A Simple Phone Call

I’ve put off writing (again) because I really wanted to share some exciting news with my readers by now, but that news hasn’t been confirmed just yet.  This piece of the puzzle has been in the works since last fall and is finally coming to fruition.  We were hoping for last Wednesday, then Thursday and well, Friday came and went and still, we wait.  In any case, I’m going to try to write a little bit every few days, especially now that some changes will be taking place and there’s going to be more to chat about.  More interesting, I hope than my SCUBA diving experiences.

I have to be careful what I say “out loud” right now, and I hate having to do that.  I like to vomit my thoughts on the page and reining them in is quite a challenge for me.  Ask Jon.  He’s always getting after me for running my mouth at the most inopportune times.

Now that I think about it, that’s probably all I can say about this at the moment.  I just want that phone call to come…one simple phone call just might change our lives as we know it.

My Amphibian Metamorphosis (Part 3)

If you’re here reading this after having read Part 2, you will know that Part 2 ended with me starting a new antibiotic for whatever it was that was ailing me that prevented me from finishing my Open Water Check-Out Dive for SCUBA Certification two weeks ago at Table Rock Lake.  If you haven’t read Part 2 or Part 1 for that matter…check them out!

So…as I was saying, I started new meds on October 17th, about 5 days before we made the trek down to Beaver Lake in Eureka Springs, Arkansas for my final dive and demonstration of a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent.  I hoped that 5 days would be a good start to knocking out the pneumonia and I’d be feeling better.  Well…I wasn’t.  Ok, I WAS feeling better than I was feeling at Table Rock Lake 2 weeks prior but there was still something going on that was keeping my lungs at less than 100% of their function.  But, this was my last chance to do ONE dive and ONE skill before our trip to the Caribbean this December and I wanted to get my certification out of the way before then so we didn’t waste an entire day of our trip getting this done.  Although, the thought of doing it in clear, turquoise, warm Caribbean waters was pretty appealing when I compared it to what the weather could be like mid-October in Missouri and the murky brown, cold water of Beaver Lake.  As beautiful as it is from above, it’s a different world under the surface of the water.  But, I was determined to do this, no matter what.

Eureka Springs

I loved the little town of Eureka Springs, AR.  It’s a very quaint, friendly town and in October it was beautiful with bursts of fall colors & decor everywhere.  Our hotel left a bit to be desired but it was one night.  We found a little Mexican restaurant and had dinner then after exploring the town a little bit we turned in for the night.

Saturday morning we got up, went to breakfast then met the rest of the group at the dive site (the Dam Site Lake Park).  I was feeling apprehensive but anxious to get this day over with.  I still wasn’t feeling even 80% but like I said in Part 2, I don’t want to waste any time on our trip to the Caribbean in December getting this one dive done.  We’d have to go out on a day trip with people that had all of it to do and we’d be stuck.  This way, it’s out of the way, I’m certified, have my ID card and can just go dive and have fun!

I can stretch this story out but I won’t.  I’ll just say, I did my 20 min. leisure dive with my Divemaster before I demonstrated CESA for the Instructor because when we got out in the water, the Divemaster and I were ready to get going and the Instructor had to go back on the bank for something so he sent us off to do the leisure dive while he took care of whatever it was he needed to do.  Visibility was maybe 3-4 feet.  A tiny bit better than it was at Table Rock Lake, but not by much.  Not a lot to see down there…rocks…muck…yada, yada, yada…anyway…I did it!  I did the dive and demonstrated CESA!  My lungs were still not functioning all that great and I coughed up a nice bloody hunk about 10 min. after I got out of the water but I did it!

It’s been 6 days since I’ve been back and I went back to the doctor yesterday…I’m just not getting over this crud.  He’s referring me on to a Pulmonologist on Monday to see if he can figure out what’s going on.  I sure hope it’s just a bug that I’ve exaggerated by diving…and nothing more.

Me, just moments after I got the official handshake from my Instructor. Thanks Alan!

Until next time…

My Amphibian Metamorphosis (Part 2)

OK, here’s the real story:

Arial view of Table Rock Lake at the dam.

