10-24-16  Back to St. Louis---again!!!!

Well, it was finally time to head back to St. Louis to have my cardiac ablation surgery.  Who knew last May when I went to my Dr. for a prescription renewal that 4 trips later I would be having surgery!?  It certainly surprised me!  Especially since I'm not in pain and doing really seem to have major complications from having A-fib.  But with it lasting 20% of the day now and progressing to permanent A-fib, I decided to take the Dr's advice and have the surgery.  Apparently it's not very effective once A-fib has become permanent.  SUrgery isn't until Halloween, but I have per-hospitalization stuff to take care of.  So bright and early on the 24th, we jumped in the car and took off on our 10+ hour trip to St. Louis.  I like to turn these rides into photo-ops.  Still manage to find different things to take pictures of along the way.
This is the first time I've noticed these old cars.

It'll really be nice when they finally finish the construction on Highway 20 that we take to avoid I-85 and I-285.  Probably takes us just as long to go this way, but at least there isn't as much traffic.

Pumpkins

horses

 junk?!

 yard decor

more yard decor

 even some color in the trees still.

northwestern Georgia.

 nearing Chattanooga.

Zoomed in view of where the kids and I went after lunch a few days before just outside of Chattanooga---Chickamauga Battle field. 

 love the little messages they put up along the interstate.

a really high bridge!

 the river through Chattanooga.

 more farm animals

 more mountains of Eastern Tennessee.

 it was a pretty ride with the trees in color.

love riding through the mountains in Tennessee.

Wonder how many trucks tipped before they felt it necessary to put up these signs?!

 We'll be coming around the mountain.

coming down the mountains

into the midwest farmlands.

 and dilapidated barns.

 some in pretty good shape.

Wonder who came up with these ads?  Clever person!

 We've traveled the route so much now that we found this bypass around Nashville.  So glad we did!---Briley Parkway

 out of the city and back to the farmlands

working the farmlands

pretty barn

for sale!  Could make an interesting house!

 might be able to afford this one.

 I loved playing in the Peter's barn when I was a kid in Oregon.  Maybe that's why I'm so infatuated with them.

 lower mountains of Southern Illinois.

 Always know we're almost back when we get to the prison in Southern Illinois!

Back in St. Louis we settled in for another 2 week stay.  Didn't know how I'd feel after surgery, so we figured we'd stay at least a week after it.  While we were there, we hit up a few more Dr's---sure is great growing old!!!  Ken got a colonoscopy and went to my ophthalmologist (turns out he'll be having catarac surgery in Dec. right after my follow up Dr. meeting with the heart Dr.).  I also met with a nurse practitioner about my sleep apnea.  That went quicly and painlessly.  They did a breathing test which I passed with a 100% even with a really sore throat from my intubation.  They copied the sd card and sent me on my way saying they'd see me in 6 months.  All is going well with the C-Pap machine.  We also managed to meet up with a bunch of our friends again and go to breakfast, lunch or dinner with them.  We hardly ever went out with people when we lived here, so that is a definite improvement to our time here!