It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

So, here we are on our eight day getaway, after having been on the road only two weeks this entire year,  and those two weeks were back in April. The rest of the year has been devoted to surgeries, recovery from surgeries, SKP Park Board of Directors activities, and whatever else we have allowed to control us. We really needed this getaway.

How did we get this week? Emerald Cove RV Resort, one of the Colorado River Adventures group, sent us their splendid offer of four free nights of camping plus four fabulous gifts including $1000 worth of free camping, and all we have to do is show up, relax in the wonderful resort, and sit through their 90 minute sales presentation. We've been through that sort of thing before, of course. We know how to say "NO" at the sales presentation. In fact, we have learned to say "NO" right at the start of the presentation, and the sales person gives up, gives us our gifts, and runs off to try to sell an easier couple.

We had to change our schedule a couple of times, but eventually we started off on our adventure on a     Saturday morning. Since we don't like to drive very far in a day, we stopped the first night in Gila Bend, AZ, at Holt's Shell. Yes, that's an RV park situated behind a Shell gas station. Out front of the station is a large display area offering colorful Mexican pottery, yard decorations and other trinkets.

The second night we found a little out-of-the-way Passport America park between Salome, AZ and Brenda, AZ. This was really Nowheresville, and the entry was like no other: a narrow, rutted dirt pathway with standing water. But once we got inside we found a reasonable park with full hookups, even 50amp, and scheduled activities. Probably half of the sites were filled with resident units, but they were decently maintained. We decided this was a place we could return to.

After Nowheresville, we proceeded on to the Colorado River that serves as part of the border between California and Arizona. Rather than stopping in Parker as we have done for a couple of rallies in the past, we crossed right over the river to Earp, CA. No, "Earp" is not a rude sound made by gluttons or heavy drinkers, it is a community on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation; Earp has a post office and a Native American cigarette and liquor store ... plus a long string of nice and not-so-nice RV resorts along the river. One of these resorts was our destination, the Emerald Cove Resort with 800 sites, three swimming pools, wild burros that wander in once in a while, and an active sales staff.

We arrived on Monday, settling into site 271. It was cold and kind of muddy, following the recent winter storm, but we weren't really interested in this park anyway; it was just our little free getaway for a little while before Christmas. We would spend most of our four days here relaxing inside Rosie, our motorhome. Because of all the hectic activities at home, we hadn't had an opportunity to do any decorating for the holiday, so Suzy organized a bunch of lights, a small tree and other decorations for Rosie; we'd have a "Christmas house" on the road. Monday we set all that up and crashed into bed.

On Tuesday we finished up wrapping all the family Christmas presents and dashed to the tiny Earp Post Office to ship them Priority Mail. With all the holiday preparations finished, we settled in for a cocktail in the late afternoon, only to find me with serious chest pressure, nausea and light-headedness. Oh CRAP! As members of AARP we have access to a 24/7 Registered Nurse telephone hotline service. Describing the situation to the nurse, we were instructed to hie ourselves to the local emergency hospital. The nurse even looked up the address for us, and our GPS took us straight to La Paz Regional Health Center in Parker.

It wasn't 'spose to be like that! Not on our little getaway!

In the emergency room, I told the desk representative I was having chest pressure and suspected angina. Within two minutes two nurses arrived with a wheel chair, and in another minute I was on a  gurney with a stethoscope pressed to my chest and one of the nurses was asking me questions. Suzy was still answering the receptionist's questions, but was soon at my side. In the back of my mind was "What's this little Podunk hospital going to be able to do for me?" It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

Before long, Doctor Procter (yes, that was his name!) was there telling me I'd be staying the night! Well, we weren't prepared for that so Suzy jumped in the car and drove back to the resort to pick up my CPAP unit for sleeping. While she was gone, a nurse told me that Suzy could stay in the other bed in my room at no charge! We are a two cell phone family, so I called her. She couldn't answer on the twisty two-lane road; when she could return the call (nearly back to the hospital), I told her the news, so she turned around back to the park and the motorhome to get her nightgown, our toothbrushes, daily pills, etc. By now it was dark, and she was driving an unfamiliar road. It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

While Suzy was on the road, my nurse learned that the second bed in my room was unusable, so she moved it out and returned with a recliner chair! It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

Once Suzy returned, Dr. Mendoza (the hospital's doctor) visited at 11:00pm to tell us that the blood tests showed that I had probably had a heart attack and would need to be in ICU for a while. It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

Wednesday we moved to ICU, and Suzy went to the cafeteria for lunch while I was taken to the hospital's "Cath Lab" for an angiogram. Who would have guessed that this little hospital would have a Cath Lab? From Dr. Kresock, Suzy learned that I had definitely had a heart attack, which consisted of a soft clot coursing down my blood stream until it "stunned" the heart! I'd be in the hospital a while! It wasn't 'spose to be like that!

Suzy, of course, had to make another round trip to the park for more stuff including our computer because, after all, I'm still the Board Secretary and responsible for stuff, and we have people to get in touch with. In ICU, Suzy had a quite comfortable recliner to sleep in, and we had wonderful nursing teams taking care of us. Even so, we were already anxious to be back home to Rosie and our own life and our own food. Lo and behold, Thursday brought the wonderful news that the immediate intervention at the Cath Lab and the care by my ICU nurses had brought me to the point where I could be released! By 11:00am I was being wheeled to the car; by noon we were having sandwiches at Subway, and shortly thereafter, Suzy was in WalMart getting four new prescriptions filled including Lipitor, Plavix, Pepcid, and nitroglycerin.

It wasn't 'spose to be like that, but it was like that, and we are so glad that it happened here where the marvelous facility and staff of the La Paz Regional Health Center were ready to take care of us. Once again, Our Lord's angels have guided us and covered us with their wings as they have so many times during ... Our Life on Wheels!