The weekend of October 8^th, 2011, we took a road trip to Branson to Table Rock Lake for our Open Water Check-out dives for our SCUBA Certification.  I have to say the weekend (for me) did not go as planned.  Jon is now an open water certified diver and we have his paperwork ready to send in for his ID card.  Me, not so much.  We will be making the drive once again next weekend, this time to Beaver Lake to, get this…do ONE lousy, 20 min leisure dive & demonstrate ONE skill. Here’s a (not-so) quick synopsis:

I picked up a cold about 2 weeks prior to our trip to Branson. After about a week, it seemed to have cleared up for the most part other than a little sinus drainage that was no trouble at all. I took that Thursday off work just to chill out, push fluids and vitamin C and rest (I felt just OK, but it was a good excuse to take an extra day off). Anyway, we got to our room at the hotel Friday evening, had a nice dinner, soaked in the Jacuzzi/hot tub for about 30 min. and went back to our room.  While soaking in the Jacuzzi, I noticed I was coughing more than usual but didn’t think much of it.  I figured the heat from the hot tub was just loosening stuff up.  Our weather could not have been better…upper 80′s Friday through Sunday. We could actually sit on the bank of the lake (Saturday was at Spider Beach, Sunday at Dewey Short) and not be either hot or cold! There was shade in the afternoon when it did warm up but the sun was nice in the morning. Water temperature was about 68 degrees & our 7 ml wetsuits did a perfect job of keeping us warm.

Jon & I before dive #1-Table Rock Lake

Saturday, Dive 1: Our first dive went great…got most of the “hard” stuff out of the way right off the bat which I was thankful for.  I had trouble in class in the pool with mask removal since (according to Alex, our divemaster) I’m a natural nose breather so even with practice, and mastering it in the pool, I was still terrified to do it in deeper, murky water…why?  I have no idea.  I was having some trouble breathing normally but I attributed my trouble breathing to just being over excited, semi-fearful, 3′ visibility (even though they said it was 5′, there was no way.) I found it strange that I was having a bit of a problem catching my breath once we were on top of the water…even just floating…rapid breathing as if I had been power walking or taken an easy jog. I also commented to Jon about the really bad headache I had when we were all underwater.

Dive 2: Easier skills, not as frightening & I tried really hard to calm myself and consciously take things slower and not feel pressure to hurry through the skills.  After the second dive though, I was having more trouble catching my breath at the surface and starting to cough, a lot.  I knew something was up and it wasn’t a good sign.  I wondered what I could possibly be doing wrong or psyching myself out about and my wheels were turning a mile a minute trying to figure it all out.  I’m not one to walk away from a challenge like this and I knew I only had one more dive to do that day.

Between dive 2 & 3 we were to go to the State Park Marina and get our tanks filled with more air. The shore where we dove from was down a steep hill, fresh gravel and some sand…hiking up that hill with our tanks just about did me in…I had to stop several times to rest, cough, try to catch my breath.  Jon ended up carrying my tank the rest of the way.  Just climbing the hill was hard enough, adding the weight of the tank was just too much.

Dive 3: Suiting back up to dive was another breathing challenge and I knew I should probably not go back in the water…but I wanted to just get through this last one for the day and I knew I’d be able to chill out the rest of the night.  I knew I could do this.  We had 3 skills to do. I got through the first two somehow but I was really feeling like I needed to call it quits and suck it up.  The last skill was CESA (a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent).  This skill simulates a situation where you realize your tank is out of air & you’re in less than 30 feet of water.  You need to surface but can’t use air from your tank.  Holding your breath is not an option using SCUBA so the entire way to the surface, you’re to hum softly, slowly releasing the air in your lungs.  Since you have no air in your tank, you have no way to mechanically inflate your Buoyancy Control vest so there’s a way to manually do this using your own breath.  By the time I hit the surface of the water, I had NO air left in my lungs (in fact, I cheated and took a breath from my regulator) but I knew I was done for the day.  I had NO lung capacity left.  There was NO way, I was going to be able to inflate my vest & the more I tried, the worse I felt.  I was about 5′ from the flag where I needed to be and didn’t have the sense to fill my BC with air from my tank, so I tried to tread water, got a mouth full of water and a cramp in my left calf simultaneously.  At this point it dawned on me that I needed to use my tank air to float…did that…worked out the cramp while practically hyperventilating my way to the flag where our instructor was patiently waiting for me.  I admitted defeat.  He went back down to where Jon and our Divemaster were waiting to let them know to go ahead with the 20 min. leisure tour of the area.  While he was below water, and I was floating on top I quickly felt extremely nauseated and well, puked up my breakfast.  I was almost finished puking when he got back to the surface and after a minute or so, he and I went back to shore.  I was what they call…feeding the fish.

