colonoscopy Monday morning, everything was OK. However, by the afternoon I was not able to urinate, I called the colonoscopy doctor. I was told, “that is not my area, just drink lots of water”. As the pressure was becoming unbearable, I went to the Emergency Room.

More background: I had seen a urologist the week previously for different symptoms that proved to indicate nothing was wrong. I had a CAT scan, and extensive lab work – no issues.

Well, I am now in the emergency room where they determine that I need a catheter (by this time the pressure is great and I am throwing up the wonderful dinner that I had just eaten, Jim is home and made one of his over the top dinners). The first guy couldn’t insert the catheter- he called another doctor who tried two or three (forgive my lack of attention at this point) larger ones. The ultrasound guy came in at some point as well as a PA with lots of experience. Note: there is no urologist on call tonight. They say if he can’t get it inserted I will be sent to Savannah.Well with two working on one end and a third working on the other with the ultrasound probe they get the catheter inserted. RELIEF!

One would think that the story ends there, it doesn’t. I set up a time two days after to go to my urologist and possibly get the catheter removed as all should have settled down by then. Wednesday morning I go to the urologist and the catheter is removed. No problems; I go home. I am told that I should pass urine by 2:00, I don’t. So back to the urologist. Three assistants try to reinstall a catheter with no success – so back to the hospital where my urologist is in surgery. He is to meet me at the emergency room.

In the emergency room again, two more people want to try to insert a catheter. I tell them that has already been tried without success. Tina is with me and reinforces my story. We delayed them long enough for my urologist to arrive. He tries a catheter with an ultrasound guy, not successful. So, I am off to emergency surgery, STAT. It was like a TV hospital drama.

So now I am at home and the situation is that I will be going in for further surgery on Wednesday (To do a procedure known in medical circles as “roto-rooter), taking pills for the issue and taking pills to recuperate from the surgery. There may be a big surgery in the future depending on what they find on Thursday. But, the big surgery will likely be further in the future.

The root cause of all this was the anesthesia I was given for the colonoscopy. As I am in no way a medical guy, I choose not to go into the whys and hows.

I am talking with friends and other contacts both in and out of the medical field. Also, reading a bunch of stuff online relative to the situation – a great resource.

One of my great hopes is that I will not have to cancel or postpone my hiking trip with Tina to Spain.

TIP for Old Guys

Get with a urologist early in life. And, if you must have a colonoscopy, be sure to have them explain what to do if you can’t pee.

After thought

I am reminded by this that I am a truly blessed guy. I have been buried by kind thoughts and prayers. Tina was at my side through all this and is a great advocate. Son Jim happened to be home at the time and pitched into supporting the process. In addition, I find it remarkable that I should have this need and find that my urologist is a Harvard University trained physician with a mountain of credentials. What’s the probability of that in sleepy Beaufort, South Carolina.

This will be a short post because I have a longer one that I want to start.

Well, my family has yet again indulged me. Every year at this time I start remembering the Burns Night I participated in ever so many years ago. Late January I start reading Burns and reciting Burns, my family has learned to ignore all this. The worst manifestation is that I threaten to get a Haggis (Chieftain of the Puddin’ Race). As with Pickled Pigs Feet (A story for another time and place), my bluff was called.

Emma and her husband James arrived from England for a stay. Before they left England James’ mother gave them two Haggis links. (She recalled our conversation about Burns and Haggis from our visit years ago). I now had to have Haggis on Burns Night.

What to do? Well, I found a recipe that I thought all would like, or at least tolerate. I mixed a Haggis link with ground pork, I made an onion marmalade and bought a sheet of puff pastry. From these I made a “Haggis Sausage Roll”. It turned out much better than I anticipated. (James is a vegetarian so he had to make do with puff pastry and onion marmalade)

We recited Burns’ “To a Haggis” (Although we read it in English, not the original Scottish) , had a little single malt and ate Haggis.

What a great tradition, maybe next year I can add a bagpipe.

This will be our first Christmas in South Carolina. At this point the moderate weather is still appealing. It’s the 9th of December and I just got back from a walk in the 75 Degree afternoon. Full disclosure: this is an unusually warm day.

We will be exchanging some presents this evening because Emma will be traveling to England to spend Christmas with James and his family. Tomorrow is the Community Parade that we will be watching with neighbors. In the afternoon we will be having an open house for neighbors and friends. The house is decorated thanks mainly to Tina, Emma and Jim. I did have one contribution; I decorated the bronze birds in front of the house.

The next phase is to open some presents with Emma as she will not be here on Christmas. The one that made out best is Noodle.

Sunday morning was the Community Parade. We watched the parade with neighbors who had an open air brunch in their driveway. The parade was much more fun than I thought it might be.

The high point for our day will be an Open House that Tina has planned for this afternoon.

The Open House was a great success. All the prep work done by all came together just as the guests began to arrive. I didn’t count but Jim said that more than thirty attended. It seemed that everyone had a great time. I didn’t get photos except for one of the table filled with food.

Went to the local Christmas Tree lighting in Bluffton. Took this photo that looked pretty good.

Having moved to our new home in South Carolina and done the necessary bureaucratic stuff:

• New drivers licenses
• Registered the cars in South Carolina
• Changed insurances
• Changed bank
• Changed address with credit cards

We are starting to settle in. Well, except for the many other things that pop up on, it seems, a daily basis.

I do not want to suggest that I do not often backward cast my eye to Connecticut and see the pleasant life that I had there. There are many things that I will sorely miss, especially friends. But , I will also miss things like the ability to go to Buena Vista for a quick nine holes, or to Ski Sundown for a few hours on skis or, especially, a hike on the Metacomet trail. But, it was time for a new adventure.

