A Month of Physicians, Food and Family...

Jackson and Katie relaxing after school...Katie loves my reading chair

Seems this visit to Wilmington has gone quickly but we squeezed a lot in.

Our electrical fiasco swallowed the first week in a flash. Calls to the insurance company, finding an RV Tech, shopping for TVs and appliances and getting them installed took a big chunk of time.

Our primary reason for this visit was Jack's back pain and his arm pain. He had so many medical visits that we started to feel like part of the geriatric set...running from doctor appointment to doctor appointment. There was a visit to his primary care MD, then an x-ray and an MRI, then a visit with a pain management physician. There were two visits to establish with a new urologist, which brought the happy news that he is now six years cancer-free. The MRI resulted in a visit to a neurosurgeon who then referred him to physical therapy. Yikes...I'm tired just recounting it all!

Grandpa Jack and Jackson
at Mickey D's

The short story on his back is two to four (depends upon who you ask) bulging lumbar discs...not a candidate for surgery at this point...currently being managed with meds and good body mechanics. If it hurts when you do that, don't do that. The arm pain is coming from cervical stenosis and some muscle issues that are responding well to physical therapy and he's learned exercises he can do himself to relieve the pain. Unfortunately, he was only able to have a few PT sessions before our time to leave Wilmington. The upside is that the PT is something called the McKenzie System and his therapist said he can see any McKenzie therapist as we travel and they will be able to access his records and continue treatment. We'll see how that works out.

Jackson and Grandma

High-swinging Katie
at the KOA Playground

We did get in some good time with Katie and Jackson. We babysat a few times so Becca and Davis could go out and we picked them up from school a couple of times when Becca had to work late. We took Jackson to his favorite eating establishment (McDonald's) and I had a girls' day going with Becca and Katie to an appointment in Chapel Hill. We all went out to dinner at the Ogden Tap Room, we had a BBQ here at the campground, we had a Mother's Day Brunch at Hops and our last night (tonight) will be a pizza night from our favorite place...Brooklyn Pizza (while I do more laundry!).

I met a woman on an online RV page and we had an enjoyable coffee meeting at my favorite bagel place...Empire Deli and Bagels. She lives here in Wilmington and RVs at intervals so, who knows, we may meet up again.

Becca, Jackson, Grandma & Katie
Mother's Day

In addition to the places I mentioned above, Jack and I hit a few other favorites...like breakfast at the Causeway Cafe on Wrightsville Beach and at the Goody Goody Omelet House. Jack loves the sweet potato fries at Two Guys Grille and I love the crab dip at Elijah's downtown on the river and we visited both, as well as more visits to Brooklyn Pizza! When we leave tomorrow we expect to be gone quite some time, so we "stocked up' on Wilmington places although I can think of a few we missed!

Oh, and I also got my hair done...twice :)

I am going to hate saying good bye to Becca and the kids tonight. So far, the longest I've been away from them has been three months...this will be longer. I feel so sad knowing I won't see them for quite some time...I'm going to miss everyone's birthday this summer. But, I do have to add that I am excited about our upcoming adventures as we travel cross country!

First stop...a visit to Greensboro to see my brothers, then on to the INDY 500!