It seems like forever since I last posted on the forum. In fact it has been over 4 months since our return from the U.S., when I updated our road trip thread for the last time. So much has happened.
Firstly, the book about our last trip has been finished and I have printed off a hard copy. I intended to sit down over Christmas and edit/correct it, but time has not been my friend recently. I am planning some annual leave after Easter so hopefully will have a couple of days to sort it out, if I don't get to it sooner.
Karen's health has taken an unexpected turn. Two weeks after we arrived back home she suffered a respiratory infection that saw her hospitalised and taking intravenous antibiotics for almost two weeks.
Prior to her transplant her lung function was 22% of predicted. Post transplant it rose to 88%, which given her problematic recovery was a very good result. In the 12 months before our trip her lung function dropped to the high 70% level, but post holiday she has lost even more lung function. Her last test, in early December, was 70%. That is a loss of over 20% from her best post transplant levels, into an area that the doctors say is now chronic loss of function.
How much of this was caused by her getting covid, her health issues in America and the latest infection we don't know.
There is some hope that with diet, exercise and medication she will stabilise, or even improve. She has lost around 5 kg in weight (11 pounds) and has another lung function test on the 1st March which will show if her loss of function has been halted, improved or is getting worse. It has been an anxious three months waiting to see what will happen. In the meantime we both get on with living.
Just before Christmas my music club band was approached to play a 90 minute set at a country music festival just after New Year. In fact we ended up playing almost 2 hours. It was well received, and we have some invitations to travel elsewhere to perform. There are some logistics that we need to work out first. But we have already been asked to do a Sunday afternoon gig locally and have a booking for New Years Eve.
Last Monday was 6th February, Waitangi Day here, celebrating the signing of a treaty between the British crown and Maori. It's our version of July 4th. For the last 20 odd years there has been a music festival in the town where we live, and this year the band was on the bill. This time it was only a 25 minute set, but I managed to video the whole thing. While the sound was not great (beyond our control) it was obvious that my rhythm playing is improving, so we are happy about that.
My radio show is going from strength to strength. I was told late last year that while no broadcast listener numbers are available, the podcasts of the show are constantly in the top five for the station. In a catch up phone call after New Year the station manager told me my "stickability rating", the percentage of podcasts listened to from beginning to end, is now 89%, right at the top of all the programs broadcast on the station. I have even got a listener in China (an American who moved there for recording his music).
We will not be returning to America this year. I was happy to plan another trip, but Karen wanted a bit of a break. She feels that two trips in just over 12 months is too much for her to handle, especially since we tend to cram so much into each visit. So we have decided on a 10 day break in Fiji in August. And it will be a break. 10 days at a resort doing pretty little. Any sightseeing will be by taxi day trips, not hours of driving and doing activities.
We are planning our return to America. In fact we have two trips planned. At present the plan is to fly into Houston for three days on the last Saturday in April '24. On the Tuesday we will fly to Nashville, pick up a car and after three days drive to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, then to Chicago to begin a full length drive along Route 66 to Los Angeles.I haven't told Karen yet that this will be another full month long trip.
The second trip will be in September/October 2025 for the 100th year celebration of The Grand Ole Opry. I am thinking of flying back into L.A., driving straight to San Diego off the plane and spending three to four weeks driving Old Route 80 through to Savannah, before returning to Nashville for the final week. A Grand Ole Opry Show somewhere in the first week of October will just be the crown jewel in the trip.
And just in case Karen's health continues to decline we have found an outlet that will rent a wheelchair, and even an oxygen concentrator if she needs it, for both trips. But that is a contingency plan, not really expected at this time.
Oh, and one bit of humour. About 18 months ago I was looking to trade in our car (Mazda CX-3) as it was four years old and I wanted to be in a position to get another new car. I found the new one I wanted to get (Chinese made MG SUV) but while Karen agreed to a test drive she didn't see the reason why we should upgrade. During the test, and right up until we drove back to the car lot, she said she liked it but we weren't going to buy it. When the salesperson asked which colour she liked (red or blue) she said "We'll take the blue one"
A few months ago I was working speed laser at some road works when my brother stopped the manager of the car sales. I asked him what the new price on our car was and what our one would be worth as a trade in. When I told Karen she asked "How much do we still owe on the car"? When I told her "Nothing" (I paid it off when I sold a property last year) she immediately said "Then let's get a new one".
I had to tell her it was too soon, we didn't have enough yet in the bank to pay the rest of the purchase price and we were never gong to finance another car. It will have to wait until early next year.
