Dinata Misovec

On Monday, brother-in-law Tom returned from his family visit near Tarpon Springs.  We picked him up at the car rental office in Belleview on our way to Gainesville. We arrived at Shands Hospital and Dr. Mendenhall’s office right on time

Big surprise!  Nurse Terry was back.  She had moved to another department for a year or so.  We were so happy to see her as she had been a delight during the horrible treatment months. First, she took Andy’s vitals in the open area.

Then we went to an examination room where she went over Andy’s chart.  At one point she said, “You know he is going to stick that hose up your nose today”.

Andy looked at me.

He hates that hose the worst. Dr. Mendenhall arrived with a post-doc for the examination.  First, he felt Andy’s neck.

Then came the nose hose.  Andy was actually very calm and relaxed this time. He reported later that there had been a longer time than usual between the anesthesia spray and the hose insertion and it was not at all uncomfortable.

All was good, as we expected.  Dr. Mendenhall was cheerful as ever.  Now Andy only needs a checkup once per year. Nice going Dr. Bill and Andy!

Then we were off to Alachua and Conestogas Restaurant for those legendary hamburgers. We were so happy to be able to take Tom there.

Here is Tom with his hamburger and half the gigantic baked potato Andy shared with him.  Notice that Tom put the hamburger back on the plate upside down.  I do that too.  It is just easier to handle that way. We got the small hamburgers. Stoagie Junior.

After a fine lunch, we jumped on Interstate 75 to head back to Leesburg.  I decided to make a stop at the rest area on the north side of Paynes Prairie so Tom could see the landscape.  Spanish moss was waving in the breeze on this live oak.

This is a long, elevated walkway to get to the viewing point.

The view was a bit disappointing though.  We could only see a small slice of the enormous prairie/wetland.  The trees in the foreground blocked the otherwise panoramic view.

I have been so busy with moving in and unpacking that I have not been wearing the camera around my neck as I usually do. So, I have not been taking any pictures.  But I did have it with me for the trip to Gainesville and remembered to take a picture of the trellis and jasmine growing in front of the garage wall.  I took the photo from the sidewalk to the front door.

As soon as we were back home, Tom got busy doing little projects.  He installed hand-towel bars in the bathrooms. He and Andy secured Andy’s bookcases to the wall to make them solid and stable. It has all been a blur, so I can’t remember all the things Tom did.  He is amazing. He can’t sit still very long so he went to the garage and organized the boxes. In the evening, we hung pictures in the office.  Andy was so pleased with our decorating.

We drove Tom to the Orlando airport on Wednesday morning for his return trip to Maryland. I’m going to miss that man! Then we stopped at Costco with a grocery list.  We bought a television set. It was not on the list. It will be delivered so we don’t have to worry about fitting it in the car or carrying it into the house.

Even though Tom has gone, I am still spending my days trying to organize the house.  I have made some progress and will try to remember to take some pictures tomorrow. We’ve made several trips to drop off unwanted items at the thrift shop.  Of course, a day does not go by without a trip to the Home Depot or Wal-Mart.