We spent the month of December in Louisville and the weather was as
bad as can be - rain, snow, sleet, winds and cold temperatures. The week
before Christmas we had a few inches of freezing rain followed by four
inches of snow followed by four inches of sleet and then more snow. All
together the accumulation totaled fourteen inches and then the temperature
dropped to five degrees below zero. It packed so hard we could walk across
it without making footprints. We could open the motorhome's door and step
directly on the snowpack that was even with the door. A few days later
we had an occurrence we had never seen before, freezing fog, that attached
itself to trees. Most days during the month it was so dark we had to keep
lights on in the motorhome to see.
 
The weekend before Christmas we stayed with Norm's son Darren and his wife Martha in their beautiful home in Mt. Sterling, KY. Several other family member were there too - Don and Gloria Martin (Norm's sister) from Kokomo, IN, Nathan Payne (Norm's son) from Louisville, and David (Norm's nephew) Martin and Christy from Chicago. We had more delicious food than we could eat, attended church together, exchanged gifts and had a great time together. Linda knitted socks for everybody in the family this year and over the holidays handed out about 25 pairs.   
Christmas Eve and Day we spent with Linda's family including her parents John and Jean Click, her son's family Jeremy his girls Emily and Jill, her daughter Amy and boy friend Trent Carr, her sister Jan and Delmar Reidelberger and her niece Lisa denDekker and son Paul. Linda's mother cooked enough to feed fifty people and we are not allowed to leave her house until all was eaten. Christmas is always a special time for us. When we arrived in Kentucky in September, Norm had some medical checkups and tests and prepared for oral surgery. The surgeon recommended hyperbaric oxygen therapy before surgery to restore bone and soft tissue that received radiation after his cancer surgery in 2002. Radiation destroys arteries and capillaries cutting off the blood supply and hyperbaric oxygen therapy rebuilds the blood flow. Norm consulted with his oncology surgeon, radiation oncology doctor, a pulmonary doctor, his dentist and the doctor doing the surgery. All of those specialists insisted the therapy treatments were mandatory before oral surgery, but a woman sitting at a desk in New York working for Blue Cross / Blue Shield, disagreed with all the doctors and said Norm did not need what the five doctors recommended. The doctors filed appeals and after two and a half months of fighting the insurance company agreed to pay for the treatments. (More on hyperbaric oxygen therapy next month.) |