July 2014

Several of the WWII veterans here at the Conservatory at Wells Branch had gone on honor flights to Washington, DC.  They met with some of the WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans and gave them applications.  Wayne filled out an application knowing that they were through with the flights until the fall.  However, as things seem to happen, Wayne got a call that they were planning one more flight this summer and he had been selected to go on it.

One of the other gentlemen here, Al, was also selected to go.  Al’s wife, Jeanne, and I drove them out to the airport. Here are Wayne and Al in their special shirts and caps waiting to go.  They put all of the veterans in wheelchairs whether they needed one or not so that they could move at a consistent pace.

This was a small group with one Vietnam, Wayne, one Korean and the rest WWII veterans.

There was an honor guard and a bagpiper that led the way as they were paraded two by two to the plane.  People stood along the walkway the whole way cheering the on.  We even had special passes so that we could accompany them to the gate.

Here is the young retired officer who pushed Wayne’s wheelchair on the trip.

Wayne told me there must have been close to a thousand people at the airport in DC to greet them.  

After checking into their hotel and eating dinner, they went to the Air Force Memorial.

They got to listen to the Air Force Band concert and they shook hands with lots of top brass. 

It was dark when they left.  This is the DC skyline at dusk.

The next day they got to go by all of the veterans’ memorials and met lots of top brass along the way. This is the building in front of the Tomb of the Unknown.

They had front row seats to the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington Cemetery.

After the ceremony the two guards were changed out and the group got to go below and talk to them.

The Marine Corps War Memorial (also called the Iwo Jima Memorial) is a United States military monument outside the walls of Arlington National Cemetery.  The memorial is dedicated to all personnel of the United States Marine Corps who have died in the defense of the United States since 1775.

On the way back to the DC area they drove by many of the other landmarks such as the Washington Monument below,

the Lincoln Memorial.

the National Cathedral,

and the White House.

This is the walkway to the Vietnam Memorial.  The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a national memorial in Washington, D.C. It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, the names of service members who died in service in are inscribed on the wall.

And here is Wayne in front of it.

The Three Soldiers is a bronze statue on the Washington, DC National Mall commemorating the Vietnam War. It was created and designed to complement the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by adding a more traditional component to the Memorial.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial is a memorial dedicated to the women of the United States who served in the Vietnam War, most of whom were nurses. It serves as a reminder of the importance of women in the conflict.

Here is the group in front of the World War II Memorial where they watched the presentation of the colors by representatives from several different branches of the service.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in Washington, D.C.'s West Potomac Park, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It commemorates those who served in the Korean War.  Wayne said it was very spooky.

 

On Saturday night, Nola, Michelle,  Michael and I met the airplane with a bouquet of balloons.

Here is the final picture of our tired warriors.

After he got back, Wayne had the ablation that the cardiologist had recommended and I started cardiac rehab.

We did do some fun things like going to the Palace Theatre in Georgetown to see The Buddy Holly Story.  It was really good.

June 2014

As I mentioned in my last blog, I failed my stress test last month. The cardiologist decided to do an angiogram.  Like me, he didn’t expect to find anything other than an out of shape old lady.  Imagine my surprise when I awoke and found out that he had put two stints in one of my arteries. 

Shortly after that Wayne went to see his arrhythmia cardiologist since he was in A-fib.  He decided to do an ablation so that the top of Wayne’s heart would stop talking to the bottom of his heart and confusing his pacemaker/defibrillator.

But first Wayne decided we needed a fishing getaway.  The closest place we could go for rainbow trout that was not at elevation was the White River in Arkansas.

We stopped at the Sam’s Town Casino in Shreveport on the way up.  The river was very peaceful.

Here is one of the fish Wayne caught.

And here is a small one I caught.  We threw everything back.

That evening, Michele and Michael drove over from Mansfield.   Michael went fishing with Wayne the next two days while Michelle and I played on our iPads and checked out the antique shops.  Michelle couldn’t do much as she was on crutches due to knee surgery.  Here are some of the fish they caught the third day. That’s our guide with Wayne and Michael in the pictures.

The third day was cooler and a little foggy but they still caught fish.

They also got to watch two fox cubs playing by the river.

We took some of the fish that they caught over to a restaurant where they cooked them up for us.  We also brought some fish back home with us.  Yummy.

