Still Waiting

Carrie is giving me a hard time because I haven't blogged for over a week. We just haven't heard anything solid as of yet so there isn't much to write.

We did buy a car for Laura this week though...finally!! She has been driving my car and I have been driving Thelma's car. We all want our own cars! It was a great deal too. Because it has high mileage, the dealer was shipping it out to auction. No body damage, clean as can be inside, drives great! It has a really nice CD player, heat and air conditioning. It is a 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara JLX Plus. I don't know what the plus means. It's like a small SUV.

She's very happy!!

I'm trying Carrie!

Carrie and Mike take pictures all the time and it's always so much fun to see them so I am trying to do the same. Here is how we spent the rest of our time in Rochester.

Picture 1:Why not look at some Harley's while we are out and about?
Picture 2: We ate dinner at Michael's. We both had the prime rib with garden salad and steamed broccoli. Very delicious!!! I think we will go to Rochester just to have dinner!
Picture 3: We found an Asian market. They had a wonderul supply of salted duck eggs, quail eggs, fish roe, and Hog heads!
Picture 4: This is Lois trying to take a picture of a guy in a costume on the street. See Lois in the mirror? Nice try Lois.

Here is Dave in the little room at Rochester and the very old wooden exam table that is very nice to look at but very uncomfortable!

And now, for the rest of the story

Today is the big day. We got to St. Mary's about 6:20, a bit early but that was okay. It was almost as though we were the first people to arrive and didn't have to wait in line for a thing. Turns out they didn't do a cardiac cath afterall but reviewed a dvd of the procedure from Allen Hosp. The doc came into the room and looked at Dave and asked, "Let me get this right...you WANT to go to Iraq?" Funny!

The verdict is nothing we expected. He told us that of the three options (3? No one told us about number 3) bypass, stents or do nothing, he would do nothing. Even if Dave had just come for a consult, he would send him home with that advice. Dave just has to keep taking care of himself with diet and exercise. Then he sent us on our way! Dave's legs were shaking (probably partly from nothing after midnight) and he did a few skips and jumps on the way out to the car.

The moral of this story: Unless it is an emergency, give yourself time to think about the options and find out ALL of the options. The outcome of this would have been very different if we would have plunged into surgery last weekend. We are fortunate that we had the time to think and that Dave told the doctors Whoa! What an enormous relief to hear this news.

Now we plan on checking out this big city, have a good time and do a bit of celebrating! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!!

Rochester

Here we are in our hotel room on the 7th floor of the Radisson in Rochester, Minnesota. This is a pretty cool town! Of course the hotel is very nice with our room that looks like...a hotel room. Free wireless internet is nice and many restaurants just around the corner or across the street is even nicer. We waited to eat supper until we got here and ate at McGoons Taxi Co. We both had fish and chips and they were fantastic!! We had a great waitress and tipped her well. As we were enjoying a delicious cigarette in the out of doors, the rain started coming down and then the wind picked up. Good thing we only had to walk half a block! Now we are playing nerds with both on laptops checking emails and writing blogs. Spirits are high and we both know many thoughts from our family and friends are with us. We love you all!! (pictures to come soon)

BTW, thanks to Laura for washing my jeans today. I fell while taking Ranger to the groomer and got soaked and dirty. I'm feeling it a bit tonight but mostly I was angry at the semi parked in the alley, blocking all of the store entries. I had to go home to change clothes and go back to work and Laura felt so bad for me she offered to wash my jeans for me. Thanks Laura! (you complete me...mim)

On a lighter note...

I would like to introduce you to Laura's boyfriend Tyler. He is quite a guy. He has a degree in music from UNI, composes and arranges music, plays in a band (Radio Dramamine), and is attending La James in Cedar Falls for hairstyling. He is obviously interested in some of the more interesting hairstyles as you can tell. Laura has recently become his model and is sporting a new funky do. She wears it well. They are two peas in a pod and get along so well. Yay! It is so nice to have happy Laura around.

Decisions, decisions!

Hmmmm, where to start...I'm sure some of you have heard of our excitement this past week and we are still in "Hurry Up & Wait" mode.

Dave had a stress test last Thursday which led to a cardiac cath (angiogram) on Friday. Briefly, the doctors were just about to place a couple of stents but thought maybe it would be better to do bypass. Of course, they tell you this and expect you to accept major surgery in the moment. Dave was still sedated when they told him and of course, that was a major blow to him. Dave and I talked to 3 cardiologists that night and they all agreed it wasn't an urgent matter and he could go home and think about it. Believe me, that is all we thought about all weekend! Monday morning Dave called Dr. Kabel and Kabel understands DAve's position pretty well. He is sending Dave to Mayo Clinic to be further evaluated. They may do stents that day....otherwise, it will be bypass here in Waterloo. If they do stents, he will be back to work Monday and Iraq is a go. Bypass would mean no Iraq and quite a recovery period. His heart muscle is healthy and the doctors believe that he will bounce back quickly from the bypass if he should have it done.

By the way, Carrie was there Friday for everything. She was a great support to both Dave and I. Mike joined us at the end of the day and ended up helping us try to rescue Laura's car, but that's another story.

Basically, this is what is commanding our every breath right now. I have heard from so many of you with best wishes and offers of help and we really appreciate that. I promise, you will see me on your caller ID someday...I hope you answer! hehe

A full day for me

First off, I went to my first FRG meeting this morning. Dave's former commander's wife came up and led the meeting. She said she actually quit her job so she could devote more time to this type of thing. We just had 4 wives and one mom and one teenage son there. It's a start. It will be nice to have a group of women who share the same understanding of what's going on (or not understanding!).

I went to work and we had a great day with lots of customers, thanks to the weather. I am hoping Gretchen had a wonderful day off with no worries.

Our poor Ranger was walking on 3 legs when I got home. I gave him his aspirin and later hauled him into my lap with the heating pad for a 1/2 hour or so. Poor guy is so faithful he still follows me around the house wherever I go. He and I are the same age this year. Geezers!

Haven't heard anything from Dave so far tonight and I'm going crazy! I'm sure it's a crazy weekend for him and his soldiers. Can't wait til he gets home tomorrow.