I have to say she was disappointed. She had her eye on a black model she saw when we drove past the dealership around that time.
Firstly, the book about our last trip has been finished and I have printed off a hard copy. I intended to sit down over Christmas and edit/correct it, but time has not been my friend recently. I am planning some annual leave after Easter so hopefully will have a couple of days to sort it out, if I don't get to it sooner.
Karen's health has taken an unexpected turn. Two weeks after we arrived back home she suffered a respiratory infection that saw her hospitalised and taking intravenous antibiotics for almost two weeks.
Prior to her transplant her lung function was 22% of predicted. Post transplant it rose to 88%, which given her problematic recovery was a very good result. In the 12 months before our trip her lung function dropped to the high 70% level, but post holiday she has lost even more lung function. Her last test, in early December, was 70%. That is a loss of over 20% from her best post transplant levels, into an area that the doctors say is now chronic loss of function.
How much of this was caused by her getting covid, her health issues in America and the latest infection we don't know.
There is some hope that with diet, exercise and medication she will stabilise, or even improve. She has lost around 5 kg in weight (11 pounds) and has another lung function test on the 1st March which will show if her loss of function has been halted, improved or is getting worse. It has been an anxious three months waiting to see what will happen. In the meantime we both get on with living.
Just before Christmas my music club band was approached to play a 90 minute set at a country music festival just after New Year. In fact we ended up playing almost 2 hours. It was well received, and we have some invitations to travel elsewhere to perform. There are some logistics that we need to work out first. But we have already been asked to do a Sunday afternoon gig locally and have a booking for New Years Eve.
Last Monday was 6th February, Waitangi Day here, celebrating the signing of a treaty between the British crown and Maori. It's our version of July 4th. For the last 20 odd years there has been a music festival in the town where we live, and this year the band was on the bill. This time it was only a 25 minute set, but I managed to video the whole thing. While the sound was not great (beyond our control) it was obvious that my rhythm playing is improving, so we are happy about that.
My radio show is going from strength to strength. I was told late last year that while no broadcast listener numbers are available, the podcasts of the show are constantly in the top five for the station. In a catch up phone call after New Year the station manager told me my "stickability rating", the percentage of podcasts listened to from beginning to end, is now 89%, right at the top of all the programs broadcast on the station. I have even got a listener in China (an American who moved there for recording his music).
We will not be returning to America this year. I was happy to plan another trip, but Karen wanted a bit of a break. She feels that two trips in just over 12 months is too much for her to handle, especially since we tend to cram so much into each visit. So we have decided on a 10 day break in Fiji in August. And it will be a break. 10 days at a resort doing pretty little. Any sightseeing will be by taxi day trips, not hours of driving and doing activities.
We are planning our return to America. In fact we have two trips planned. At present the plan is to fly into Houston for three days on the last Saturday in April '24. On the Tuesday we will fly to Nashville, pick up a car and after three days drive to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, then to Chicago to begin a full length drive along Route 66 to Los Angeles.I haven't told Karen yet that this will be another full month long trip.
The second trip will be in September/October 2025 for the 100th year celebration of The Grand Ole Opry. I am thinking of flying back into L.A., driving straight to San Diego off the plane and spending three to four weeks driving Old Route 80 through to Savannah, before returning to Nashville for the final week. A Grand Ole Opry Show somewhere in the first week of October will just be the crown jewel in the trip.
And just in case Karen's health continues to decline we have found an outlet that will rent a wheelchair, and even an oxygen concentrator if she needs it, for both trips. But that is a contingency plan, not really expected at this time.
Oh, and one bit of humour. About 18 months ago I was looking to trade in our car (Mazda CX-3) as it was four years old and I wanted to be in a position to get another new car. I found the new one I wanted to get (Chinese made MG SUV) but while Karen agreed to a test drive she didn't see the reason why we should upgrade. During the test, and right up until we drove back to the car lot, she said she liked it but we weren't going to buy it. When the salesperson asked which colour she liked (red or blue) she said "We'll take the blue one"
A few months ago I was working speed laser at some road works when my brother stopped the manager of the car sales. I asked him what the new price on our car was and what our one would be worth as a trade in. When I told Karen she asked "How much do we still owe on the car"? When I told her "Nothing" (I paid it off when I sold a property last year) she immediately said "Then let's get a new one".
I had to tell her it was too soon, we didn't have enough yet in the bank to pay the rest of the purchase price and we were never gong to finance another car. It will have to wait until early next year.
I have to say she was disappointed. She had her eye on a black model she saw when we drove past the dealership around that time.