Me after quitting Dive #3

Jon finished the dive with the Divemaster and he hauled all of our gear and loaded it in the car and I hiked the hill at a snail’s pace & peeled out of my wetsuit (which is a feat in itself for a healthy person to do).  We got into dry clothes and went back to the hotel.

(Warning: Pretty graphic…) That night, I took the longest, hottest shower I could stand and inhaled the steam as deeply as I could, coughing with every inhalation.  After about 15 minutes of this, stuff loosened up and I started coughing up stuff.  Everyone knows when a cough becomes productive, you want to get that stuff out of your lungs…so, I did.  Icky colored stuff at first, then it turned a pink color…then bright red.  After about 30 minutes of coughing up bloody mucus, I decided I needed to sit out dive 4 tomorrow, let Jon get through it and get myself to the doctor as soon as we got home.

Sunday, Dive 4: We arrived at the dive site & talked to our Divemaster and Instructor about my decision to quit for the weekend.  Hearing about my “productive” evening, they adamantly agreed that it would be best if I stay out of the water & get home ASAP.  (We found out that they were doing one last check-out dive this season and it would be in two weeks, this time at Beaver Lake in Arkansas.  They said I could come back and just do CESA & my last leisure dive and be finished.)  As luck would have it, Jon and another couple were ready to hit the water before any of the rest of the group.  They were able to get in and get his final dive finished & once all the paperwork formalities were done and goodbyes said, we promptly headed back to Kansas City.

By the time we got home, unpacked the car and went back out again, the Urgent Care center had closed literally as we pulled in. You’ve seen the scene before…you pull up…the girl is turning the key in the lock…waving at you from the other side of the glass door… “sorry, we’re closed.”  We got back in the car, looked at the clock and it was 3 minutes before the posted closing time.  SLACKERS!  Anyway, I didn’t want to go to the ER so I saw my doctor the first thing the next day (Monday).  “Asthmatic Bronchitis” he called it.  A ten-day round of Levaquin (antibiotic) & Prednisone and he thought I should be feeling much better by Thursday, if not, let him know.

Thursday came and went…I was still coughing stuff up and wasn’t getting much sleep at all but for whatever reason, I was putting off going back to the doctor.  We can all be pretty darned hard-headed sometimes.  The following Monday I went back to the doctor.  He did a chest X-ray and sure enough, the bronchitis had turned to a bit of pneumonia.  He said it wasn’t all that bad & with a new antibiotic (Biaxin) I should be feeling better by the weekend.  We can only hope.

To Be Continued…

My Amphibian Metamorphosis

As you may know, Jon and I have taken a couple of cruises to the Caribbean and have really enjoyed snorkeling while we’re there.  The water is so clear and there’s so much to see but sometimes, you see something down deeper than your snorkel will let you go.  Sure, you can hold your breath and go check it out but you can only hold your breath for so long before you have to surface for more air.  This can be exhausting and you oftentimes find what you saw when you first looked, isn’t there anymore or you can’t find it again if you’ve gone up for air.  Now, this is how I understand snorkeling.  I’m not speaking from personal experience.  You see…I’ve only gone snorkeling a few times and out of those few times, maybe ONE was enjoyable.  The other times I spent sputtering and gasping for air as I started to hyperventilate as soon as my face touched the water…trying to teach or convince myself that I am safe and that the snorkel above water is going to allow me to breathe comfortably is well, quite a feat.

Jon and I have had multiple conversations over the last couple of months, trying to determine where our decision came from to sign up for SCUBA diving classes and get our Open Water Certification.  Jon says he’s always wanted to try it, but neither of us can recall when the most recent conversation turned to “let’s sign up for a class!”

For me anyway, Scuba diving is something else I can do that will allow me to see things I might normally not see, go places I might otherwise not go, and I guess it’s the result of trying something else out for the sake of adventure.  I find adventure in finding adventures!  Lots of people enjoy travelling for adventure and to see new places but in my opinion, when you add our vast oceans and all the underwater space we have to explore, wow…talk about limitless!

