01-30JUN21 - Sultan, WA (100 degree days in seattle 🥵)

Not much medical news to report for Dan & his stroke at the end of April, during the month of June.  Couple of visits with Cardio specialist, and Primary Care.  There was another CT with contrast of Dan’s brain with nitroglycerin administered.  Dan’s Cardio specialist opinion is things look good now, cardio wants to wait one more month & have report from neuro specialist before changing meds or other things to treat heart issues  We finally got a speech therapist appointment (in July!).

08-11JUN we packed up the dogs and headed to east Bremerton to help daughter Rebecca with the boys (Jaxson & Mason) during last week of school.  Mostly taking them to “activities” after school like jujitsu, swimming, rock climbing, etc.

Saturday AM, 12JUN, head to Sorticulture in Everett last attended in 2017 (see below BLOG link); pandemic cancelled it last year.  As the state comes out of social distancing it was moved to much smaller scale downtown.  One big negative no food trucks; then home at lunch time to make use of sun before heavy rains arrive Sunday.

The Ryan RV Express: 01-30JUN17 - Sultan, WA (summer solstice in fremont)

Sorticulture | Everett Tourism, WA (visiteverett.com)

Sunday AM (20JUN fathers’ day) off to Dennys for dad dinner (breakfast)why?  Because grandkids’ favorite & not bad place to miss the crowds at other places for dads’ day for breakfast.  Then back home and into the pool.  Early afternoon Rebecca packs up car & heads home for upcoming work week; after dinner more swimming until family fire.  Monday, 21JUN, record heat (low 90s); grandkids pretty much stay in pool, evening off to Stray Dogs for jiu-jitsu in Monroe (turns out their “brand” of training is honored at any member club in USA & then back to pool.  Tuesday still hot, not much done, more time in pool for grandkids.  Wednesday jiu-jitsu for grandkids in early evening.  Thursday not much done just getting grandkids ready to get back to mom; late afternoon run to Edmonds to get them on ferry to Kingston; then back to their home.

Friday, 25JUN, first of multiple triple digit temps for Seattle, which has never happened before.  Because of heat some of Seattle cantilevered bridges stop all traffic for few minutes to hose down bridges & cool steel structure so they don’t jam???; Dan makes sure pool is ready to go for the heat wave, in fact our simplistic solar heater has water temp up to 89 degrees, time to shut it off!!!

Saturday five degrees hotter than yesterdayL  not much done, thank goodness for whole house AC!  Sunday another triple digit temperature day, hotter than yesterdayL  Not much done, just sit in the AC house!  Monday another day hotter than the day before; pool at 94 degrees so we run pump at night & bypass solar, this lowers temp to 88 degrees next morning.  Tuesday cools off to mid 90s.  Wednesday (last day of June) finally temps back down in the mid 80s; pool at 86 degrees.

Below is some of the results of Corrie’s flower gardening for the last three monthsJ  Now all the veggies & fruits will be  coming in.

01-31MAY21 - Sultan, WA (lots of medical appointments🚑)

 

Saturday, 01MAY, still in Port Angeles hospital waiting on three different therapist (physical, occupational, speech) to evaluate extent of stroke damage?  Their opinion is stay on new meds, go home, and then follow-up with primary care asap.  That afternoon Corrie, Rebecca & boys pick Dan up & off to RV park.  Dan, Rebecca boys & dogs walk on beach; too windy for camp fire; so smores on the BBQ stove.  At this point the noticeable cognitive issues Dan had last Thursday are quickly disappearingJ!

Sunday morning wake up to no wind & sun.  After breakfast start prep’ing for departure; great sunny weather on the drive.  Unfortunately Corrie, who was driving, had minor allision with part of the Kingston ferry terminal toll booth – no damage to tollbooth, one window in cab over sleeping area of RV gone.

Monday after lunch into Sultan to see primary care doctor & discuss recent stroke.  Very good interview & further action planned – CT scan this week to see if new meds are working; appointment made with cardiac specialist to see if atrial fibrillation is a risk; and primary care will locate therapy specialists to test & determine what cognitive impacts remain from stroke.  Back home Corrie gardens & Dan mows; but after dinner it is off to ER at Monroe hospital because Dan is having another angioedema episode.  As we have noted in our BLOG Dan has suffered several of these for no diagnosable cause since SEP2020?  So as per other ER visits its IV administration of meds & 3 hours of observation & back home by 1130PM.

So here is a summary of what occurred in the month of May in regards to Dan’s stroke and the rapid recovery.  First good news was the medical decision that there is no need to see a physical therapist.  Three visits with an occupational therapist are scheduled but the therapist says recovery is so good no need for third visit.  That leaves a speech therapist to see once we can find one that isn’t booked solid.  (Note – Dan’s speech is fine; speech therapist will start by administrating another series of cognitive tests.)  

Eliquis prescribed to treat A-fib and reduce risk of future strokes.  Meeting with cardio specialist uncovers previous undiagnosed cardiac issues that were also exacerbated by A-fib.  Won’t bore you with the details; primary cardio efforts directed at preventing anymore strokes; cardiac issues need to be addressed in due course but no need for immediate action other than one more pill to take daily.

We also started another big project on the property, a professionally installed fence around Corrie’s vegetable/fruit garden.  There has been a fence since we built the raised beds; but it consists of a hodgepodge of different wire fencing & different metal posts & doesn’t like nice or neat like all the other items we have built over the years.  And the present fence is too close to the raised beds & almost like walking thru a jungle when some of the climbing plants reach full size.

So we had the contractor increase the size of the garden area, install pressure treated posts, string four foot high heavy gauge wire mesh between posts; & add two gates.  It took two visits to get that done & then we spent rest of month adding two feet of chicken wire to the bottom of the wire mesh to keep small critters out.  We also removed old wire fencing; & will be adding gravel to the new bigger walkways later this summer.

Saturday 08MAY, we celebrated Mothers’ Day early.  With covid restrictions/precautions we decided not to try to find a restaurant on Sunday.  Rebecca & grandkids come by for the Day.  We had BBQ ribs & strawberry/rhubarb pie ala mode before they headed back to east Bremerton.

And to finish the month Rebecca & the boys came back to spend Memorial Day weekend (29-31MAY) with us.  But first before they arrived on the 29th we headed to our friends Jan & Rich Formisano for get-together, late BBQ lunch, & Bocce Ball.  As always an excellent time!

Then back to house where Rebecca & grand boys show up for early dinner (of course boys have to try out pool that we set-up couple of weeks agoJ; movie & popcorn & spend the night.  Sunday Corrie & Rebecca go shopping, Dan babysits & mows, family fire after dinner.  Monday (last day of May); Rebecca & kids make preps for going home;  after couple of sessions in pool hit the road about 1230.