February 21, 2018 Wednesday Evening

The last post was as we prepared to return to AZ.  Our flight was uneventful as we hoped it would be.  Gary and Louise, our friends from Idaho, met us at the airport at 10:30 PM.

To continue our bad luck health problems, Lela was suffering from an intestinal disorder.  After nearly a week of being miserable, on Saturday we decided she was not getting better.  We made a trip to Banner Hospital ER where she was diagnosed with colitis and an intestinal infection, probably linked to the antibiotic she took in January to combat her sinus/ear infection.

The ER doctor recommended she stay the night as an inpatient to monitor her fluids, and he was very precautionary about her kidney, as were we.  She was unable to eat very much. She was having trouble with nausea.  After the first day she was still very weak and uncomfortable so we were offered another night, which we thought was a good idea. So after two days in the hospital and several IV bags of antibiotics we were released on Monday.

 

The view from Lela's hospital room

Sunrise on the San Tan Mountains

 

 

Sunset

Progress has been slow, but steady.  The antibiotics seem to be doing what they are designed to do. 
As a result we haven't been able to enjoy our time here as yet.  We are really looking forward to being well.

Christy and Ben and Nick brought over some soup Monday evening.  Louise brought soup yesterday.  We have good friends here who are concerned about us.  Ross and Laura from church visited yesterday and lifted our spirits.

I did go to play golf today (44-41), but that is the only time I've been out of the house other than to go for groceries or medication.

Jack rabbits

Critters on the golf course.

 

As an addendum to the previous post, Nancy said the doctors who cared for my brother Michael, never diagnosed him with a stroke as I had surmised.  They only said he had a bleed in his brain. So I will stand corrected from the previous post.

Monday February 12, 2018


Much has happened since the last post.  Time seems to be a blur for the past two weeks.  I am relying on the dates of the pictures to help me post.


The reason for the lack of blogging is that my brother Michael died as a result of two strokes.  The initial stroke was survived, but the second was not recoverable and fatal.  He passed to his reward on February 2, 2018 at the age of 74 years, 4 months.

Michael James Ploussard

Ron was hauling furniture to Hollywood for his daughter Autumn, after which he was coming to Phoenix to pick up his new racecar.  Then he was coming to our place as Gloria was flying out to meet him and drive home together. She arrived on Friday late in the evening.  We had decided to drive back with them leaving Sunday for Michael's funeral, as the Allegiant flight would get us home on Monday and we would arrive on Monday driving with Ron and Gloria.


Ron and his friend Steve arrived on Tuesday Jan. 30, with the new car in the trailer.

Steve is a big guy!

Inside trailer

Inside trailer (Parachute)

We were able to park them in a slot directly across the street from us. We put them up and fed them overnight and then Ron took Steve to the airport to fly home.


We had to wait until Sunday to leave, so we took Ron and Gloria to some of the local attractions.  We had lunch in Tortilla Flats which was a stagecoach stop in the 1800's ,  http://www.tortillaflataz.com/    

Tortilla Flats

There was a gunfight there put on by some re-enactors of the old west.  Then on the way home we stopped at the Goldfield mining town where there was another gunfight. http://goldfieldghosttown.com/ 

Goldfield

Lela and Gloria

Gloria and Ron

Visit those websites, There is interesting history there.
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Then it was back home to wait for dinner. We had decided to go to Serrano's Mexican Restaurant as it is our favorite.

Lela and G'Pa

 http://www.serranosaz.com/  Then back home to prepare to leave in the morning.


The drive was from home to Shamrock, TX the first day (15 hours) and then to MO on Monday (12 Hours.  The trip was uneventful except that Ron was getting sick with a cold.  He insisted that he drive the whole trip.  The last few hours were kind of exciting as we were driving into an ice storm in MO.  Lela prayed us home safely.


Tuesday we attended Michael's funeral.  Michael had made all his own arrangement as to how his death was to be handled.  He wanted to be cremated and his funeral to be at Paul Funeral Home in St. Charles and be limited in attendance.

Today we are waiting for Ron and Gloria to take us to Gateway airport for a flight back to AZ.  Although it was a very sad circumstance which brought us back to MO, we enjoyed seeing everyone here, especially Ana.

Ana

The next post will be from AZ.