"It's summertime and the living is easy," at least some of the time!

So, what have we been doing all summer? We’ve been able to spend one to two weeks each month in Holland doing some boating, shopping, sharing good times with friends, and eating. Bob has called it “escaping.” (That’s what we’re doing right now before we head home on Tuesday.) Generous friends even provided us with delightful opportunities to ride on their much larger boats including a 43’ sailboat and a 37’ cabin cruiser. These big boys take boating to a whole new level.

And, I had only one bad scare there. Bob finally agreed to go to Urgent Care on July 10th because of fatigue, labored breathing, and a lot of edema in his legs. My exasperated words the previous night had been, “Bob, it sounds like you’re dying.” I had not watched Bob sign in, but we were barely seated when the nurse rushed out and asked Bob if he was having pains associated with a heart attack.  He replied, “No, but I came here to find out if I had one a week ago.” Yes, I did have that deer-in-the-headlights look. He had never mentioned a word about his suspicions.

The  doctor listened to his heart and lungs, and told us he was ordering an ambulance to take Bob to the hospital. Bob retorted that I could just drive him. We weren’t long in the hospital’s ER before Bob was given a private room on the special cardiac floor where his heart was continuously monitored. He endured “the big work-up,” and his diagnosis was acute congestive heart failure due to fluid overload. He was able to leave the hospital late the next afternoon with the condition resolved, but the cause of the crisis remained a mystery. One guess was that he’d had an arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) that threw his heart into failure, and another was that one of his chemotherapy drugs did it. The edema continues, but Bob manages it everyday by checking his weight and the puffiness of his legs and then determining if he needs to take a water pill. Just another blip.

Back at home, I’ve gardened more extensively since we’ve spent more summer time there, and even put in a few tomato plants (of different varieties). The first two weeks of June, I cleaned beds, did some redesign, moved perennials, and planted annuals. The garden is always a place of miracles and peace for me. Our flowers have performed fairly well, but the August dryness has taken its toll. Now I’m making plans for next year. I’ve also enjoyed hours of reading, choosing mysteries, thrillers, and other light novels to suck me into the story and out of reality.