Monday, October 22, 2012

What a Day!


Rockwall, Texas
Driveway
Weather Condition; High 79 Low 63, Cloudy

The insurance adjuster came this morning. He crawled around under the fiver and took lots of pictures.  He then went to his car to prepare the estimate. He returned thirty minutes later with a written itemized estimate and a check. He told us if we ran into any problems with repairs or estimate to give him a call.

So far we are very pleased with Progressive Insurance. We’re very pleased with their roadside assistance program too.

We plan to have our repairs made while in Rockport. We can have them done at our site there. Here we would have to take it to the shop.  

My little brother stopped by to see us this afternoon. He wasn’t feeling well and was on his way home. He was complaining about having a headache for the past 3 or 4 days.

We visited for an hour and he left. About an hour later my brother called and asked if we could come to the minute clinic. We were less than a mile away when he called. When we arrived at the Minute Clinic we were told by the nurse practitioner that she believed he was having a stroke and needed to go to the emergency room right away. My little brother is in his middle 40’s. I couldn’t believe he was having a stroke.

She printed out his paperwork , we put him in the truck and drove him to the hospital emergency room a few miles away.

He was not looking well when we arrived at the hospital. We were told that the nurse practitioner had called and told them we were on our way.

They took him back immediately. We talked with a nurse and she checked his blood pressure and heart rate. She also did a few other tests and told us to wait for the doctor.  
   
The problem is that while he was being checked out by the nurse, two ambulances pulled in and that moved my brother down the list. We waited for over an hour before they sent him back for a CAT scan.

Good news, they said there was no sign of a stroke, they think he has bell’s palsy. I’m all too familiar with bell’s palsy. I’ve had it 5 times.  

Bell's palsy is a paralysis or weakness of the muscles on one side of your face. Damage to the facial nerve that controls muscles on one side of the face causes that side of your face to droop. The nerve damage may also affect your sense of taste and how you make tears and saliva. This condition comes on suddenly, often overnight, and usually gets better on its own within a few weeks.

I do have some slight permanent damage from having it so many times but I lived through it and feel much better knowing that my brother has bell’s palsy instead of a stroke.

We are now planning on pulling out of here next week for our migration south. We have a few things we need to take care of while we’re here. The truck needs an oil change and tire rotation. We also need to vote.