This morning The Man and I left the house at 8:30 to make the hour drive to Oscar G. Johnson Veterans Hospital in Iron Mountain, MI. This VA hospital is where all The Man's doctors are located so any time he needs to see a dentist, cardiologist, pulmonary specialist we need to drive an hour. Some of these doctors are actually located in Minneapolis, Minnesota but use "Tele Health" to confer with The Man about his various conditions. This Tele Health can't be done at home on our own computer but is instead done in a special office at the VA.
Today's visit was for an echo cardiogram and to see the dentist. Both of these were done in person at the VA. (I'd like to see them do a dental exam over the computer.)
Not only is this veterans hospital an hour away but it is also in another time zone! Some where about half way between the house and the hospital we go from Eastern Standard time to Central time. On a good day our phones may make the hour change but the clock in the car remains on EST. This all means that we can leave The Man's house at 10:00 to get to the hospital for a 10:00 appointment. It gets super confusing when we have an appointment in Iron Mountain and then have to be at a different appointment in Escanaba, which is near where we live. I have a great deal of trouble doing the math on that one. Which clock do I look at? Did my phone change the time or not? What day is it ??????? All this really pushes my brain to the max.
Besides traveling from one time zone to another we usually go from one climate to another. If we leave the Equator at 10:00 and arrive in Antarctica at 10:00, fifty miles away, what time will it be when the two trains meet? ( Oh sorry . . . flash back from high school math.) This morning when we left the house it was sunny and a balmy 62 degrees. It was beautiful ! I told The Man to leave his fleece jacket at home. I believe my exact words were, "You won't need that heavy jacket. It's beautiful out side." We weren't ten miles down the road before the clouds started to roll in and the temperature started to drop. By the time we got to the VA it was twelve below zero and snowing ! NO . . . just kidding but it sure felt like it could snow. The sky was dark gray and the wind was blowing so it felt like it was a lot colder than what the thermometer said. I believe The Man did mutter something not so nice as he stepped out of the car without his fleece jacket. I was glad to drop him at the door of the hospital so he wouldn't freeze and I was also glad that I keep a heavy hoodie jacket in the trunk of the car so I wouldn't get frost bite walking across the parking lot. I am slowly learning how to survive up here.
It is necessary for me to go with The Man on all these appointments because I am the carrier of the back pack which contains The Man's glasses, numerous inhalers, his phone, a water bottle and a couple of electric cords for the portable oxygen concentrators that we travel with. (I carry a small pack of tissues for myself.) It is no fun not being able to breathe so we always travel with three sources of oxygen. Two portable concentrators that can plug into the car cigaret lighter and a tank of oxygen in case there are electrical issues with the two machines. There is no chance of us ever picking up a hitch hiker because the entire back seat of the car is filled with oxygen. (It's amazing how much space air can occupy.) When we arrive at our destination I drop off The Man at the closest door and then go park the car. I haul the back pack with me as The Man pulls his oxygen supply with him. We look like a traveling minstrel show. Depending on what the appointment is I either wait in the waiting rooms or go in with him. We have note book in which I journal all his dr. visits. I get to carry that in my back pack too. I had always thought that once my children were grown I would be done with carrying a "diaper bag" but it looks like my life is just making a full circle.
And so this was our day today. Several hours of adventure that I knew would be fun because of the good omen as we turned out onto the highway after leaving the house this morning. As we drove down the road there on the rail road tracks sat the biggest turkey I have ever seen. It was perched in the middle of the tracks just looking as happy as anything. I swear it was smiling at me as we drove by. Maybe he had just flown in from Iron Mountain and knew what we were in for.
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