May 29 - June 16, 2025 - Blackstone Issue - Grandsons Visit - ER Visit - McKerrow Family Reunion and Birthday Parties - Airport - Tailgate Fix - Doctor Follow Up

 My Blog Reflection

If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else.

Marvin Gaye

Thursday, May 29th through June 2, 2025

The last two times cooking on the Blackstone griddle I have not been able to get the heat up to 300 degrees. I read online how to "reset" the regulator. I did that twice. No change. I then read on the Blackstone website that to "reset" the regulator you need to disconnect it from the tank and from the griddle. I did that. The flame may have been a little higher but it was hard to tell in the daylight. Once it was dark I took the griddle off the stand and checked the height of the flames. They didn't look very high to me. I decided to order a new, adjustable regulator from Amazon. It arrived but it did not fit the Blackstone, even though it was advertised to fit. I sent it back. 

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

I got the grass cut because it is supposed to rain for the next three days.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

This evening we pick the grandsons up at the St. Louis airport. They are flying in for two weeks. Erin couldn't come along because of a new job assignment. Next week we will all be at the McKerrow Family Reunion in Washington State Park. It should be fun.

Saturday, June 7, 2025

I got up at my usual time and felt really odd as I was walking around. I knew something wasn't right. I took my blood pressure and it was 190 over 92. It had never been that high in my life. I took it again and got the same reading. I woke Kelly up and told her I needed to go to the ER.

Kellen was in St. Louis visiting with friends. As luck would have it, Alexa was here so she could watch Free while we were gone. I ended up being at the hospital for six hours as they worked to get my blood pressure down and took a number of tests. When it got down into the 150s they let me go home with new medication and an instruction to follow up with my GP. No one figured out what made my blood pressure spike. For several weeks my legs have been swollen and my knees hurt. I was clearly retaining water. This may have been part of it. 

June 9 - 13, 2025 - McKerrow Family Reunion

On the 9th, after loading the truck with chairs, suitcases, food, and toys, we headed to Washington State Park for the McKerrow Family Reunion. All of Kelly's siblings live away and most were scheduled to come. We stayed in rented cabins in the park. Adam, Annie, and the two girls flew in from California and met us there. Free kept asking me where the tent was. He wanted to know if we had a triangle tent or a square tent. I finally convinced him we weren't staying in a tent but rather in a cabin. 

One of the highlights of each day for the kids was the evening campfire. Annie bought the fixings for Smores and the kids were all into that. While we were sitting around the campfire and the kids roasting marshmallows, Free exclaimed "We're camping!" 

Here he is showing me his very first Smore.

He didn't like the Smore but he loved the marshmallows, which he called "washmallows".

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

In the morning sister-in-law, Joan, and several others, went walking on one of the trails in the the park. Joan slipped and fell, hurting her leg. Kelly and Alexa drove her to an Urgent Care where an x-ray determined that her leg was broken. They wrapped it and gave her a boot telling her to see an orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible. Kelly and Alexa then drove her home. Her family reunion was over.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Free's fourth birthday is June 15th but we celebrated it on June 11th because he will be home in California on the 15th. The ladies decorated one cabin while Kellen kept him away. We all then gathered in the cabin until Kellen brought him down. When he arrived and we yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" he was quite surprised. He didn't know what to say or do.

He got a number of nice gifts and cupcakes with candles and dinosaurs on them, which his cousins helped him pick off.

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Today was my 76th birthday. I received several nice gifts from my girls. My legs continued to be quite swollen and it was difficult for me to get out of a chair and to walk. I had brought along a "zero gravity" chair to keep my legs up. It wasn't much fun trying to lay in it around a campfire. I was kinda "Debbie Downer" as far as the grandkids were concerned.

Friday, June 13, 2025

My Friday the 13th luck started off early in the morning. We were packing up to leave. It rained during the night and into the morning, the first bad weather we had all week. We packed everything in the cabin to load into the truck. I pulled the tailgate latch. It pulled all the way out but did not unlock the tailgate. I tried it multiple times in the pouring rain. No luck. I had just installed this new tailgate latch about a year ago and it probably hadn't been pulled twenty times since. I have a bed cover to keep water out when hauling stuff so there was no easy way to access the truck bed to load it.

We needed to pry up the bed cover frame enough to get fingers in and fish for the cable that releases the bedcover on each side. With two people prying, and me digging in with my fingers, I was finally able to find the cable, pull it, and release the bedcover lock. We rolled it back and loaded the truck having to lift everything over the side. Once everything was loaded we rolled the bedcover back on to keep suitcases, etc. as dry as possible. What a way to start the day.

The Bullerdieck clan left the park and met at Chris's Pancake House in St. Louis for lunch. After lunch I had to go to BJC Hospital for a special scan to see if I would be eligible for a new radiation injection treatment. The plan was for Alexa to take the truck and boys to my sister Renee's house and we would take her car and head downtown. We had made arrangements to stay at Renee's to save us two hours of driving in the early morning to get the boys to the airport from Perryville. The boys' plane took off at 6:10 a.m. 

After the scan we drove to Renee's house. While there we had a nice supper and got to visit with Renee's kids and grandkids who stopped by to see us.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

We were up at 3:00 a.m. and left for the airport at 3:45 a.m. It was a half hour drive, we parked, got the boys' luggage checked, and walked them to security.  The boys' flight began boarding at 5:30 a.m. and took off at 6:10 a.m. We hung around the airport until they were through security, at their gate, and boarding. It was fun having them here for two weeks and we really hated to see them go. 

We then drove home, unloaded the truck, took a nap, and just relaxed the rest of the day.

Sunday, June 15, 2025 

After cutting the grass I decided to take the tailgate access panel off to see if I needed to order another new latch. Once I got the access panel off I was able to release the lock and open the tailgate. I found that the handle was not broken but rather the handle unlocking arm, which is located on one end, had somehow gotten behind the locking mechanism. It was not engaging the lock when pulled. I don't know how this could have happened because it was not easy for me to get the handle arm back in position. While I had the panel off I greased every moving part I could reach in case that was part of the issue. Good as new. (I hope.)

In the afternoon Alexa came down to bring me a vibration plate she bought me for Father' Day. I used it a couple of times and think it will help with the edema in my legs. I plan on using twice a day.

Monday, June 16, 2025

I had my follow-up visit with my GP after the ER visit. Addressing the blood pressure issue and my swollen legs, he ordered blood work, an Echo of my heart, and a sonogram of my kidneys. He also prescribed two new medications, one to lower my Uric Acid, and a stronger water pill to take for three days. I am to get the blood work in the next few days and call in on Friday to report on the swelling. Tests were scheduled for next week.

My new medical issues have killed our plans to drive to Indiana and Michigan to visit friends this week and for the foreseeable future. A visit back to the GP in a month and radiation treatment will also interfere with our plan to spend a few weeks in Florida in July. The only thing I can plan on anymore it seems are doctors appointments.

In the afternoon I was notified that the scan indicated that I am eligible for the newest radiation shots that my oncologist outlined to me. This will be a series of six shots, one per week. This will all be under the direction of a radiology oncologist whom I haven't met yet. My appointment with him is on July 3rd. In the meantime I will cool my heels and hopefully get the swelling down in my legs.