I haven't felt much like posting this past week. I miss Neal terribly and hope that we made the right decision with him. It is very hard even if you believe you are ending their suffering. I just really have stayed depressed about him. We had decided that once we were "dogless" we would stay that way for awhile. As you know, Terry has some health challenges and it isn't easy dealing with pets when you have to spend time in hospitals or doctor's offices. And we are hoping to do an Alaska trip in the next couple of years, so it would be easier to wait until after that to add another pet. So right now I am fussing over all the dogs in the campground. They are doing well with allowing me to love on them, so that helps.

Last week we had doctor's appointments for Terry in Indy. These were with his two cardiologists, the one being his EP doctor (electro-physiologist, aka defibrillator dude). All went well and they are very pleased with how he is feeling after his bout with heart failure two weeks ago. We were all surprised to learn that the local doctor had filled Terry's chart with "non-existent symptoms." Our doctor questioned him at length about these symptoms and these are things he/we NEVER reported to any doctor and it soon became apparent what happened. I told our doctor that I now believe that these notations were placed in Terry's chart in order to justify running a bunch of unnecessary tests. Unfortunately that might be true. We know a little more about how to deal with ambitious people now, so hopefully that won't happen again.

The EP doctor did tell Terry that he wanted him to get a new ICD. . . one with multiple (up to 3) leads. These new ones are particularly helpful in people who have experienced heart failure and they have been shown to improve overall heart function. So, we will be heading back to Indy the end of this week and they will implant a new device. We have scheduled it between our RV rallies, so that is good. Having had this procedure before, we don't anticipate any ill effects from it and are anxious to put it behind us.

The other item of note is that Terry was chosen to be featured in the hospital's new brochure on ICD's. They had called prior to our visit last week and asked if he would be willing to participate in this. It is a brochure distributed to doctors and they are interested in how life has been living with a defibrillator. I call this "better living through technology." Hah. So our appointment was much longer than usual because photographers and interviewers were in the room with us and asking questions and taking pictures as the day progressed. Then when we were finished with the doctors, we went down to the rose garden for another photo op. They have promised us a CD with all the pictures and are to send us the brochures they create.

Yesterday was our 39th wedding anniversary. It just so happened that our son had flown into Indianapolis for the MotoGP races this weekend and we met him and his cousin in Kokomo in the afternoon for dinner. We took Mom and Dad because they hadn't seen Brandon in about a year. Also my sister and niece went along as well. It was a great time and it was good to see Brandon again. Today is his 29th birthday. Happy Birthday Son! It just doesn't seem possible.

We are now at Elkhart Campground awaiting the Gypsy Journal rally which starts tomorrow. We have some errands to run early tomorrow and have to check on our last apartment which is now vacant and see what we have to do in order to move the new tenant in. It will be great to have them all rented again! Then it is time to relax and enjoy the company of others who have gathered for this rally. The campground is full to capacity with no room to spare. What a great time we will have!

Till next time. . .

Dale