BACK HOME

We had a great visit in Illinois but we’re glad to be home, especially after a little situation that I’ll mention in a moment. First though, Eileen’s mother (Eunice) is doing remarkably well. She has very little post-surgical pain; she is on a pain killer. An interesting note is that her post-surgical pain killer is the same thing I take: Tramadol. I know Tramadol is supposed to be a great pain killer but I’ve only noticed marginal results from it…but it’s far better than nothing!! Anyway, Eunice is able to walk with a walker quite well and is able to do all her hip/leg exercises. She’s gotten stronger daily.

While Eileen was bringing Eunice home from the hospital, Eileen’s nine siblings held a meeting to schedule themselves to stay with their mom and bring in meals. They’ve been doing quite a bit of this since Eunice first broke her hip earlier this year. Their service of love and devotion is a great tribute to their mother and a great testimony of themselves.

Our time in Illinois was very busy but also very enjoyable, minus the times I was sick. I abstained from my pain pills the couple of days before heading up there so that I wouldn’t be too tired to drive and interact. Well, that didn’t work so well. Already nauseated from the oral chemo Gleevec, the arm pain was intense enough to make the nausea come to full bore. However, I did feel better for a while after each vomiting session. I went back onto the pain killers.

As we were getting gas on the way home, I noticed that our front left tire was low. I filled it up. About two hours later a light came on the dashboard that I had never seen before. Eileen looked it up in the car manual and saw that it was a low tire pressure indicator. I pulled off the next exit and put air in the tire again. About forty minutes later it went off again. This time we tried putting some Fix-a-flat in the low tire. Evidently there was still more pressure in the tire than the Fix-a-flat can had; it just made a mess everywhere. After several more times of airing up the tire and the indicator light going off, I was in the middle of nowhere when the light went off again. By the time I got pulled off at an exit the tire was nearly flat. I really didn’t want to unload the car in the rain and change the tire, especially not remembering if the spare tire was a “donut” or not. We decided to try Fix-a-flat one more time. Eileen went into the gas station to get another can while I situated the car next to the air pump and bled more air from the tire. When Eileen returned, she had some fella in tow shaking the can and smoking a cigarette. The guy went right to work on the tire while I held the umbrella over him. The smoke was a little strong but it was the best smoke I smelled in a long time…since it was attached to help!! After struggling a little with the process, he aired it up and wished us well. We tried to pay him but he refused saying, “I’m glad to help; it could be me next time.” The Fix-a-flat helped a lot and we only had to air the tire up one more time between Montgomery and home. Nursing the tire, after getting caught in a traffic jam from an accident, turned our travel time into a 14 hour return trip. We got up there in 10 ½ hours.

So, we had a great visit; Eunice is doing well; and we’re glad to have made it home without too much trouble.