I had a hankering to visit family sometime in March or April. My brothers and sisters are in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Traveling east I could at least accomplish two out of three. Since I was on dialysis it meant I had to have arrangements for dialysis in New Jersey. I could have opted for Pennsylvania at Grandview Hospital in Sellersville, PA, where I was born, but I settled for two treatments in New Jersey. My usual treatments are on Monday, Wednesday, Friday but the Social Worker told me that there was only room on Saturday and Tuesday. It was OK with me. I had initially asked for a Friday morning treatment because I wanted to attend a Passover commemoration at the church I used to belong to before I came to Ohio.
On March 31 I took off. Since Lucy didn't really want to go that far I rented a car, a 2009 Mazda, and took off around noon Wednesday. I had had dialysis in the morning that day so I was ready to travel. The next treatment would be Saturday, rather far away from Wednesday for a dialysis patient but I did it before. I just have to watch my fluid intake.
My wife Lucy had given me a GPS unit for Christmas and I took it along. It was great to just put in the address to which I wanted to go and it would take me right there. I traveled east from my place on Park Avenue East and took Koogle Road toward I-71 and it took me all the way to I-76 to the Pennsylvania border. I wanted to take Route 80 so I wondered what the GPS would say. When I arrived at the junction of 80 and 76 it told me to continue I-76. I ignored it and took Route 80. Route 80 has no tolls, I-76 had loads of tolls.
But at the next exit it told me to take it. Curious, I took the exit and then realized it wanted me to turn around. I got back onto 80 and ignored its pleas to turn off at several exits I passed. I then called my cousin Warren and asked what exit I should take off of 80. It was a couple hundred miles away. I told him I should be there by 8 p.m.
It was a long drive and I came to the exit indicated and traveled another 100 miles through towns and over hill and dale. It was quite scenic but I grew a little tired of driving but I kept going. I stopped for a bite to eat at a drive-through.
At long last, as it was almost dark, I arrived at my destination, Hackman Paving, and looked at the clock. It was 8:00 o'clock. Warren told me he was going to be in church so I made myself comfortable in his house and waited for him to arrive, and fell asleep. It had been a long day.
He finally showed up around 10 p.m. and we sat and talked until midnight. I then slept in the guest room and had a good night's sleep. My itinerary was to visit a couple places while in Lancaster County, but first Warren got his crews off to their asphalt paving jobs and then we went out for a leisurely breakfast.
The Martin's Pretzel Bakery in Akron is owned by Warren's brother-in-law and sister and I went there to visit with cousin Kathryn. We had a nice conversation and then I took off to visit with another family before heading for New Jersey by way of I-76 which is the toll road.
I don't know what time of day would have been best but when I got off the Turnpike I had bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles to the Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey. My brother-in-law told me later that the Schuylkill Expressway is always crowded. I don't wonder, there are more cars on the road than ever before and the existing roadways just can't take the volume.
I finally arrived at my sister Jane's house and settled in. My parents had lived there before they passed on and the rooms were about the same as what I remembered when I had visited with them.
This was Thursday and one thing I wanted to do was to have a haircut. Years ago I got the best haircut in Maple Shade and I looked in the phone book for barbers and hair dressers and found one that had been near the place where I had the haircut before.
I was not disappointed. I finally looked decent, with the hair dresser trimming my hair not too short. I would look better for the get-together Friday evening. I spent the rest of the day visiting with friends. One was in a retirement home and she was so glad to see me. I believe it was about 25 years since I saw her last and I didn't recognize her anymore, but she said I looked familiar and when I said my name she gave me a hug, glad to see me. My sister Jane had visited with her a few times.
The next evening we attended the Passover commemoration at a resort and I met more friends I hadn't seen for years. I was rather popular with them when I had the kidney transplant last year and they were quite supportive with their prayers and best wishes in spite of the outcome, which was kidney failure due to a huge blood clot that could have done me in.
The dialysis was scheduled for 11 a.m. I woke up at around 6:30 and thought about the plans for the day. Then I noticed the cell phone blinking. It was a voicemail wondering where I was. I had an appointment at 6:00 a.m. and I was nowhere to be seen, he said.
Six a.m.?! I quickly got everything together and, thanks to my GPS found the place pretty quickly. I stopped at a 7/11 for a sandwich and figured to have breakfast during the treatment. I sat in the waiting room and took a couple bites of my sandwich; and that's all I was able to have until after the treatment.
I was escorted to my place in a large room where there were dozens of chairs and dialysis units, with people having their treatment. I was hooked up and then given papers to fill out for insurance. I asked if I could eat the rest of my sandwich and the answer was no, and he explained. One time a woman was eating something and she passed out during treatment. They had quite a time clearing things out so she would not choke and they made the rule, no more eating during treatment. I figured I could live with it.
When treatment was finished I weighed myself and found that I lost about 10 pounds! That must have been a record. I usually get cramps if too much fluid is taken out. But I did not feel any ill effects and I left feeling pretty good.
The rest of the trip was a series of events, God moments, and one bedeviled moment when I was tinkering with my camera at my brother Ron's house in Harleysville, PA and all the pictures I took in New Jersey disappeared...forever. (sigh)
After visiting with Ron I left for home, stopping at Newmanstown to stay overnight at cousin Warren's place. I left there around 1:30 in the morning and the trip was pleasantly uneventful. Little traffic. Good weather. And by around 8 a.m. I arrived at home safe and sound.
I told Lucy I would like to make these trips twice a year. She does not wish to travel so far but I can always rent a car.
