Bee Well

Jana is still in the hospital and very uncomfortable.  I spoke to her shortly after 7 a.m.  She was unhappy and still having too much pain.  Her breakfast arrived while we were talking, so we planned to talk later.  Meanwhile, around 8:30 Laurie was on the phone with Jana when the Doctor came in - this is Laurie's report:

I was talking to Jana this morning and luckily one of her doctors walked in to give her an update. Jana put the Doctor on speaker and we received her updated plan of action.

Jana has been on antibiotics for almost 48 hours with no improvement in her condition. After palpitating her stomach today it is more distended. Pain level has not improved. White cell count has not improved. The source of infection is unknown.

This next part I'm unclear on as I was driving home from carpool and didn't think of questions till afterward. They feel the cystic mass is causing the pain. The Dr. mentioned it was the size of an orange. The team is planning on draining the mass tomorrow. They feel it has fluid in it but she did say it could be solid and have no fluid. After retrieving the fluid it will be analyzed and I don't know what happens then. I also don't know if all the infection fluid? ( don't know proper name) is in the mass. Jana asked if it could burst but the Doctor said no if I remember correctly.

There was no discussion of a release date. The doctor gave me the impression that the team will decide what to do next after they have examined the fluid. So unless there is a change in Jana's condition, she will spend a very long uncomfortable painful day in the hospital. The Doctor wants her to be ambulatory so no knock out pain killer. So basically there will be no new news until the mass fluid is examined. That is all for now. Love you, Laurie

We are all very concerned about Jana's condition and so sorry that she's going through this.

MRI Day

MRI for the patient, World of Warcraft for the Tech!  (That patient better pull in his elbows!)

A Day in the Life......

More laundry

Errands:

Buy new walker at Thompson's.  The other walker is in Palm City, so we're covered both places.  We wound up going to both Thompson's stores - the one on Union St. had the right one.

Pick up mail at Barlow P.O.

Get Dick's new lenses and spare pair at Cedar Run Eye Center.

Visit Kathee at the Visitor Center.

Cash refund check from Munson (!!!)  Still can't believe that one.  Guess I overpaid...

Go to Mall for lunch.  Dick walks Mall, I don't.

Call Dr. Burke's office for appointments for both of us.  We've been gone for six months so we need new referrals and approval from the Doctor to return to our gym.  We can see him Thursday.

Back home - sort through mail - catalogs, catalogs, and then some catalogs.

Pay some bills.

Still more laundry.

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Got a call late last evening from Jana.  She was at the ER with her friend Wendy.

  She had been given morphine and was being prepped for a CT Scan.  It seems she has an infection of some kind - she had a high fever and lots of pain.

 Right now it's almost 3 o'clock the next afternoon and she's still lying on a gurney in the hallway.  They want to admit her, but there's no bed available at the moment.  I just talked to her again, and she thinks maybe around 5 o'clock she'll have a room.  Her friends Wendy and Sarah are taking turns staying with her, and they both text us when there is news.

At this point she's had some good pain meds, the CT Scan and an ultrasound, and they still don't know what's wrong.  We are a bit on pins and needles today, but it's a relief to know that she's not alone.

Shall We Move to Finland?

Wouldn't this be perfect?   It's just the way it used to be here...when public education built our nation! (Except for paying teachers like doctors!)

Slept in this morning! A little laundry, a little unpacking (don't want to rush it), and a drive through town. We returned paperbacks to the library, ate breakfast at Sparky's, drove out past Lone Tree to see where our condo will be. So far the proposed lot is deeply buried in snow - we think they have been dumping snow from the whole development there. Temps in the forties today. We saw a ball game at the Open Space - some participants were wearing shorts and T shirts. Facebook tells me that Bardon's and Moomers were both open today.

Goodbye Palm City

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04/03/2014	You found  Give Me a Break!!!		Visit Log
As Snow Birds we spend our summers up north and that is where we are headed today. As Geocachers, we want to find a cache in every Florida county just as we have in Michigan. This is our first find in St John County. TFTC

A Day With Laurie

Off to the beach we go for a final look at the ocean. We went to Jensen Beach, one of my favorites.

The guard shack had two red flags flying - one for high surf and currents, and the other warning the public to stay out of the water.

We just wanted to see the ocean anyway. The beach was very crowded with sun worshippers and families. I was amazed at how many people were there! Afterwards we went for a late lunch at Chillin' the Most - a fun place with great service and super food.

Home for a rest, and then over to Gillespie's for pizza and a tennis report.  It was a superfine last day in Florida.  We'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning.

