I am actually writing this in 2021 realizing we didn’t finish our 2020 trip blog. It seemed weird to continue writing as we really didn’t do much. With Covid still in full swing, we continued to isolate ourselves, take car trips and tried to enjoy ourselves. Towards to end I was struggling with some severe back pain issues, and fatigue. It was hard for me to do anything physical.
The most eastern portion of our trip was to Custer State park in South Dakota. It’s a wonderful area with buffalo roaming free. We did partake in the Buffalo Round Up they have every year. We go up at 2:30 AM and drove into the park. Didn’t need to do that as the event did not open until 0630, but we were within the first 100 cars entering. It was truly amazing to see a group of cowboys and cowgirls (including the governor), bring in over 1400 buffalo into the stockyards. They do this every year so the vets can check the herd out. They have determined that Custer park can handle about 1250 buffalo, so they sell off the extra to keep the herd healthy. A very cool event.
We started heading home via Colorado. We stopped off and visited good friends that moved from Fallbrook, then headed to my brothers house. I wasn’t feeling too good at this point but figured it was the altitude (7700 ft).
We followed Rick & Jill in their 5th wheel and all went camping together in Green River, UT. We stayed at Swayzee Beach right on the river. Beautiful campground. All good until it wasn’t. I still don’t know what happened exactly, but I woke Marsha up around 0400 being extremely diaphoretic, grunting, and totally out of it. She thought I was having a stoke. Called 911, and hour later the paramedics show up (from Moab), found my blood sugar to be 27. Once I got some sugar in me I was ok, but everyone insisted I go to the hospital. ER in Moab stabilized my blood sugar, but in working me up found my oxygen saturation to be 80 (normal is 96 to 100%). The kept me over night and did all the test they could, but admitted they we re not equipped to deal with these type of heart or lung problems. So they gave me oxygen to use and told us to go back to California and get worked up.
So I spent November, December, January and part of February getting test from Pulmonology, Cardiology and even Nephrology. Some of the test had to be done in a hospital and with Covid, I had trouble getting them scheduled. After the angiogram, I had no blockages but they found my heart pressures to be elevated (pulmonary hypertension). This was causing my fatigue and shortness of breath. They put me on a diuretic, I am trying to lose weight and exercising more. But with caution the docs say I can travel so we’re planning our 2021 trip.
