Month: March 2019

We are now marking 1 1/2 months in Navarre (originally planned to be here for 6 days!). A lot has happened and very little has happened, all at the same time. Here is a quick overview timeline:

• February 1st – Jill falls and breaks her left femur, admitted to Fort Walton Beach Hospital
• February 2nd – Jill has surgery on her leg, inserting a titanium rod the length of her femur with nails at both end to hold in place.
• February 6th – Jill transferred to inpatient rehab in Destin, delayed due to low blood counts resulting in a need to get three units of blood.
• February 20th – Jill released from rehab back to Lola, ahead of schedule due to her hard work.
• February 26th – Follow-up with surgeon group, obtaining high marks for her recovery and no issues related to her healing. Also started outpatient physical therapy with Andrews Institute at a facility across the street from our RV Park. She will have hourly sessions three times a week thru the end of April. Jill walking with aid of walker.
• March 15th – PT clears Jill to start walking with cane (indoors for now, out and about as she progresses and gets more steady)

We’ve stayed amazingly busy during this whole time. Dan has started working on family ancestry which was one of his major projects which he had identified to work on while traveling. The dogs get lots of walks with Adele particularly happy to play at the park’s enclosed dog park on the beach. Jill has been working on recipes (and cooking).

We’ve also been extremely lucky to connect (and reconnect) with both current and long time friends over the past month. Very long time whitewater paddling friends Frank Billue and Pam & Guy Wyche stopped by (on separate days). It was so great to catch up with these wonderful folks!

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Lori and Mike Gaytan, who live about an hour east of us, stopped by to check out our RV life. We all agreed that retired life ain’t so bad.

And our guardian angels, Anita and Blair Powell, from Pensacola, finally made it over to visit Lola after several previous visits to Jill at the hospital. We could not have survived without all their help and support.

As noted earlier, Jill’s injury has not slowed us down. We’ve been out and about quite a bit since she was released. Highlights include:

Enjoying various sites around the park

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We’ve started to identify and take advantage of activities that Jill can participate in with her limited mobility. Initially this was limited to trips to local stores and relaxing outside the RV.

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But as Jill has gotten stronger, we have ventured out farther. We’ve visited the Destin History and Fishing Museum as well as the Gulf Breeze Zoo

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We also took time to enjoy some local seafood around the area. And with that came some nice views:

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We’ve been blessed with tons of support from friends near and far. The dogs have settled in very nicely and we have a good routine. We have a long list of things to see and do as Jill continues to grow stronger. Just today (March 18th) she has been cleared to start walking outside with a cane! The walker has been moved to the car for use as needed outside and on longer walks. And….she is eager to get back on her bike ASAP!

One final bit of amusement – fellow campers may appreciate this more than others. We always try to learn something new and sometimes, unfortunately, it’s at the cost of someone else. Last week, an RV came into the park in a rather hurried rush, backing into his spot without much review or thought. Before he knew it, he had backed up over the end of his site with his rear wheels wedged in behind the backstop. He unwittingly made things worse by thinking he could power his way out of the situation. That resulted in his two back wheels digging deep into the sandy ground behind his site.

Three wreckers later (of growing size), he was finally pulled out. Not sure what the cost was for this service (above and beyond the embarrassment) but it was a good lesson to always have someone watching you as you back up and to ALWAYS listen to their instructions (thanks Jill!)

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Looks like we’ll be cleared to travel starting in May so time to figure out where we should go!