The  "UPS and downs"  of April

Aahhh, month four of retirement.  The weather is fabulous, the RV Resort is thinning out.  Lots of folks have headed home.  The majority of Snow Birds here are from Michigan, which is much nicer than  on the East Coast of Florida.  Most of the Snow Birds there  were from Quebec, and they really aren't terribly friendly toward us non French speaking Americans!!!!!

Our month started out with my Oral Surgery.  Not a great experience.  A little bone grafting, a tooth extraction, and implants!  Slowed me up for about a week. But all is proceeding nicely. I'm sure to have my smile back soon!!!!!

We didn't let my dental problems keep us down.  Once I felt up to it we were off and running again.  A day at Hollywood Studios at Disney, with a side trip to Epcot for Wine in France and a Cold Brew in England !!!  Our next outing took us to Tarpon Springs for lunch.  Father Wally the Pastor of our church had recommended a restaurant there for lunch.  So we had to follow our Pastor's directions, and had a great meal waterside in Tarpon Springs.  

The week ended with us getting ready for our yard sale at Paul and Erika's house. We downsized our storage from a 5' by 10' unit to a 5' x 5'. We had a great turnout for the yard sale. Sold the majority of our "Junk". Anything that we removed from the storage that didn't sell went directly to Goodwill.

Peter woke up one morning with a severe pain in his back and numbness in is right hand.  It became intolerable so we went to an Urgent Care Facility.  They took an XRay of his neck & spine and said it was the vertebrae in his neck causing the pain and the numbness.  They gave him prescriptions for pain meds and muscle relaxers.  After a few days of pain meds and muscle relaxers with no relief for Peter we went to the Watson Clinic here in Lakeland.  The Doctor that took  care of him suggested that they give him a shot of Prednisone and Lidacane in the pain in his back.  Ok, something is better than nothing.  However, after the shot, he neared collapsed, his blood pressure took a nose dive, and I thought we we were going to lose him.  They hooked him up to an IV drip, Oxygen, BP machine.............slowly he regained his color, the sweat disappeared and he started to feel better.  So we spent the next couple of hours waiting for blood test results, etc.  They could not come up with any cause except his hemoglobin was low.  Well, that scared me as he is still in the process of building his immune system.  We contacted his doctor in Miami and we were told not to worry. Sure, easy for her to say!!!!!  He is now under doctor's care here and seems to be getting better.  I see now why you need to retire so you have time for all your doctor appointments.  I think we made more trips to the doctor and dentist than we did to Disney World and Universal Studios combined !!!  May will be a much better month!!

 The majority of our time however, is spent with our Grandchildren.  We are having a great time trying to make up all the time we couldn't be with them in years past.  Claire loves doing "sleep overs" at Mormor and Papas!  I think we enjoy it more than she does.  She loves going to our church with us and knows that if she behaves, we will stay for juice and "goodies" after church.

If anyone wants to know where all the parks in Lakeland are that have swings, just call us!!!  We are also finding out where all the ice cream shops are too!!!!! Nothing like an ice cream cone and then a swing in the park.......Life is Good!!!