Once back in Casa Grande we soon settled into our winter regime.
Plans, dreams. We all have them and so far our dreams have mostly come true but lately they have been a little disturbed.
Well settled in our winter quarters and with the rig serviced ready for the start of our 2024 adventures we looked forward to a week in Yuma with our friends from the San Diego RV group we belong to the “Shanty Shakers”.
A bunch of friendly RV’ers who have the knack for making a “rally” a good time for all, with fellowship and great pot luck dinners etc., it’s hard NOT to have a good time with this crowd!
Packing the rig again felt odd and exciting. Anticipation of a fun time and a little anxiety after the rig has basically sat for 2 years while we were in UK added to the spice. New tires, new skylight, a service on the engine, flush and disinfect the water system. Start the fridge cooling, get the rig hooked up to power to charge the batteries. All this at Sundance before we left.
We finally hooked up the “Toad”, made final checks to make sure the jacks were up, tv antenna down, tow chains in place, lights working, steps in. Alls good, off we went.
Its about 180 miles to Yuma. All Interstate so we got back to our comfy cruise speed of 65mph and set the cruise control. Everything seemed to be working fine, temperatures good, batteries charging, engine running smooth and powerful.
3 hours or so and we pulled into Westwing Golf and RV resort and were guided to a nice but kind of tight space at the back of the park not far from the rest of the Shanty Shakers.
It was so much fun meeting old and new friends and visiting some of our favorite stores and restaurants.
We were looking forward to a whole week there but on the Saturday as I was sitting in the rig before lunch I started feeling dizzy.
I’d had this back in October and it cleared up after a few days. It seemed to clear away, then later in the day it hit me hard.
I was so dizzy I couldn’t even open up my eyes. The room was spinning sideways and end over end at the same time and it didn’t go away.
We called 911 and when the ambulance arrived it took 5 people to get me down the steps and out of the rig.
At the Emergency Room they took blood and did a CAT scan. The drugs they gave me slowed the spinning down a little but I couldn’t sit up.
After a couple of hours they told me they had no room in the Yuma hospital and I had to go to another one. My choices were Las Vegas, Phoenix or Tucson! Plus they could not find a road ambulance to take me so I would have to be life flighted out.
I asked why I couldn’t go to Casa Grande and was told that they didn’t have a Neurology dept. It hit me that they thought I was having a stroke!
After a long delay due to fog, I was put on a plane and flown to Phoenix where I spent 2 nights in the ER because they had no beds in the main hospital.
Tests, CAT scans, MRI’s and multiple doctors later they told me it wasn’t a stroke, most likely an inner ear problem. They tried tilting my head back at an angle and twisting it side to side saying that it would be a miracle cure or wouldn’t work at all. They didn’t seem to hold up much hope of it working and it didn’t!
Meanwhile Barbara was in Yuma with an RV she couldn’t drive and the Ford Edge.
When we were going to Europe for the summer 6 years ago we had invested in insurance that would get us home if we had a medical emergency. We renewed it when we went to England 2 years ago luckily.
Lucky because the life flight may cost $50,000!
Lucky because the insurance will cover any out of pocket expenses for that.
Lucky because it covers recovery of an RV and tow car to our home!
They sent a licensed, bonded driver to collect the rig, drove it back to Casa Grande, filled the tank up and put it in the storage lot for us! Barbara drove the Edge the 180 miles back on her own.
Eventually I got out of the hospital still barely able to walk. Over the next 8 weeks I saw more doctors than I have in the last 8 years!
The problem was my inner ear caused by crystals, that the brain uses to judge where your head is moving, dropping out of suspension.
The tilting of my head that they did in the Phoenix hospital WAS the solution but they hadn’t been doing it right (!). A balance specialist did do it right and so did a Vestibular Physiotherapist (One who specializes in balance problems).
The technique is called the Eppley Maneuver and the tilting and twisting shakes the crystals up like shaking a snow globe!
Physio slowly improved my balance and I could at last start to function normally.
Just a occassionally I still get a little dizzy if I bend down while turning my head or in complete darkness when I can’t see a horizontal surface. The spells don’t last more than a couple of seconds.
So that’s where I was and what I was up to until the end of March.