April Fool

04/01/2014	You couldn't find Poppleton Creek Park		Visit Log
We took a break from packing the car for our trip back north and decided to take a break and seek a few caches. After a DNF at the cemetery, we came over to this nice park. As I approached GZ I thought "Oh, oh, this is my least favorite type of hiding spot." Oh well, April Fools! the joke's on us.
04/01/2014	You couldn't find Where The Dead Fern Grows		Visit Log
Well it's April Fools Day so the joke's on us. We are heading back north now so we won't be back here to look until fall.
04/01/2014	You found  FADC		Visit Log
Once we made it back to GZ, Mrs Bend whipped out her magic mirror and made quick work of the find. Signed the log and replaced as found. However, after logging a couple of finds, the joke was on us and we scored nothing but DNF's on this April Fools Day. Thanks for the Smiley.
04/01/2014	You found  Moore's Cemetery		Visit Log
We finished packing up for our return trip to the tundra and decided to seek a few caches before we reach the snow. This has sounded interesting. Thanks for the history lesson. It certainly represents a dark chapter in Florida's (and our country's) past. Log book is in good shape. We took and left nothing but we got a chuckle over the contents. Is there any significance in the screw we wonder? Signed log and replaced as found.

Aloha

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03/31/2014	You found  Aloha		Visit Log
Yesterday we did the multi that starts here in Palm City, it took 4 1/2 hours. This one took 4 1/2 minutes. We were dropping off some books and decided to take a look. At first we couldn't figure out how the cache owner attached a magnet to that concrete pole but then our geosense kicked in. TFTC

HomeComing, Caching, and the End of the Basketball Season

Coming home today!  They've had a wonderful Spring Break.

We had a really fun day geocaching - spent the whole afternoon on one cache :)  It was a multi-cache all around Palm City, Stuart and Port Salerno.  Some of the hides were very difficult, but in the end we did them all.  In a coincidence amazing to me, we met up with two caching teams during the day - and we had just met them yesterday!  It's a good feeling to see familiar faces in a new place.

We had a super lunch at the Manatee Island Bar and Grill- right before the final cache.

A lovely, relaxing place with terrific service.  I recommend it!

This is Dick's log of today's multi:

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03/30/2014	You found  Wakey wakey eggs & bakey		Visit Log
This caching adventure has been on our to do list for a couple of months. Stage 1 is just across the street from our condo and we drive through the parking lot 3 or 4 times every week. We talked about doing it but it seems that our round to-it was acting up. Since this is our last week in our Florida home, we decided that today was to be the day even before we met the owner at the KrumBens event. We packed up the cachemobile and pulled out about 10:30. Mrs Bend, the micro maven snagged the first two stages and then things started to go south. (Oh wait, going south came later) A couple of years ago our kids gave dad an iPod mini for Christmas and we have been using it and an iPhone instead of the trusty old Garmin 62s. Unfortunately for us, I have never learned how to load multiple stage coordinates into either one and managed to forget how to plug them into the Garmin. Thus the learning experience began. We slowly but successfully moved along from Palm City to Stuart and turned south. We cleared C through G and moved on to H. Based on the description, I thought I knew what we were looking for. The Garmin put us at the edge of the road but the hint said no. Because I have a solid hatred of palmetto hides, I was sure that was what we were looking for. With no luck, I decided to try to use the mini again and was in the car working on the problem when, who to our wondering eyes should appear but - - gettinlate who we had met yesterday at the KrumBens event. I explained my problem, he told me how it worked on his phone. He set to work on the hunt, I did my best to follow his instructions. Neither one of us could make it work. I decided to give it one last try before calling it a DNF when - TaDa!!! Thar she blew! We followed him on down to I and this time it was his turn. Moving on to J we made a wrong turn and lost gettinlate. We found the right parking lot and the Garmin and I were searching the area of the dumpster when Mrs Bend, without leaving the car said "Hey! It's right here." For K, once again I parked in the wrong place and bushwhacked through a swamp to approach GZ on the wrong side of the fence. Made the find on this one and this time, I stayed on the trail back to the road. Since it was after 1PM and we were both getting hungry, we surveyed the area restaurants and focused in on the Manatee Island Bar and Grill. Their food was excellent, Travis the waiter was special and the Hot Sauce is fantastic, two bottles are packed for our trip north. After a leisurely lunch by the water, we loaded back into the car and resumed our adventure, we found the proper road to approach the final and as we pulled up we saw some more familiar faces. The KrumBens had started yesterday in the rain after their event and had just arrived at the final. This journey has had touches of Old Home Week. After making the find, they insisted that we take the 2nd to find prize because I had stumbled upon it before they did. We took it and the Law Shark T Bug which wishes to visit interesting places. We leave for Traverse City on Thursday and it certainly qualifies as a very interesting place. We will take him to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes which was voted the most beautiful place in the US by the folks on Good Morning America. We left our card, a pin, and our pen. We got back home just after 3, this was a fun filled 4 1/2 hours. We had smileys on our faces long before we got this one on our profile. Thanks for your effort in placing this series, we think it's special, we greatly enjoyed it. A favorite from us. HOWEVER - This evening, Michigan basketball lost to Kentucky - so sad.  State lost today also.  We were hoping for three B1G 10 teams in the Final Four.  Wisconsin is the only one left.  It was so sad.  So we had a real roller coaster day. U-M Has Tourney Run End on Last-Second Shot by Kentucky Nik Stauskas March 30, 2014 • Photo Gallery  • Game Stats • Postgame Press Conference  (live) Site: Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium) Event: NCAA Tournament (Elite Eight) Score: Kentucky 75, #7 Michigan 72 Records: U-M (28-9), UK (28-10) Next U-M Event: Season Complete INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The University of Michigan men's basketball team tied the game on a wild scramble with less the 30 seconds to go, only to see Kentucky bury a deep three-pointer with four seconds remaining in a 75-72 final on Sunday evening (March 30) in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight held inside Lucas Oil Stadium.                                  ********************************************** The best thing is that our family is back home from Colorado :)

