I knew I said I wouldn’t post a lot while I was home, but zero seems a bit excessive! This post has a lot of medical info so skip it if you aren’t interested; I am guessing that is pretty much all of you! I was in a blue funk with back pain and trying to get it treated. It took a extra weeks to see the pain med doctor, then two trials of a treatment that had to be two weeks apart, then another 3 weeks before I could have the real treatment – lumbar medial nerve ablation. I finally got that just before we left Iowa. So far, so good! It isn’t perfect, but it is improving. Doctor said it would be 4-6 weeks before I felt the full effects, and it has only been two weeks.
I did do a few things though. More medical things included seeing a real MD dermatologist instead of the Nurse Practitioner I had been seeing. He took a good look at my face and said I had so many pre-cancers I needed a topical chemotherapy. I had to apply it once a day for two weeks, and it basically burned off the bad spots. It was pretty bad with burns and sores on most of my face. The results are good though, and I have the smoothest skin I have had for years.
We go to hear the Waterloo Symphony play the sound track to “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” along with the move, and it was more fun than I anticipated. We also went to my granddaughter’s first dance recital. My but I am glad my daughter never really took to dance! It is a lot of effort for both child and parent. I also got a railing installed at the front of our house. Seems like that wouldn’t be a big deal, but it too, forever to get the welder to come out for a measurement, then weeks to get it built and installed. The result is nice though. It will make a much more confident series of steps in the snow. Kevin is looking forward to decorating the railings with lights at Christmas.
We did get to watch another astronomical event, the huge aurora that happened 10 May. We went a little way outside of town, but the light pollution in Iowa made viewing challenging. We did a peak though. There really were pink, green, and purple shades, but the reduction in size needed for the blog makes it seem worse than it was.
We actually left town on Wednesday, 19 June, the latest we have left for summer in a long time. Between my pain med appointments and Kevin’s dentist appointment, that was the earliest we could make it. We spent Wednesday night at Lake Manawa State Park near Omaha on the Iowa side. Thursday we spent at Mormon Lake State Recreational Area in Nebraska. Both of those are nice places. Saturday we spent at the Pine Bluffs RV Park in Pine Bluffs, WY which was very handy but not very nice. Dirt, lots of trains that had to blow their horns, etc. Sunday we spent at Lyman, WY KOA. Nice place, but we were eager to head into the mountains. It had been so HOT everywhere, and I longed to get to cool mountains. We ended up boondocking along the North Slope Road near Marsh Lake, UT at 9300’. Ahhhhhh!. It is in the Uinta National Forest, but you can only get to the area from Wyoming. Beautiful spot, and we are staying until Saturday morning. We have been doing some nice RZR rides, but there are so many pretty pictures I willDo another post on them. But here is a preview showing out campsite.