My first car

Do you ever wish you had your first car? Have you ever dreamed that you parked it (when you had the car, like at school) and now you're trying to find it?
I wish I had my first car again. I wish I could see a car like my 1953, two tone green, stick shift, two door, hardtop Plymouth. I don't think it had a name to go with it like Fury (which wasn't made until a few years later than 1953). Just plain Plymouth. My dad paid $350.00 for it and I had to pay him every week until it was paid for. It was 7 years old when I bought it.
I've looked for the car for years. One collector told me that I'd never find it because there weren't many made of that year and model. I remember when I had my car that there was only one like mine in Grand Rapids, MI. I saw the car a few times in downtown Grand Rapids. So, I keep looking in movies, while on the road and on the internet. I found one the other day that except it had four doors and my car had two doors. Anyway, I sure wish I could sit in the driver's seat of my car again. I loved that car. I had to get a new motor in it one time because I didn't learn that you're supposed to put oil in it! Duh! Hey, I was a 16 year old girl. Give me a break!
Here's an almost picture of my sweet little car!

Denny has an ICD

An ICD- Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. He went to a heart specialist who sent him to another cardiologist, Dr Blatt. Very nice doctor, by the way. Dr Blatt told him that he needed to have the ICD because of the signals he was getting from Denny. Age and weight were obvious. Sugar diabetes was another. But the way Denny has been getting tired, short of breath and legs feeling like lead convinced Dr Blatt that Denny needed it in case something happened to his heart. Oh, not to forget that his heart was only functioning at 35%! The unit would be implanted in his chest and would shock Denny if he was going to have a heart attack. Dr Blatt doesn't like to do the implant until a heart catherization is done. He said that it wouldn't make sense to fix something unless everything else was fixed first. So Thursday Denny had a catherization. Dr Klein was the doctor. His attendent came out to tell me that it was done and Denny is a very lucky man! There was 95% blockage to his aorta! That's a big blockage! There wasn't very much empty space in the artery! The inserted a stint. That done, Denny had to stay overnight to await the next surgery. Friday morning, Dr Blatt inserted the ICD. The surgery went smoothly. The nurses said that he snored very loudly and that they had to fight with him a little. Dr Blatt told Denny that he cannot believe he didn't collapse with a heart attack before this week. And Denny had umpired 4 games last Sunday!
He came home yesterday. No lifting over 5 pounds, no driving for two weeks. He has to be on Plavix and cannot miss one pill! He'll have to have the ICD checked every three months. But he's fine now.

And today is our 45th wedding anniversary! In 1994, Denny was in the hospital for our wedding anniversary. He cheated death that time and now again.

Here's a picture of him in the hospital and another picture of Denny and his nurse, Jaymie. Everyone at Plano Medical Hospital was so nice. She was very nice.

In the diagram, you can see where the blockage was. There's also a thin line by that artery. That vein is 70% blocked and he has another blockage at the bottom of his heart but they didn't have stints small enough so they may do it at a later time. The doctor said that those two weren't as important as the one they did.

Friends

I found out yesterday that an old friend from MI passed away. She was a year older than me. She's been ill for quite a while. She had something like Alzheimer's but her brother-in-law said that it was worse than Alzheimer's. I don't know what can be worse.

On another note, I got an email from another old friend. Well, he's not old! I should say a long time friend. Gary Keizer and his wife, Kathy. It sure was good to hear from him. He got our address from another friend that hasn't written to us in ages. I'm surprised that he still had our address.

Denny and I went to the cardiologist Thursday. Denny is going to have a fribrilator installed in his chest. No worry! It's just to prevent something from happening. His heart is only working at 35%. We think that it has been working at that percentage since 1994 when he had his big accident. He's doing good, umpires every day, in fact, he umpired 4 games today. He can still do everything he does now. It's just that if something does go wrong, the fribrilator will shock his heart and knock him on his ass! Those are the words the cardiologist told us!

I walked 3 miles after I got home from the movie today. I have to start walking. My knee is really messed up and I'm sure that I'll have to have the surgery that I always swore I'd never have done. I go on medicare June 1 so I'll have better coverage, in case I have to have the surgery. I've had the knee pain for 8 years now but it's getting worse. I have a real fear of any kind of surgery since our neighbor at Sandy Pines had rotor cuff surgery and is brain damaged because of the surgery! So much for routine surgery!

Our weather is just gorgeous. Dallas is just loving the weather, running in the sprinkler and going to the water park. I'm loving all of my flowers. Some have bloomed and some are getting ready to bloom.

Trip to Choctaw casino

What a trip! The casino has a new policy of giving out cards while the people are on the bus. And since we were the third bus in line we had to sit on the bus for 45 minutes waiting for one of the casino staff members to pass out cards on our bus. Then they were running up and down the aisle calling names. So you'd think that would be the end of sitting on the bus waiting? No! Every trip we've gone on, we're told "If you're not on the bus at 3:00, we'll leave you there because the bus will leave at 3:00". This is stated at every trip. Well, two ladies didn't show up and we sat there for another 35 minutes while they looked for them. At one point, I saw the two ladies walk by our bus. They stopped at our bus and were told that it was the Allen bus. They walked on. They didn't seem to care that we were all waiting. They've been on the trips numerous times before so the excuse that they can't speak English didn't hold water. I think the words 'bus and 3:00 should be understood at any language. And to think of all the times that I was so worried because Denny would show up at the bus at 3:00. I was so afraid that we'd leave him. Well, no worry anymore. It's an idle threat!
The trip, once inside the casino was fun. Linda and Theresa did a wonderful job. We felt so bad for them because the brunt on the problems fell on them. I don't know if the trips are worth going on. The last trip we had to wait because there were some women that couldn't make it back to the bus and we had to wait until the other bus went to the restaurant to pick them up.
I don't know if the liability falls on the city if something happens to someone that can't walk and falls. On the casino trip, there was a man, by himself, with a walker and he has Alzheimers! He doesn't attend the center so it would be hard to find him in the casino. Oh well, at least he was on the bus on time.

Election day, association meetings, artists and flowers

Today is election day for mayor of Allen, TX. The present mayor has been mayor for 12 years. Since there isn't a limit for mayor, he could be mayor for a long time. I think that a change is needed. Not that he wasn't a good mayor but when someone holds a job too long, they can get too comfortable. We'll see.

We had an association meeting the other night for the community we live in. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough people present so the meeting was canceled. We were still able to ask questions. A lot of people asked questions. My concern is with neighbors around us that have large dogs and they put them outside late at night and very early in the morning. I love dogs but not barking when I'm trying to sleep.

Here is a cool picture of MC Escher. He has some really different work. I thought that this one was really imaginative. I should be so talented.

I went to Lowe's to get a few flowers for my front yard and found out that a lot of them were 1/2 off so I bought a lot of flowers. I have to take a picture of my yard but I'll wait until more of my perrenials bloom. I love summer!

African (or Butterfly) Iris

There are some beautiful flowers at the senior center that I couldn't identify, even after looking on the internet. I asked Susan Campbell, the Allen City landscaper and she told me that they're African Iris'or Butterfly Iris'. I found them on the internet after I found out what they're called. They're called Butterfly Iris' because the flowers look like butterflies sitting on top of the plant. The flowers last for only a day but bloom all summer. I tried to find some for my yard but couldn't find them. I asked Susan where I could get them. That afternoon she brought me two plants. And they're blooming in my yard already. That was so nice of her to add to the beauty of my yard.