But, now we have an exciting adventure. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the Krueger family’s first participation in the Hampton Hall “Gobbler 5K”. We:

• Have our official “T” shirts
• We carbed up on pasta tonight
• Many got new running shoes
• The alarms are set

This blog will not be published until the finish line is crossed. (It will also provide an opportunity for some photos)

It took me two tries but I finally got my South Carolina driver’s license. The first time I waited in line to get a number then waited again for two hours to get to an official. That was only to learn that one of the two proofs of residency didn’t work. “Well, it’s on the website what is acceptable”. I had looked again and all the website said was two bills with my name and South Carolina address. The club bill didn’t work for South Carolina. This is an issue because most all the bills are addressed to the LLC that we set up while renting the house, they don’t have my name on them.

I tried again this morning. I said to myself, “I will get to the DMV when it opens, it must open at 8:00 am like any other establishment.”

Well, the DMV opens at 8:30 am. After a short wait I was able to get my license. Now, after I get the car insurance squared away, I can go to the Beaufort County office and pay the taxes on the cars. Then I can come back to the DMV to register the cars: pay some more fees and get South Carolina license plates. South Carolina is learning fast how to reach into the pockets of it’s citizens.

Observing the bureaucracy involved with what should be a simple task of transferring a driver’s license, I came to a conclusion. Why would I want government to get intimately involved with my health care? I cannot fathom the mess that would be involved if I needed a hip replacement.

Sitting and waiting for the arrival of Idalia, there is not much to do. It gives me time to reflect on the last few months. The thing that repeatedly comes to mind is the strong community we have. Here I am referring to our friends, neighbors and family. When great kindness is extended to me, I admit that I do not know how to react at times. And, there have been many acts of tremendous kindness extended to Tina and I during this process.

• Neighbors helped with tasks during the packing and disposition of stuff many times. This was at times hard physical work.
• Tina and I were invited by a neighbor to spend our last night in West Hartford with them in their home.
• A neighbor stored a piece of furniture that didn’t make it into the Pod.
• Another neighbor stored a bunch of stuff for Jim as he will likely come back to New England after his internship in California.
• The pond association had a party for us.
• The street had a block party for us.

These and many other kindnesses were frankly unexpected, generous and tremendously appreciated by Tina and me.

The rain squalls have started; the tornado warnings as well.

Now we are at 4:00 pm. Some wind gusts but nothing of great note. The powers that be are still predicting life threatening winds. If we have been bypassed by the major part of the storm I hope people will not get complacent and ignore warnings next time.

But we are not yet through this adventure. High winds are still predicted through the early evening.

Well, this hurricane turned out to be pretty much a nothing burger. Fortunately so.

Yes we are anticipating the arrival of Idalia. However, looking at the last couple of months, Idalia is just the last one in a series of hurricanes:

• We sold the house in Connecticut
• We packed up a Pod
• We moved
• We unloaded the Pod

Now we are in the midst of sorting out a house full of stuff and not making it look cluttered. Fortunately Tina is in charge of design and she is good at making things look good.

So we are putting stuff away, making trips to “God’s Goods” (A Christian thrift store like Goodwill) and getting ready for the big storm. A neighbor came by to ask if we needed help with storm prep, the Club sent out a notification that all Club operations were closing for the storm and an insurance agent called to cancel our meeting. So, maybe there is something to this storm.

It has been a while since I last made a post to this blog. A lot has happened.

We sold our house in CT

We packed a Pod full of stuff

We relocated to our house in Bluffton,SC.

We are facing our first hurricane

Idelia is projected to track across northern Florida and go through the Hilton Head, Bluffton Savannah area. I usually don’t give much credence to the projections as they tend to drift over time. Also, media tends to project hysteria as that sells ad time. But, the projections are staying in place and one source is predicting a level 1 hurricane in Bluffton.

I will keep posting as long as it looks like interesting things might happen. In truth, I am not getting excited yet as there was not a run on the grocery store when we went this afternoon. And, I do not see locals boarding up windows yet.

I have become famous for proposing a means to get between Hartford and JFK. I seldom get a positive response to the proposed process. Today I have an opportunity to do a good test. I am flying home from Bluffton via JFK. Tina is flying home directly to BDL. She, on Southwest because she has a voucher; I will use Delta because it is cheaper, I don’t like Southwest and I can test my process with a control to the experiment.

I should explain why Tina and I are taking one way trips from Bluffton to Hartford. We are in the process of moving to South Carolina. One of the challenges was to get our old Jeep there. Tina and I drove it 1080 miles to get it there. That is surely worth a blog post that may follow later.

Tina departs at 7:10 am and arrives at BDL at 11:20 after a plane change and layover at BWI. I leave at 7:25 am and arrive at JFK at 9:55 am.

As my plane taxis away from the terminal, I note that Tina’s flight has not yet left.

About to land. My arrival is closer to 9:00 am than 9:55 am. But I am not on the ground yet. The next leg of my journey and the first leg of my test is to take the Airtrain from my terminal to Jamaica Station.

On the Airtrain at 9:40 am on my way to Jamaica Station. Paid the $8.25 + $1.00 for a Metro Card to get out of the Station.

Next I am catching the 10:11 LIRR train to Grand Central in Manhattan. $5.00 . Make that the 10:20 train because the 10:11 is late. Made it on the train.

Made it in time to make the 11:04 to New Haven. $11.75 one way off peak senior.

Tina won the race, if it was a race. She got home about 12:30 pm

I got to New Haven about 1:15 pm. The next CT Rail was 3:25 so I opted to go the $20.70 Amtrak ticket to Hartford on n the Vermonter that left at 1:30. Getting to Hartford at 2:11. Tina is going to pick me up.

Got home at 2:20 pm. Cost was about $22.70