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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #31 – Costco Run, & A Sunday Drive


 

Friday, Apr 17th, 2020……  Today was another dialysis day. I made a list for Costco and after dropping Lydia off, I headed over there. They still have us wait in line, 6 ft. apart, and then after a few minutes, and after folks go through checkout, let us all in as a group. I was able to get all of the items on my list. I needed to stock up on laundry stuff this time as well as our supplements, plus I bought some frozen items and some meats and fish. I also found a nice 12” deep skillet that we had just ordered on Amazon yesterday. So, I bought it and now I can use two when I need them. I also bought two more of the copper chef pans that I like so much. I think I will just replace the older tired non-copper ones we have now. I went back home and unloaded and stored my wares, then headed back and picked up Lydia. While I was outside waiting, I called in an order to The Depot, a place in Albany that we like for seafood. Lydia had mentioned it earlier and it sounded good. We went there on the way back and I went in and picked it up and we continued on home. We ate and then settled in and relaxed from the day’s events. While in dialysis, Lydia had got a call from Sam Health about assistance in paying for the oral treatment she will be taking. In the doctor’s office they made us sign a form and the pills will be hand delivered to her next week. They have a horrific copay so Kelly sent us a form to fill out to get some assistance with that. She said I need to send her proof of income as well as print and sign the form and scan it back to her. Problem was it didn’t come through to Lydia’s email today. Maybe tomorrow.      
  
Saturday, Apr 18th, 2020…… The plan today was to take a drive and get out of the house. Even with the lockdown, we can do that up here with no issues. Problem was the sun didn’t cooperate today! We have one day in the calendar with rain and it was today. Tomorrow is supposed to be back into the 70s so we will go then. I fixed our breakfasts and then Lydia said she had that email we were looking for so I took care of printing that and got it scanned and sent back as requested. I spent the day working around the house but first went over to my sister’s house and helped her with her curtain rod installation. She had compression ºcurtain rods inside the frames and wanted regular rods installed in all three bedrooms and the master bath, so we took care of those with little issues. I came back home and rested for a bit and then installed the toilet seat riser we had received today. It boosts the toilet 4-5 inches making it easier for her to get up and down. Before, she had to have me there for support.  Later, I made us roasted chicken – ok, Costco made us roasted chicken – I just heated it up!  But I did add mac and cheese and peas and it was a tasty meal.  Afterward, we settled in and watched our taped shows until bedtime. We got rain, which started around noon and lasted about an hour, then another shower hit us around 5:00pm. It’s not really cold these days (51º at night) so it was good sleeping weather. 
       
Sunday, Apr 19th, 2020…… The rains are gone and we are back to sunny skies! After I walked Rylee and we had breakfast, I got some snacks and water/soda loaded into the car and later in the morning we went over and picked up my sister. We decided to drive through the back-country roads and work our way toward Salem, about 40 miles north of us. Our destination was IN & OUT for ‘linner’. It took us about 1 ½ hours to make drive, going up some roads I had never been on before. Nice drive. We got into the Keizer Center where the store is located and drove right past the entrance to go to the back of the line waiting to turn in. We drove and drove and ended up in the baseball stadium parking lot, which is waaay down the street!  We didn’t count the cars but the guy working the line said that we were in the 3-hour wait area! I need to invest in a franchise! I think they should name this one IN & WAIT & WAIT and OUT!  No way were we doing that!   We had seen a Five Guys on the way up so we drove back there and got right in. We ate in the car. Not what we planned but still pretty yummy! Once we ate, we made our way back home. Lydia had a beanbag stool on the front floorboard so she had her bad foot elevated so the swelling was minimal so we were good. I got her back in the house and we settled in for the night, watching tv and then going to bed early. Good day. Something different.

Monday, Apr 20th, 2020……  Lydia had Cherine here this morning for ot and later, I had a call from the Samaritan Office to talk about help on the copay for the infusion. This was in addition to the oral med that we sent the info in for already. That one was offered by the drug company. This one was for low income families.  I looked at the website and found that for this one, we don’t qualify.
Later, I took Lydia out and dropped her at dialysis and then stopped by Safeway on the way home to get what we needed on her shopping list. She is now planning meals again – so I know the chemo is out of her system and she’s feeling better.  She also can get up at night from the bed by herself and make her way (with the walker) to the bathroom. With the toilet seat riser that we have now, she can get back to bed without help. Of course, I am awake (she’s pretty noisy!) so I am there to assist if she needs me.
I got all of the groceries bought and stowed away and relaxed for a bit before heading back to Albany to get her. Still no word on a transfer to the local Fresenius Clinic here in Lebanon. They told us we were on the list but someone would have to either move or die for a time to open up. And we are not at the head of the list either so it will be a while. So, until then, we drive the 18.1 miles each way three days a week - 109.2 miles total. Not too bad considering it is mostly open country roads and only takes about 30 minutes each way.
Later, I fixed us dinner and then we watched tv until calling it a night.

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