Category Archives: medical

One-legged Polishing

My knee, injured on August 2nd, is bothersome but as I await surgery next week, I can do some polishing.  I pretty much have finished the top half of the Airstream and now can work, sitting in a chair, on the lower panels.  I take it 45 minutes at a time and rest a lot — but it’s good to see some continued progress.

I know I’ll be disabled again after next Tuesday’s arthroscopic procedure and lose a few weeks while I recover so I’ve been pecking away, keeping the weight and pressure off my bad leg.

It’s still very slow going.  There is a lot of residual flecks of clearcoat that have to be removed, slowing the process a lot.  Some are really stubborn — but I’ve learned to use solvent, even fine steel wool.  What I’m finding is that the lower sections are pretty dinged up — lots of road rash — but they polish up pretty well.  I have taken off the one protective panel on the front since the other is long gone on the roads outside Houston, and replacements are very pricey.

The squiggles are reflections in the morning sun — it looks ok with just the first pass of polishing. 

I’ll work on it a few hours more before surgery and then see how things go.  I can always head out this winter with work to do and polish the rest down south.  There are times where I question why I ever started this but all in all, it was a good move.  The injury has put a crimp in the schedule but the worst is over.

I have started to do some preliminary planning for our trip this year — reviewing places we like and places we’ll never visit again.  Now we have to get both of us tuned up and ready to travel.  We are keeping our doctors’ cash flow flowing — they’ll likely all take great winter vacations.  Safe traveling.

Planning our SW trip – medical preparation

As we prepare for our trip and start planning routes and stops, we are also starting to gather ideas on personal preparation for the two months we’ll be traveling. Here are some of the steps we’re taking regarding medical issues:
1. We have advance directives (health care proxy, power of attorney and a living will) prepared and appropriate people have copies. We will take a set with us.
2. Our medical insurance is national in scope and should be fine throughout the U.S. We do not plan to enter Mexico this trip.
3. We use mail order prescriptions which normally are good for 90 days worth of meds. We’ll likely have to set up a mail drop midway. We can order online from the road.
4. We have contact lists for doctors on our iPhones but will print them out with names, addresses, phone/fax numbers and e-mail addresses.
5. Likewise, in the Airstream we plan to carry emergency information including health history, emergency contacts, current medication list and allergies.
6. Mary has a current Medic Alert bracelet.
7. We’ll carry several first aid kits in the truck and Airstream.

Got some other ideas for us? Comment below.

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