Adventures in Traveling

Before we go away, we always pray that we'll be kept safe and that the car will run well for us. From now on, we'll have to be more specific in our prayers. Our trip up to Salt Lake for our niece's wedding was uneventful except for forgetting the clothes that we'd wear to the wedding itself. We got an hour and half away from home and realized we'd need to return home to get the clothes. Cost us some extra time and we only had a few hours to spare before the actual event due to a late departure (my fault as usual). But, the day was lovely and it was SO very nice being with family in the Temple and being reminded of our wedding some 30 odd years ago.

Had a nice albeit short visit with other family members and then it was time to come on back to lovely California.

We got about 125 miles away from home - deep in Feather River Canyon, and had one belt break. Then about 5 more miles down the road the alternator belt slipped off. It was still dusk, so we traveled without headlights for a little while, then turned them on and drove for as long as we could until we lost the speedometer and other gages. We figured we'd better find a safe place to pull off as the headlights were almost gone and try to get help. We found a rest area and backed in all safe and cozy. Then, of course, NO CELL COVERAGE! So, Mike tried to flag down drivers with his little flashlight. Man! Is it ever dark down in the middle of a canyon at night!!! A lady finally stopped and said she'd call the California Highway Patrol as soon as she got cell phone coverage. We only had about 10 more miles left in the canyon. So, we'd wait. Luckily, a C.H.P. came along, just by chance, and Mike flagged him down again with his tiny little flashlight and he called a tow-truck for us. We waited an hour for it to come and 85 miles later we were home. The tow cost $350. YIKES! Then we charged it and made it almost to the main road, and had to have it towed again to the shop for $65 more dollars to get fixed. Aren't Car Troubles SO MUCH FUN????!!!!!

BUT, we did make it home safely. Yes, yes we did. It could have been much worse. The stars were beautiful while we were waiting and it wasn't too cold. We did get home and found all well here.

Me thinks I'll stay put for a little while now though, until it's time to take the next trip.....

Syndrome X

Since we have moved to California, I have been having heart pains. You know, just little twinges in the left side that go into my arm and shoulder while I'm not doing anything. My internist was so concerned about it that she immediately took and EKG (found nothing wrong) and strongly suggested that I see a cardiologist. I ignored it until she sent me a registered letter saying that I needed to get in and have a work-up. Besides, the pains we coming more frequently and I figured, OK, I'd get it done. I had a heart echo, a carotid artery ultrasound and a heart stress test.
During the stress test, I had pain in the right side and my EKG went weird. I was given Nitro-glycerin and the pain went away. The doctor moved up the appointment to tell me what the results of the tests were to before we went away for Christmas.
We were on our way to the appointment when his office called and rescheduled the appointment for when we got back.
The entire time we were in Utah, the altitude was making my heart hurt quite a bit - almost full time, but it was bearable.
I went in for the appointment and it started hurting again. The doctor decided to send me BY AMBULANCE straight to ICU. Well, all that fuss for a few little heart pains. I must say that I was feeling a lot better before I went in there than after they got through working on me. Nitro-glycerin BLOWS the top of your head off as far as causing a migraine headache. And, the doctor decided to do an angiogram on me that very day - me being his 5th procedure of the day.

BUT... Wonderful news! Through lots of faith and prayers on my behalf, NO blockages! I have what they call Syndrome X. The heart goes into spasms, starving for oxygen and the small coronaries hurt until they can relax. It can happen more in diabetic women (me). As I googled it, there are quite a few articles about it. Right now, I'm just healing up from the hole in my leg and from being exhausted from what I've been through. Feeling pretty lousy, but, hey! It could have been SO MUCH WORSE, eh? Blessings, Blessings, Blessings!

A Link to an article about this is found here:

http://www.texasheartinstitute.org/HIC/Topics/Cond/CardiacSyndromeX.cfm

Christmas!!!

What a LOVELY Christmas we had! The only downer was the one huge box that somehow "wasn't delivered" to Justin's Grandpa's house by a certain package delivery service that will remain unnamed for now. We've been struggling with this certain carrier for several deliveries now and are just about to call it quits with them. Whoever received it, I hope they enjoyed the contents and truly were in need of them. (I'm still working on the forgiving part of the incident...)
It was awfully nice to be with family in Utah and to exchange gifts with Laura and Dan and Mickelle and Jonathan and extended family. We missed Emily and Justin and their little girls so very much, but kept in touch with them a little more than usual (because of the package snafu). We were all trying to keep from passing around flu and cold germs and trying to stay out of hospitals and still make hospital visits.
Traveling on the roads was not too eventful - probably because we had chains just in case we needed them - we didn't. But, because of the amazing snow storms up in Utah, I remembered how much I DON'T miss the snow and all of it's accompanying mess that goes with it. Thank Heavens for a lovely California climate.
McKenna's blessing was beautiful and made me almost cry all my make-up off. Grandchildren are such blessings all by themselves, but she was so good - sleeping through it all and to have my dad and husband be there in the priesthood circle meant a lot to me. You never know when that may not be possible again. AND, I even finished the dress in time. Having to re-do the bodice and everything that attaches to it was a little trickier than I had previously thought. Trying to get Christmas ready and the dress and packing for the trip and having tons of doctor's appointments about sent me 'round the bend.
But, we got it all done and had a really wonderful time. Just in time for....... Stay tuned for the next post!

Our Anniversary, 30 Memorable Years!

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today,

the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow.

My life is so richly blessed because 30 years ago we took sacred vows to become an eternal family. I'm so very happy to be married to my best friend. He's my inspiration! Our marriage is held together by the hundreds of tiny threads we've sewn together through the years. May Heaven continue to bless our marriage for many, many more years to come!

Here's a picture of the beautiful roses he gave me - one for each year of our marriage. (A picture of before they opened and a picture of after they opened).