Doctors and Dentists and Barney Oldfield... Oh My...
Sorry I haven't updated for a few weeks; it has been an interesting time...
Somewhere around the middle of December, I awoke a couple of different times in the middle of the night with pressure on my chest (no, it wasn't Mike getting fiesty). I would get up, walk around a bit and after an hour or so it would go away and I would go back to sleep. Well, one particular night, it didn't go away and Mike took me to the Emergency room at the Apache Junction Hospital at 2 am. EKG and blood work were normal but they wanted to keep me and do a stress test the next day.
Noon the next day came, I was sick of waiting and decided to go home with the tests scheduled for another day. On the 23rd, I went in to the clinic for the stress test only to be told (after waiting in a little room for 30 minutes) that they didn't do a nuclear stress test there - I needed to schedule it for the Gilbert Clinic.
On the 27th, I go for a nuclear stress and stress echo test in Gilbert and it is "abnormal" and I am scheduled for a angiogram the next day. OK, you can imagine what that night was like. In between telling Mike where to find my life insurance information, I cried and prayed.
On the morning of our 21st Wedding Anniversary, I report to the hospital sure that awful things were going to be discovered and life would be drastically altered. Two hours later we were on our way home with good news - no blockages, no artery problems... I just have a heart that "spasms" occasionally. (No jokes about being spastic, please ). No meds, no concerns. All is good!
We did manage to work in a couple of games of golf with Sis and Mike (Mankato area friends) and dinner a few times and even a few evenings of cards before leaving for Yuma on January 1st.
Once we get to Yuma, we head for the dentist in Mexico and begin the many days of making the trip across the border as Mike is getting some major (and much needed) dental work done. So far all is going well for him and I have finished 2 books in waiting rooms. We shopped around and Mike had exams by three different doctors before deciding where to have the work done. Next week Monday will be another trip over the border for two crowns and then on Thursday, we head over with Bonnie and Barry. We may learn Spanish if we aren't careful - anyway, we are stocking up on hooch!
We haven't really done much, except eat soup, so yesterday we decided to take a drive and look at crops... Instead of turning right unto the I8, we headed north and immediately saw this on the GPS.
If any of you are old time racing fans, you will recognize the name Barney Oldfield. Mike tells me he raced at the MN State Fair. He drove an old open wheeled race car and was well known in the 40's and 50's. We figured he must have spent some time in the area and maybe even used some of these backroads as practice area. Anyway, off we go.
We have stayed at Pilot Knob RV Resort at least once every winter for 6 years and never knew why the park had the name... now we know!
I am not really too sure why this little area is known as sidewinder pass or why someone decided it was the end of the world... although the town of Felicity, The Geographic Center of the World, is just a mile or so away... but that story has already been told.
And then another mile and there was this...
Those are religious statues on posts and the area is very neat and well cared for... but we have no idea as to its significance. A pile of beautiful Quartz and an angel statue in the middle
and various other statues around in two perfect circles... there has to be some significance...
As if that isn't enough weird stuff, check out this desert home. 
At this point, we hadn't traveled more than 4 or 5 miles. The rest of the trip was more typical desert trails. The ocotillo are even flowering, seems early but there has been some moisture this year so I suppose they think it is spring. That is an old mine in the background.
Barney's "highway" deteriorated in some spots.
It felt good to be back in the desert with the mountains looming in the background.
When we got close to the canal (where campers enter this BLM land), the trail actually became a divided "highway" for a mile or so.
Once we were across a narrow canal, we were in farm country and the scenery was vastly different.
Fields of vibrant red
lettuce.
And green heads of lettuce
in fields stretching as far as the eye could see.
And newly planted fields. That is the bus that picks up workers in Mexico at 5 every morning.
And long rows of dark green
broccoli.
A field that was just picked
still has some good looking cauliflower
And everywhere you look, harvest is taking place.
Mexican day laborers hard at work
at back-breaking jobs that American workers don't want.
