The Illinois Bunch Leaves and 2 Down And 0 To Go

Rantoul, IL.

50 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Areas of patchy fog early. Partly cloudy. High 67F. Winds light and variable.

There was rain just North of here yesterday morning and if you checked the radar, you could see that there was more rain heading right towards Rantoul. So, both Denny and Dave started "breaking camp" earlier than they normally would have. It's a good thing that they did because just as they were finishing, it started raining and rained fairly hard for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon.

I don't remember just what time it was, but after h and h, (hugs and handshakes), they pulled out of their sites and headed for home. :-(   (I think it was around 10:30).  It sure was good to see them again and more than likely, we'll see Dave and Dee Dee down in Florida sometime this winter. :-)  However, Denny and Bev have decided not to go to Florida this winter, so we probably won't see them until sometime next summer. :-(

After they left, it was time to start getting ready to head down to Urbana. Linda's appointment at the Hospital was  at 12:45 so being that it was raining quite hard at times, Jim and Linda left here about 11:45.

Big RED said that it only sprinkled on the way down there and by about 12:15, he was pulling into the patient drop-off/pick-up area where one of the volunteers came out and took Linda inside with a wheelchair. By the time Jim found a spot to park Big RED in that scary parking garage, with the low clearance, and returned to the main entrance, Linda had registered again and was waiting for him in the lobby.

Another volunteer then took them up to the surgery area on the 2nd floor where Linda checked in and then waited in the waiting room for a nurse to come and get her. After about 1/2 hour, the nurse came and took Linda back to Pre-Op and then about 45 minutes after that, Jim was told that he could go to room 28 on the 2nd floor to be with her.

Then, it was time to wait again. :-(

Things did go much better this time though. About 3:30 they came into the room and took Linda into surgery. (again, Jim was able to just stay in the room to wait), and with-in a half  hour, they brought her back again, surgery completed!! :-)

By 4:30, Jim was retrieving Big RED from the parking garage and pulling up to the patient pick-up area. In just a little while, yet another volunteer brought Linda out and by a little before 5:00 they were pulling into the parking lot at the Urbana Gardens Restaurant. (Linda was hungry because she wasn't allowed to eat anything since midnight.)

After enjoying another good meal, Big RED brought them back here to the CG where both Linda and Jim relaxed, dozed in their chairs and watched TV until about 10:00 when they went to bed.

So, that's over with!!!! The surgery went well and both Linda and Jim were talking about how good it was to have the surgery completed. Now, maybe they can both relax a little. Linda will have to go for a follow-up on the surgery tomorrow, (Wednesday), and then on the 30th of Sept. she has an appointment to see Dr. Gandhi to see if she needs another injection. And, Dr. Anderson may want to see her again to check on the cataract surgery one more time before we leave here.

As far as leaving here, Jim has been working on trip plans and has decided that if at all possible, we should leave here by at least the 13th of October. If everything goes well, we may leave a little before that date to give us a little more time to head East to NC and VA to see Mike and Joe and their families and then head South to Florida,

Again, everything is written in pencil and Jim still has that big eraser. ;-)

Did you know that your eyes are always the same size from birth?

Woof!!!