  

getbendgroup

Today's event was an Event :)

We picked up a veggie tray at Publix, and went over to Tradition Square to attend the "Making Madness" meet and greet.  It is always interesting to meet new cachers.  I found it especially interesting to talk to Groupertoes - a truly unique individual!  I also enjoyed Team United Nations and kpub.  And of course our hosts, KrumBens.  Cachers are cachers everywhere you go - friendly and interesting.  Quite an assortment of people!

After meeting and eating, Dick went caching with four or five others.  They called their group getbendgroup - a combo of gettinlate, basswoodbend and Groupertoes.

This is the souvenir we acquired for attending this event today.

Maker Madness
Acquired on 03/29/2014

03/29/2014	You found  tradition 4		Visit Log
We came up to Traditions today to attend KrumBens Making Madness event. After spending some time snacking and talking caching, we joined up with some of the other cachers to circle the lake and find a few caches. It is great to find a traditional sized cache in such an urban environment. After making the find, the log was signed and we left one of our new pens before putting it back where it was found. Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache.
03/29/2014	You found  A Beautiful View of the Madness		Visit Log
The group from the event cache expanded to 4 as we reached this cache site. As we prepared to start the search, gettinlate broke out a tool which put Mrs Bend's magic mirror to shame. Very neat, we'll have to get one. After signing the log and replacing the cache, we considered sitting a spell and enjoying the view but decided to score just one more before returning to the folks at the square.
03/29/2014	You found  A Team Rabit Rad Cache: Caching into Madness		Visit Log
The getbendgroup continued on around the lake on this windy day and as we approached GZ I started muttering. We have logged a number of DNF's on these "typical Florida hides". This time was different. We signed the log and put it back in the same "typical Florida" spot. BTW, this would qualify as a winter friendly hide.
03/29/2014	You found  A Bridge to Madness		Visit Log
After eating and greeting at the KrumBens Making Madness in Tradition Square! event, Mr Bend teamed up with gettinlate and Groupertoes to look for the new KrumBen caches. After a short walk, we scored the find, a FTF in fact, admired the unique container, signed the log, and replaced as found. Thanks for the fun!
03/29/2014	You found  August 6th		Visit Log
This cache was a fitting cap to a fun day. It was much discussed at the event and then a group set forth to search the parking structure for it. The find was made and the log was signed. Thanks to gettinlate it was replaced as found. Thanks again KrumBens.
03/29/2014	You attended Making Madness in Tradition Square!		Visit Log
Our sincere thanks go out to the KrumBens for putting on this event. We enjoyed meeting and talking to some local cachers and joining them in a search for a few caches. Thor, the God of storms and thunder was definitely smiling upon our group today, rain to the south and tornado warnings to the north but we enjoyed a day without either. We were blown away with the event. (Oh, maybe it was the wind) Again, thanks for the smiley and the souvenir.

Elite Win

March 28, 2014

• Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery  | Recap  | Postgame Presser  (NCAA.com) 
• CBS Sports Postgame: Beilein, Morgan  | Highlights  | Final Minute 

Site: Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium)
Event: NCAA Tournament (Sweet Sixteen)
Score: #7 Michigan 73, Tennessee 71
Records: U-M (28-8), TENN (24-13)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 30 -- vs. Kentucky - NCAA Elite Eight (Indianapolis, Ind.), 5:05 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The No. 2-seeded University of Michigan men's basketball team (No. 7 AP, No. 8 ESPN/USA Today) survived a last-minute comeback attempt from No. 11 seed Tennessee and held on for a 73-71 victory on Friday night (March 28) inside Lucas Oil Stadium to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.

The Wolverines led by as many as 15 points in the second half, and graduate student Jordan Morgan (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) drew an offensive foul with six seconds left when the Volunteers had a chance to take the lead with the score at 72-71.

Michigan had four double-digit scorers, led by Morgan with 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Nik Stauskas (Mississauga, Ontario/St. Mark's School [Mass.]) finished with 14 points, and his classmate Glenn Robinson III (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Fellow sophomore Caris LeVert (Pickerington, Ohio/Central) ended with 10 points and five assists in the nail-biter win.