March, April, and May

March
The biggest excitement we had in March revolved around doctors.  My  rheumatologist sent me for a muscle biopsy but hey still don’t know why my CPK levels are elevated.   About the same time blood work showed that Wayne’s platelets were low so we were off to see a hematologist. 
Of course we made time for Happy Hour Out and a few other fun activities but I didn’t take any pictures.
April
More doctor’s appointments along with a few fun activities like this Happy Hour Out. 

And this trip to the Strawberry Farm in Marble Falls. 


May brought on more fun doctor’s appoints.  A bone marrow biopsy for Wayne and a stress test for me.  I failed miserably.  This old lady is sure out of shape.
There were also some fun activities like happy hours out and the crawfish boil that Matt and Nola joined us for.

One of the other residents who was a teacher at Texas School for the Deaf and I went out for a fun lunch with Claire Bugen the Executive Director and several of the other people that we worked with who haven’t quite made it into full-time retirement.  Anna Belle and I also attended the big TSD Retirement Party at the end of the school year and saw more people we hadn’t seen in a long time. 
Memorial Day Weekend
Wayne went out to Camp Mabry where they held a WWII reenactment.  He took lots of pictures and I have included some of them here.

February

Aimee, the granddaughter from Australia, joined us in for two weeks.  While she was here Michelle and Michael came in  and we had pizza at the table outside our room.  That’s Aimee to my left.

Since I had all my girls together, we took a three-generation picture.

Wayne’s mother’s brother and sisters used to gather in early December for a reunion.  This year it was postponed until February.  Even though Brooksey has been gone for several years, Wayne and I were invited to join them this year.  We drove to Blue’s house in Mason for the reunion.  Aunt Bobbie and Aunt Bana are catching up at the kitchen table.

We had a good visit with all.  Wayne is sitting next to his Uncle Blue, then Kim’s wife, Irma, Blue’s wife, Marilyn Sue, Bana, their daughter-in-law and son, Kenny, and Bana’s husband Boyd.

On the way up we had noticed a pull out were there was an eagle’s nest so on the way back we pulled in and took some pictures.

In late February Wayne had completed most of the work up for the heart transplant team but had not officially been put on the list yet.  We decided to take a trip to Las Vegas, before he could no longer travel that far.  We stayed at the Venetian with is beautiful but huge.  We saw several shows and gambled some. On night we spent in the Venetian’s canal area where there are several restaurants and entertainment.  It is inside but you feel like you are outside.

We ate three different Happy Hour appetizers and drank wine and felt like we were back in Venice.

2015 is turning out to be a good year after all.

Catching Up - November through January

I can’t believe my last post was almost a year ago.  You must wonder about my procrastination.
November was mostly about Football and Thanksgiving. Nothing too exciting.
In December we drove to  Branson, MO.  We stopped at the Sam’s Club Casino on the way up and back. Everything in Branson was decorated for Christmas.  We saw several shows including the one at the Sight and Sound Theater.  They are a Christian themed show and I loved the Lion and Lamb statue out front.

Naturally, we went to our bi-monthly Happy Hour Out

The end of 2013 was not so good for us.  Instead of celebrating the New Year Wayne went to the hospital.  We were not sure if he was going to make it out or not.  So much so that we called the oldest daughter in Australia, Lois,  to tell her that she should come in if she could.  However, my energizer bunny bounced back and after about a week in the hospital he was released feeling a lot better.
In early January Wayne was feeling well enough to go to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.  

Wayne has three season tickets so we took the youngest daughter, Nola with us.

January is birthday month for us.  Mine is on the 8th and Wayne’s is on the 20th.  We surprised him with a large lunch in the dining room the day before his birthday.  From left to right around the table are Matt, me, Lois, Wayne, Michelle, and Nola.

The staff even sang happy birthday to him and provided a carrot cake with candles.

Monday was Wayne’s actual birthday so we went to Quality Seafood for dinner.  Here is Wayne and Lois.

Wayne and Matt enjoying their dinner.

A jazz band provides music on Monday nights and they even sang Happy Birthday to Wayne.

Here we are a year older.

Nola joined us as well.

Wayne got another carrot cake for his birthday.  We had to freeze part of it.

For what started out as a very depressing month, it  ended with Wayne going through testing to see if he would qualify for a heart transplant.  What a difference a month makes.