Doctors, Dentists, New House and Hotel Life - Port St. Lucie, FL

October 22 – November 7

Finally, all doctor appointments have been set up. Vascular doc and ENT. Ct and ultrasounds set up and return appointments.

We visited the models and the design center to get a handle on the upgrades and color choices there are. I wish I enjoyed decorating more, but decisions need to be made and our heads are ready to explode.

We are both liking the high gloss white cabinets. I’m still not certain on the granite countertop color or the floor tiles. We added lights, patio extension, upgrading range to convection; It will take a few more trips to stare at colors and decide. Tile colors in showers and countertops in the bathrooms left to think about.

Had my sinus CT and will find out the results on Nov 1.

We counted down the last few nights in the coach and had almost everything packed and ready to go to the hotel or storage.

With an open afternoon we went back to the models and the design center and managed to spend the entire afternoon there. They have 14 models and we walked them twice looking for features to see how they look in person. Some friends of ours bought in a similar community on the other coast and they had some suggestions, which helped a lot. Thanks Janie! Spent quite a bit of time pulling out shower tile samples and putting them next to granite samples. I have the master narrowed to 2 and still debating the guest bath. Kitchen granite narrowed to 2 as well. Floor tiles narrowed down  to 2 or 3.

Sunday, we packed almost everything and moved into the hotel. Nice corner room on the top floor away from the pool. Monday, we need to go finish up a few of the smaller things and clean up and return the huge bedspread with all the pillows and shams to the bed in the coach. A couple of storage unit runs and tomorrow, they come pick up the coach in the morning. Phew!

The selling of coach went well. They came out and checked out everything (took about an hour or more). Everything was good and paperwork was signed and they drove off with it. Greg did a happy dance. Probably the easiest thing about the coach was selling it…..

Right before they got there we got a call from the design center of the house to set up the appointments. They are scheduling into mid-January right now. Greg explained we would be out of the country for 4 months and without hesitation they said let’s see if we can get you in sooner. (we were expecting having to wait until we return the end of April) So, our first appointment is the day before Thanksgiving and our second and final appointment is on New Years Eve. (gee, wonder why those dates were open? No biggie to us, so it works.

Hotel life: All of the management and staff has changed here so it has a very different “feel”. The upside is no cooking or cleaning. We do have full refrigerator and range and microwave and a dishwasher, but with limited cookware and utensils just not worth the bother. We are using Nutrisystem for convenience and weight management. Considering all the great food we ate while “on the road” we both didn’t gain all that much, but we both need to get down prior to eating on a cruise ship for 4 months and the fun and interesting food in the ports.

First garbage disposal I’ve had since 2013. It’s nice being able to flush a toilet and wash your hands  while it’s still flushing. (in the sink, not the commode…lol) In the coach you can only do one thing at a time. It's nice having lots of water pressure. I don’t have to springboard off the bathroom step to get into bed. The A/C in the hotel is “even” no hot/cold spots due to sunlight hitting the coach sensors.

My follow up appointment with my ENT could have resulted in better news. My CT showed complete blockage in my left sinus and a deviated septum. So, I’m looking at surgery. He saw a tumor that could be the cause of this. He also found a dental tumor and I am seeing an oral surgeon for that. I was hoping it was “just” a fungal infection and after I finished the meds I’d be better. (not that both can’t be going on at the same time) So, I’m now awaiting calls for them to get me scheduled. Hopefully it will be soon, so I have plenty of recovery time before we board the ship on Jan 5.

Since I did not have a positive experience with the first dentist we chose here, we visited a different one Monday. (the first one was very brusque and “dressed down” her staff in front of patients. Wasn’t much nicer to patients. Life’s too short to deal with that. The new office is very pleasant and over the top professional with cutting edge procedures. Despite having full mouth x-rays a year ago, they repeated those and more. (though less expensive than the other Dr.) So, we both had appointments each lasting 1.5 hours and they ran out of time to do the cleaning. They scheduled deep scaling/planing on both of us. I’m used to that with my mouth, but Greg has never had that done. We went back 2 days later to get half of our mouths done with the other half done in a few days.

Today, we literally spent from 11:30 to 5:00 at the Dentist. My appt was at 11:30 and she said it would be 1.5 hours. Greg’s was at 3:30 so we thought we would have time to go home between the appointments. I needed a crown and the hygienist asked if I had it scheduled yet and I said no. She said if the Dr. has time do you want to start it today. I said sure. So, I was there until it was almost time for Greg’s appointment. I go back Friday for the deep cleaning of the left side of my mouth.

I was down to 2 fungal pills and was thrilled I soon would be done taking extra meds, when I get a call from the ENT who did a culture and it was positive and they had called in another antibiotic to pick up. So, 3 weeks of that now. That one nauseates me, but I just keep crackers on hand to ward it off. They want that gone before doing the surgery. They know my tight timeframe and hope to have the surgery scheduled the end of the month. While I was at the dentist the oral surgeon called and I see him Nov 26.

I can honestly say this is getting ridiculous. I have never seen so many docs in a year (or 10 years).

I did do some “fun shopping” for a few new things for the cruise. Still have a couple of things to get. Plus, getting 4 months’ worth of cosmetic type stuff and restocking our JIC medical kit we travel with.

I have all tours full now, but one so I’m doing well with that despite so many people we know dropping out. (all for very good reasons) They all will be missed.

Well, sorry this isn’t at all interesting to read about, I too would rather be writing about travels. But, I need to get well so we can travel and I can post our adventures for the armchair travelers out there. 

'til next time...….