Community Forums

RickO · 08-11-2011, 10:15 PM

This afternoon we had just pulled in to our site in Red Bluff, Ca when a Journey and pick up pulled in to the site next to us. I was still setting up so I got to "meet" them. They were from Texas. There was an elderly couple with the husband on oxygen with a walker and electric wheel chair... and two daughters in their 20s.

A couple of hours later while getting ready to go out to dinner, someone pounded on the door of our coach. It was the wife from the Journey. She was hysterical. Her husband was down on the patio. He was breathing but unresponsive. The daughters had left to go shopping.

We got a call in to 911 and I was able to get hold of the daughters and they returned just as the ambulance was leaving for the hospital. We won't know the outcome until morning but they were having trouble finding a pulse.

It turns out that the husband had just been diagnosed with leukemia and was wanting to take one more trip to see old friends here in Northern California. His family had tried to support him by bringing him but he could clearly no longer drive a 40DP and the girls had stepped in to do that. From the looks of the coach, they had had their challenges driving it because it has obviously been in a number of scrapes with objects both high and low. Now everything has turned upside down for them.

Even though this man obviously had serious medical issues... having this all take place right next to us served as a reminder of just how quickly our worlds can be turned upside down.

Rick

mr300ce · 08-11-2011, 10:30 PM

Yes....I wish I had not just read this story.

My mom & dad were RVers for 40 yrs. Mom died of a sudden heart attack just 3 yrs ago. Fortunately at home, and not on the road.

Pop died 1 1/2 yrs ago of heart break, & complications from lung surgery (cancer).

He did all his 'last camping' the year before.

I AM gonna retire in 3 1/2yrs at 62. I just went to Dr today to be told that my arthritis is getting worse, and I will just have to live with it, & lots of Vicodin.

At least the rest of me is disease free....so far.

I told the xray tech to go camp and see the world while she was still young enough to feel good, and her body could take it.

Mr_D · 08-11-2011, 10:56 PM

My parents both died within a month of each other almost six years ago after going downhill for several years.
Three years ago my step daughter died, leaving us with three more cats AND two grandkids. My wife had put in for her retirement 1 WEEK before and I've been retired since '98. She was able to rescind the retirement and I'm working a part time job again.
Now instead of selling the stick house and going full timing we're raising two grandkids although the oldest is 19 now, the youngest is 11 so we've got a few more years of schooling to go.
You just never know what's going to happen when.

KoolBell · 08-12-2011, 06:32 AM

My Dad died in '93, but in '92 he was able to fulfill a life's dream. He was able to go to Alaska, along with him went my Uncle, and they had a blast. We now have 6 hours of DVD entertainment to remind us of his last request.
A three month trip in a slide on camper doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, so my wife and I bought a class A, and when we get to go, I'll sure have lots of memories to carry along.
God grants us repentance, use it while you can.
Make as many happy memories as you can while you are able to travel, and share them with family and friends.

RELHUB · 08-12-2011, 06:51 AM

That is the main reason my WIfe and I purchased our Winnebago to create great memories with our family. The same thing my parents did with me 20 years ago and I still treasure those times together.

GPW · 08-12-2011, 07:05 AM

Life is a Gift !!! Enjoy it while you still can !!!
The really scary part is all you old Geezers ( I'm 63) out on the highway driving large MCs , on painkillers and Medications ...

My 88 year old Father had to finally give up driving all together , as he was becoming a "known traffic menace" ...

USMCRET · 08-12-2011, 07:28 AM

The good news is the man has a family that cares about and loves him. I would take that in a heartbeat.

Wayne M · 08-12-2011, 09:08 AM

He is lucky in ways.
He was able to start out on his trip, and the Lord willing he will be able to finish. Let us pray that it is only a temporary set back.
He has a good family that is trying to make him happy during his final days.
He has one heck of a good RV neighbor right now that is able to assist the family..

Prayers his way.

bdpreece · 08-12-2011, 09:15 AM

When I go, hopefully it will be while I am doing the things I really enjoy with my family near by.

melvonnar · 08-12-2011, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GPW

Life is a Gift !!! Enjoy it while you still can !!!
The really scary part is all you old Geezers ( I'm 63) out on the highway driving large MCs , on painkillers and Medications ...

Carefull there young fella: I'm 79 and am accident free; (I don't count the nitwit youngster that broadsided me). Us old geazers are for the most part are better drivers than the young wipersnappers that are always in a hurry.

If you are realy, realy, lucky; you-----may someday be an old geezer.

CJ7ole · 08-12-2011, 08:48 PM

Four years ago we decided to rent a MH for a week to see if it would work out as retirement was coming soon. We live in southeast Michigan and decided to do a trip to da UP, eh? (Michigan's upper peninsula for you out of staters). We were introduced to the RV lifestyle by my in-laws in the 1970's with several week trips in their truck camper, but drifted away from camping when they sold their camper and we raised our family. Father-in-law passed 25 years ago, but my mother-in-law was still quite healthy at 92, still drove to FL in 2 days by herself every year. Well we decided to take her along with us as she was born in Calumet, up in the copper country of the UP.

We visited Tahquamenon Falls, took the Pictured Rocks boat tour, checked out several other tourist attractions and ended up staying 2 nites at the tip of the Keweenaw peninsula in a state campground. While my wife and I took the copper mine tour, she made pasties in the RV. Can't get more yooper than that! We drove the streets of Calumet and finally found the house she grew up in 90 years earlier. GG, (her nickname for the grand and great grand kids) was a very self reliant lady, so we were surprised when she agreed to bring along a wheelchair so we could wheel her along on some of the longer treks.

She passed 6 months later. That trip will be forever remembered and we are SO glad that we invited her along.

mrblanche · 08-12-2011, 08:51 PM

On every cruise we've been on, we've seen any number of women in the 50's and up who keep saying, "I just wish (fill in name of deceased husband here) had been able to enjoy a cruise like this before he died. We were planning on doing it after he retired."

I may die poorer in finances, but my we have great memories from 20+ cruises, travel, etc.

melvonnar · 08-13-2011, 12:13 PM

So many of the folks I worked with died before they retired; most kept saying I'll retire as soon as I get the house paid for; I'll retire as soon as I get the new car paid for; one reason after the other; they told me I was crazy to quite when I did; I took a 2/3 pay cut; that was 27 years ago, i have never regreted a minute of it.
quite when you can fellows; you don't get a second go around.
You don't need that new car; or that brand new RV.

RickO · 08-13-2011, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by melvonnar

So many of the folks I worked with died before they retired; most kept saying I'll retire as soon as I get the house paid for; I'll retire as soon as I get the new car paid for; one reason after the other; they told me I was crazy to quite when I did; I took a 2/3 pay cut; that was 27 years ago, i have never regreted a minute of it.
quite when you can fellows; you don't get a second go around.
You don't need that new car; or that brand new RV.

I couldn't agree more. At 53 years old we held my mother's hand all through the in-home hospice process. 6 months later we repeated it with my MIL and 12 months after that with my father.

Like many people, I had been contributing to 401K and stock purchase plans but didn't really "have a plan" for retirement and had no idea how feasible it would be. I just knew that I didn't want to keep spending 60 hours of every week I had left selling myself to the company.

Following my dad's death, I gathered up all of my account statements and a laptop... threw them all in two brief cases and took DW and DD to Puerto Vallarta for two weeks to decompress and ponder/analyze our future. Three months later I was retired and haven't missed a single minute of the old job.

"Too soon we get old and too late we get smart."

Rick