Minonk, IL

We pulled anchor at 9:00 this morning on our way south to warmer weather for the winter. We stopped at Waynes for breakfast and over to Holtwood Park to dump our tanks and was on the road by 9:40. Our first stop was for fuel at the Flying J Travel Center in LaSalle, IL, then in Minonk, IL to rest for the night. We drove 337 miles today and took on 48.6 gallons of diesel costing $153.61. Our next planned stop is at the Flying J travel Center in Waddy, KY for the night.

Barb is in the hospital

Barb has been admitted into a hospital in Green Bay, WI. Barb developed a water blister on her right ankle a couple of weeks ago after breast surgery preformed by the VA medical center in Milwaukee, WI. She went to our VA clinic in Appleton, WI to have it checked out. They punctured it to let it drain and then placed a bandage over it. The following day, she went back to the VA medical center in Milwaukee and had wound care look at it. They were upset because the Appleton clinic had punctured it which could cause it to become infected. This is not good for a person who is diabetic. They gave her a petrolatum dressing to place over it and told her to keep it clean with the dressing over it, that it will drain on it's own and heal. A few days later, we returned to the Appleton clinic for a follow-up, they gave her more petrolatum dressings with the same instructions. The blister drained and we kept it protected as instructed by the VA. It looked like it was starting to heal. After she showered last Thursday, I went to bandage it and it looked bad so I took her the the emergency room here in Oconto. The doctor said it was badly infected and sent us to see a surgeon in Green Bay. The surgeon immediately had her admitted so they could start her on anti-biotics. They took a MRI of her foot the next morning and it shows the infection has not reached the bone. Had it reached the bone, she may have lost her foot. They will be keeping her in the hospital over the weekend.

Had this been a one time occurrence that we felt that the VA had gave improper care, and very little after care, and even though we have both used the VA medical system for our medial care for over 10 years, we have both came to the inclusion that the VA medical system provides poor medical care for our nations veterans and is not the place to go if you have other options available. Since I am retired from the United States Civil Service and the US Army, I have a very good medical insurance policy for retired federal employees. I believe for now on, even though we are both service connected disabled veterans and the Veterans Administration is obligated for our care, we are going to start relying more on the civilian health care system for our medical needs. We know that the civilian health care system could mess up too. But with the civilian health care system, there are recourses that we can go through if they mess up. With the VA health care system, we are dealing with the United States Government and their bureaucracy.

Decommissioning

We lifted our boat out of the water today for winter storage here at the Oconto Yacht Club. Next I have to winterize the fresh water system and engines, then have it shrink wrapped. Next spring when we come back, I'll continue working on the cabin renovation.