On my birthday, September 16th, 2011, and in the pool at The Dive Shop for the first time…day 1 of class, the first time I put my face in the water breathing through my regulator, I remember thinking how odd it was to hear myself breathe underwater.  All I could think about was the sound of my exhales and inhales.  Over and over again, I kept hearing in my head, the voice of Darth Vader saying, “Luke, I am your father.”  But, in the confines of the swimming pool, I realized I was safe, COULD actually breathe underwater and soon felt even comfortable.  Then, they started asking us to demonstrate skills under water that no human was meant to do.  You want me to do what?!  Fill my mask up with water and clear it again…under water…is this even possible??  Say that again??  You want me to REMOVE my mask altogether and put it back on, clear it and act as if all is cool?  Really?  Take the regulator out of my mouth, underwater, and put it back in…keeping in mind the “number one rule of SCUBA diving…NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!”  You’ve got to be kidding, right?!  Is this a new season of Candid Camera?!  After all…do I LOOK like an amphibian?!

To be continued…

How I Spent My Summer Vacation…

It’s so cliché’ to say “time flies when you’re having fun” but it really does! That saying is popular for a good reason.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, we sold the farm and moved into this apartment during the second week of May this year. People kept asking me “won’t you get bored without all the animals to take care of” and “won’t you miss it?” My reply was always, “Probably.” But, we were ready for this move and it’s been great so far. Yes, we missed all the new babies in the spring and well, to be honest, that’s probably all we’ve really had time to miss. We’ve kept ourselves extremely busy and really haven’t given a lot of thought to what we’re missing by not having the farm. I do miss sitting on our porch and enjoying the scenery there and watching the alpacas and horses graze was very relaxing. The apartment, however, has a huge balcony that our patio set fits nicely on and we hung a hummingbird feeder early on and have enjoyed catching the hummingbirds trying to sneak a drink from the feeder. A couple of potted plants to water and we’re happy! Most of the month was busy just getting unpacked and settled.

In June, storm season, we were concerned that my truck would get door dings, hail damage and/or storm damage, so we rented a garage here at the apartment…the first time Jon parked the truck in the garage, I realized it was not going to work…it simply wasn’t big enough for that big truck and well…I don’t trust my parking skills well enough to squeeze it into such a small space and even Jon was concerned. SO, we thought maybe a covered car port would be sufficient so we traded in the garage for a less expensive car port. However, parking under the car port, we had to decide if it would be better for the front end to get hail damage or the back end…the car port wasn’t long enough to cover the whole truck. One day, it dawned on me that…well…why do we need the farm truck when we’re no longer hauling feed, hay, & every other which thing we needed to haul on any given day? I mentioned this to Jon & the next thing we knew we were out shopping for a new vehicle…one that would fit in the garage or carport! A few days later, I was driving home in my new yellow and black Jeep Wrangler! A week later, we had it in to KC Customs for a lift and bigger wheels & tires, bug guard and a few other little personal touches. I know I’ve driven people crazy with my chatter about the Jeep so I won’t get into it again here.

Anyway, we’ve had lots of free time to take road trips in the Jeep for the day & have spent several weekends at Truman Lake with our dear friends Bill & Rhonda. Rhonda’s dad lives right on the lake and she & Bill bought a pontoon boat this spring that we have thoroughly enjoyed “breaking in” this summer. Another long weekend was spent at Table Rock Lake celebrating Jon’s 50th birthday at White River Lodge Bed & Breakfast. We participated in a gruelling day doing the Warrior Dash. A crazy, 5k run with obstacles in 100+ degree temperatures. I won’t say that was fun just yet. It’s still too fresh in my mind. Several weeks later though, I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which was a blast! I’ll do that one again, any day! This summer has really given us a chance to really focus on eating better, “cleaner, ” getting healthier and dropping a few unwanted and unneeded pounds. We both still have some room to improve in all those areas so that’s the plan going into fall now.

I’m counting the days now for our trip out to California to visit my brother and his wife. I went last summer and had a blast so I decided this summer I would take Jon along with me and make it our last “hoorah” of the summer. We are, however, looking forward to taking a 3-day SCUBA diving course coming up later this month and getting our SCUBA Open Water Certification next month at Table Rock Lake. With this, we’ll be able to SCUBA dive in the ocean and on our trip to the Caribbean this winter. That being the final countdown event of the year for me…

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