I still have a few more blogs to do on Oklahoma and Arkansas, but I thought I better get to “current time” on the blog, since a few family and friends have wondered where we are.  We will be leaving Wisconsin today, and heading west to our summer job at Luton’s Teton Cabins near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming (30 miles south  of Yellowstone National Park).

We made it back to Wisconsin for a surprise Easter Day (April 1st) visit with Dan’s parents.  They didn’t think we would be arriving so soon, as they thought we were in Branson, Missouri.  Our fifth wheel is parked at Dan’s sisters house in Hortonville, but we spent most of our time at his parents house in Oconto Falls.  Dan’s father was diagnosed with stage 3 bladder cancer in January, and we wanted to be back in time for his surgery. As mentioned in an earlier blog, Dan did fly back to Wisconsin for a few weeks when his Dad started his chemo therapy treatments back in February.

We did make it down to the Milwaukee area for a quick visit with family and friends and to take care of some dental and doctor visits.  However, the bulk of our time has been spent at Dan’s parents house.  In addition to pre-surgery visits, Dan’s parents had a few “honey do” items for Dan.

On April 19, his dad (Stu) underwent a 9 hour surgery to remove the bladder and prostate, and reattached his ureters to a stoma, where the urine will now come out.  The surgery was very successful, and after 7 days in the hospital, he came back home, to finally get some rest.  The nurses in the hospital were quite impressed by how quickly he recovered.  He walked multiple times each day in the hospital, followed under the watchful eye of Joan!

Every day he has been getting stronger and more independent (well, as much as Joan, Dan’s Mom, will let him….!) He walks everyday and he is hoping to hit the golf course very soon! We are very thankful that we had the time to spend with them, and help both of his parents adjust to their new way of life.

The same day as Stu had his surgery, my brother-in-law John (that we just visited in Texas) had heart bypass surgery.  He is on the mend as well, but they have been through a lot in the past 10 months.  We are thankful that we could visit them in March, and hope to be back to Texas within the next year or two.

The weather in Wisconsin right now is perfect, mid 70’s.  It’s been a huge change in the past 5 weeks.  We were snowed in a few weeks ago, with over 16 inches of snow by Dan’s sisters, and 30 inches of snow by Dan’s parents!  It was an official blizzard, and everything was shut down in the area.  Many of the high schools had their Proms cancelled.  And of course, we ran out of propane!  We have two 40 pound tanks for our fifth wheel.  When the stores finally opened back up after two days, it was a brisk 45 degrees in the fifth wheel! (which isn’t so bad when you have a hot flash!)   Since we are only plugged in to a 20 amp circuit, we can only run a space heater, in addition to the propane furnace.

As usual, we didn’t have time to see everyone that we wanted, but are grateful for the time we did have here, and the family and friends we did meet up with. We also made a quick visit to check out our friends Keith and Judy’s new fixer-upper home on Kelly Lake.  They have a beautiful view of the lake from their deck, and we look forward to seeing the progress with their renovations in the future (and a 50 amp outlet!!)

Quote for the Day:  “A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope.” – Carrie Latet