Amarillo,TX 08/04/10j

Good Morning from Amarillo, TX,

The O2 concentrator showed up a little later than planned, but we left Santa Rosa, NM, yesterday and headed east.  We dropped below 4000 feet in altitude, which really helps all of us.  It isn't nearly as taxing as it was in Flagstaff.  It is nice to be swimming in denser oxygen again.

Cyn is doing better, getting stronger.  While it is frustrating for her at times, she's adapting and her spirits remain good.  The girls are working pain control and have developed a pattern to stay ahead of the pain.  Cyn slept on her side last night which felt good, but her ribs are complaining this morning.  Drugs are a good thing at times like that.  The combination of drugs the doctors prescribed is working well, but at a reduced level now.  It is true that pain is your body's way of letting you know you are still alive.

We've pretty much fallen into our roles.  Cyn is the patient; Jan is head nurse, drug dispenser, cook, and co-pilot; Prancer is chief explorer, excellent traveler and therapy cat; and I am driver, bellboy, scribe and whatever else needs to be done.  Both Jan and I nag Cyn when she needs to do her exercises and when we need to stop and walk.

We don't have to wait on anything today, so it will likely be more of a driving day.  That will give Cyn a chance to relax, but will require disciplined stop and walk, rather than all the up and down we've been doing.  While we were waiting on the package yesterday we took a side trip down to Ft. Sumner, NM, to see the Billy the Kid Museum.  It was a fun trip.

With the heat, the fashion statement of the day is shorts and white (surgical) stockings.  Gee, you could make some song lyrics out of that "Shorts and White Stockings" to the tune of "Knights in White Satin."  No, I haven't been sampling Cyn's drugs.

Time to get packing and on the road.

Take care.