The crops are looking good!
Till later...
Somewhere around the middle of December, I awoke a couple of different times in the middle of the night with pressure on my chest (no, it wasn't Mike getting fiesty). I would get up, walk around a bit and after an hour or so it would go away and I would go back to sleep. Well, one particular night, it didn't go away and Mike took me to the Emergency room at the Apache Junction Hospital at 2 am. EKG and blood work were normal but they wanted to keep me and do a stress test the next day.
Noon the next day came, I was sick of waiting and decided to go home with the tests scheduled for another day. On the 23rd, I went in to the clinic for the stress test only to be told (after waiting in a little room for 30 minutes) that they didn't do a nuclear stress test there - I needed to schedule it for the Gilbert Clinic.
On the 27th, I go for a nuclear stress and stress echo test in Gilbert and it is "abnormal" and I am scheduled for a angiogram the next day. OK, you can imagine what that night was like. In between telling Mike where to find my life insurance information, I cried and prayed.
On the morning of our 21st Wedding Anniversary, I report to the hospital sure that awful things were going to be discovered and life would be drastically altered. Two hours later we were on our way home with good news - no blockages, no artery problems... I just have a heart that "spasms" occasionally. (No jokes about being spastic, please ). No meds, no concerns. All is good!
We did manage to work in a couple of games of golf with Sis and Mike (Mankato area friends) and dinner a few times and even a few evenings of cards before leaving for Yuma on January 1st.
Once we get to Yuma, we head for the dentist in Mexico and begin the many days of making the trip across the border as Mike is getting some major (and much needed) dental work done. So far all is going well for him and I have finished 2 books in waiting rooms. We shopped around and Mike had exams by three different doctors before deciding where to have the work done. Next week Monday will be another trip over the border for two crowns and then on Thursday, we head over with Bonnie and Barry. We may learn Spanish if we aren't careful - anyway, we are stocking up on hooch!
We haven't really done much, except eat soup, so yesterday we decided to take a drive and look at crops... Instead of turning right unto the I8, we headed north and immediately saw this on the GPS.
If any of you are old time racing fans, you will recognize the name Barney Oldfield. Mike tells me he raced at the MN State Fair. He drove an old open wheeled race car and was well known in the 40's and 50's. We figured he must have spent some time in the area and maybe even used some of these backroads as practice area. Anyway, off we go.We have stayed at Pilot Knob RV Resort at least once every winter for 6 years and never knew why the park had the name... now we know!
I am not really too sure why this little area is known as sidewinder pass or why someone decided it was the end of the world... although the town of Felicity, The Geographic Center of the World, is just a mile or so away... but that story has already been told.
And then another mile and there was this...
Those are religious statues on posts and the area is very neat and well cared for... but we have no idea as to its significance. A pile of beautiful Quartz and an angel statue in the middle
and various other statues around in two perfect circles... there has to be some significance...
As if that isn't enough weird stuff, check out this desert home. 
At this point, we hadn't traveled more than 4 or 5 miles. The rest of the trip was more typical desert trails. The ocotillo are even flowering, seems early but there has been some moisture this year so I suppose they think it is spring. That is an old mine in the background.
Barney's "highway" deteriorated in some spots.
It felt good to be back in the desert with the mountains looming in the background.
When we got close to the canal (where campers enter this BLM land), the trail actually became a divided "highway" for a mile or so.
Once we were across a narrow canal, we were in farm country and the scenery was vastly different.
Fields of vibrant red 
lettuce.
And green heads of lettuce
in fields stretching as far as the eye could see.
And newly planted fields. That is the bus that picks up workers in Mexico at 5 every morning.
And long rows of dark green
broccoli.
A field that was just picked
still has some good looking cauliflower
And everywhere you look, harvest is taking place.
Mexican day laborers hard at work
at back-breaking jobs that American workers don't want.
The crops are looking good!
Till later...posted by jf and me | 4:03 PM
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