January Good and Not So Good

After watching our fill of college football in December and early January it was time to say goodbye to the boys as they returned to their school work. Trevor left first as he needed to be back on Friday the 4th. Either I'm getting smarter or just lazier, because I was able to get the Kyle to help put the Christmas decorations away before he left on the following weekend. Thank you, thank you Kyle!

On January 8th my brother Micheal and I drove to Howards Rv to pick up Baby. Baby had been at Howards for some minor fixes. The biggest fix was to adjust the slide as it was marking the carpet and to winterize the coach. Me being a newbie, I had them show me how to winterize Baby when I dropped her off in early December. I had planned to pick up Baby before Christmas but just could not get away. So Baby was at Howards Rv for about a month!

This is older brother Micheal!

He and his wife Jean have been Rving for close to forty years!

All in Coachmen products!

On January 10th I had to have a colonoscopy. (No Pictures!) With my Crohn's disease they want to do this test to check for problems every two or three years. Usually it is no big deal. Drink the nasty drink to clean out, don't eat, and do the test the next morning. But for some reason I had problems settling my intestines down after the test and spent the next two days recovering.

I recovered just in time for Cindy and I to attend the St Louis RV Show on the 13th. We worked the show for the Archway Coachmen RV Club. It was nice to see several of the people we camped with last summer. We camp with this group when we can during spring and summer before football season starts.

Archway Coachmen Group at a campout last summer.

The day after the Rv show I came down with the Flu! I spent several days in bed. Between the flu and the colonosopy I was pretty weak. I called the doctor knowing he would want me to start taking Prednisone again. Prednisone is a steroid and has been the only drug that has been effective for short term relieve for me. The problem is that it really effects me mentally as well. Before I realized how much of a mental effect it had, the doctors would have me take large doses then taper the doses down over time. Those larger doses caused steriod rage. There were times that I said and did things that I don't remember, (the ones I remember were bad enough). This went on for several years before I realized how badly the stuff was effecting me. Now I absolutly refuse to take those larger doses and avoid it if at all possible. I still stuggle at times with the lower doses but at least now I know where the rage is coming from and with the lower dose can better control it.

Took Trevor to the Doctor for follow up on his shoulder. The doctor again stressed how bad his shoulder was damaged and how he needs to limit it use. Trevor asked if he could start running and the Doc told him not yet because of the arm motion used while running. But he did say he could start doing some wrist and bicep exercises as long as he isolated his shoulder. He will not be able to play or practice for the spring game in April, but he should be ready for the season. All and all a good news for Trevor.

Last fall Cindy had a colonoscopy as part of a phsyical. We just got the bill for the procedure and I noticed that the insurance did not pay like it sould have. I called the insurance company to find out why and they said that the hospital had coded the prcedure as a mental issue. I then had to call the hospital and ask them to rebill it. At first they were relunctant to do anything because the insurance had paid part of the bill. But when I asked them if they were looking for Cindy's head up there they agreed that it should be rebilled. True story!!