I was a bit bummed out by our family doctor who decided I had some mysterious ailment relating to my "dry eyes and dry mouth." He insisted I see a rheumatologist and an ophthalmologist. I don't mind seeking second opinions, but with a month before departure on the Great Alaskan Adventure, it wasn't exactly on my calendar. He accused me of "recreation over health." I guess what really aggravated me was that whenever I suggested testing for something, he blows me off. Then out of the blue he comes up with this strange diagnosis when I was certain (and still am) it was the result of taking an OTC acid reflux pill on a daily basis, which is when my symptoms developed.
But I did see a rheumatologist Friday and he agreed with me. He did order a lot of bloodwork, so if anything strange pops up we will know. But most likely the problem is related to the pill and the fact that those symptoms occur as a natural part of the aging process. He did also indicate that my arthritis is more likely the early early stages of psoriatic arthritis, since I have been plagued by psoriasis for 53 years. He talked about some of those new meds, the biologics, which I will totally resist taking. We talked about my love of a cortisone shot twice a year and at that "infreqency" he agreed I was likely to suffer no side effects from that medication. And because of that would consider it much safer than the biologics. At least for now. Whoo hoo. He injected my aching bursitis plagued hip, too! So I'm feeling much better than I did when my doctor heaped all that on me.
Tuesday I see the opthamologist, but I'm not worried about that. Never a bad thing to have the eyes checked out.
We have found a new dentist and we really like him. Thanks to sister Nita who recommended him to us. We have two trips back to see him and get all our work done before leaving for Alaska, but we will be fixed up then and shouldn't have any worries about having problems on our trip.
Last week Tab and Deanna, fellow Alaska travelers called and wanted to get together, so we are camping at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds here in Goshen. They brought their little motorhome and we could have brought MinnieMee since we just got her out of storage. But we did need to dump the tanks on Phaeton Place and decided this would be a better place to do that since we have full hookups. Terry will be able to dump and rinse the tanks and get things really clean before putting her in storage for the summer. And I had a few cupboards I wanted to clean out, foodstuffs, etc. Easier to do here with the slides out and on level ground. So we have a working morning ahead of us. And. . . wouldn't you know. . . it's raining! But no matter. . . not raining hard, so we will "get 'er dun. . . "
Yesterday we spent running around to the rv surplus places for a few spare parts Tab and Terry wanted. We actually found everything they wanted,
then celebrated by having lunch at Essenhaus in Middlebury. Afterwards we came back to the camp and built a fire. Eventually we put on some hobo stew and cooked it over the fire.The real treat last night was that here at the fairgrounds there was a "training session" for teaching people how to safely set off fireworks. Apparently it was for people who put on the big professional type displays. So we got to see fireworks! Pretty cool. I got my new camera out and took some shots. I got some pretty impressive shots, but afterwards doing the editing, I found I had a "FIREWORKS"
Today we will return to the condo, park Phaeton Place beside MinnieMee to make the final transfer of stuff. Then when it stops raining, we will wash PP and take her over to storage. We have three weeks to go. We have moved our departure date to May 20, provided the satellite phone has arrived by that time.
Till next time. . .
Dale
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