Focht Family Blog

I would like to say we have had a wonderful time the whole time we have been here. We have had some good days. The kids have ridden bikes almost daily and we have taken frequent trips to the pool. However we have had some bad as well. On Tuesday we filled our fresh water tank before leaving for the science museum. While the water is filling the water does not run inside the RV. Timmy was trying to brush his teeth while it was filling and since the water was not running he left the bathroom with the sink still turned on.

After we were done filling nobody else went back in the bathroom. We received a phone call from the campground while we were at the museum that said someone saw water pouring from the RV. We figured it was just the water that had run over when the tank was done filling so we didn’t think too much of it. Before going to get lunch we stopped by the RV to make sure all was well and found that there was still some water dripping from the side. Upon investigating Nathan found that the gray tank had filled completely with the water that was now running out of the sink and after the gray tank was full the remainder of the water in the fresh tank overflowed into the RV and out the side.

We have called the insurance company and someone is supposed to come inspect it next week to see if there is any moisture left in the flooring. However, we do know that the electronics in the outside entertainment center were fried because that is one of the exit paths the water took. :(

Tomorrow morning at 5:45 I will report to MUSC for a partial thyroidectomy. Any prayers sent this way would be greatly appreciated. I am stressed out and worried. I am not sure why but I have always been afraid of general anesthesia. The surgery is not worrying me as much. The only complications that might occur is damage to the parathyroid gland which gives you problems with calcium absorption and possible problems with damage to the vocal cords.

On Friday Samantha asked me to change her earrings because her left ear was hurting. It had been at least three weeks since we changed them so I went to clean them off and remove them. The left earring came out without problems. The right earring however was another story. I went to remove it and couldn’t find the back. I thought at first it had just fallen off but the front didn’t come out easily. That is when I realized that there was a little bit of blood on the back and I felt around and realized that the back of the earring had embedded itself inside her earlobe. I called her doctor and they said they could remove it but not until Tuesday because he was out of town. I called every plastic surgeon and ENT doctor but nobody could see her or they didn’t deal with stuff like that so off to the ER we went. They numbed her ear and sliced it open slightly until they were able to remove the earring. The ER doctor felt like it had been in there for awhile. Here is what her ear looks like now.

They said the hole should heal in a week and after about 6 months or so she should be healed enough to be able to get her ears pierced again. I guess I don’t have to worry about changing her earrings for awhile. :)

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday! What did she get for her birthday? She got to use her Medicare card for the first time. Last week mom started to not feel well so she started to take the antibiotics that her gastroenterologist had given her in December. She wasn’t feeling better and started feeling worse when she woke up for her birthday so I took her to the ER at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Unfortunately she wasn’t happy with them when they told her she was staying. They did a CT scan and some bloodwork. Her white blood count was up again and the CT scan showed an area that was ruptured but contained. We had to wait for the surgeons to come speak with us and they felt that her body was keeping it contained so she didn’t need surgery yet. However, they suggested that she schedule elective surgery to remove the section as soon as she gets back to Savannah.

The doctor that did rounds today said that he might have released her today but because we are traveling he wants to keep her another night. So hopefully mom will be out of the hospital tomorrow and will be able to have her birthday dinner in a few days. She had picked out homemade stew and mashed potatoes and a pineapple upside down cake that Samantha and I were going to make her.

Tomorrow is Nathan’s birthday so we will be making lasagna and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his special meal!

Okay… my lesson for the day is to learn how to get the fire extinguisher out of its holder. Apparently this is a lesson you should learn before you actually need it. Yesterday while we were driving the indicator light for the high beams wouldn’t go off. We called a tech and they thought that maybe moisture was near the wires and as soon as it dried it should be fine. We stopped and checked the lights and they didn’t seem to be on high beams but the high beams wouldn’t come on, although the indicator light was on.

We are also having an issue with the radio not being able to turn off if the running lights are on. Today we stopped in Lakeland to look at some truck campers that Nathan found that are light enough that we could probably tow. Mom is considering trading in her trailer for a truck and camper so we would have a vehicle. Once we stopped Nathan smelled something that smelled like burning electronics.

The children were already dressed so I threw them out the door while Nathan was yelling for the extinguisher. He had opened the fuse box and nothing was there but when he opened the front access door there was a high flame coming out of the back of the headlight. He had it mostly blown out by the time I got the extinguisher out of its holder but he used the extinguisher to make sure it was all out. Apparently two of the wires must have crossed or something and we should have been more concerned about the high beam light that wouldn’t turn off. Now I am a bit more concerned about the radio issue. Nathan is going to try to take the RV into a local dealer on Monday while I take the kids to a park to see if they can look into the radio issue and fix the headlights. Right now we only have one headlight.

Here is a picture of the wires and a picture of the burnt housing.