First couple of weeks in the Rio Grande Valley

November 29 – December 12, 2014   

We have now been here in the RGV for a month, well minus the week we spent up north in Indiana.  So far this year the weather has been great as compared to last year.  We haven’t seen the wind and so far the temperatures have stayed in the high 70s and low 80s.  Some days we have had even higher temps than Miami!  We like this!

We hadn’t been here very long and Patty got sick again with dehydration causing low blood pressure!  This is the 3rd time in the past year this has happened.  First time was here last winter, then in NJ, and again now.  

We now have a scenario that sets this up.  Patty gets an intestinal issue where she loses a lot of her liquid volume from diarrhea and vomiting. That then leads to her becoming dehydrated and then comes the low blood pressure.  The main problem I have it that she goes from just having an intestinal problem that is off and on for weeks to what seems to be instant low blood pressure.

This time I went to play water volleyball at 1:30 while Patty was on the computer.  I came back at 3:30 and she was near comatose.  Patty later said she took a shower at 3:00 and started to pass out when she got out of the shower.  
I came back to the RV thinking Patty was sleeping.  I got on the computer and then I heard Patty say “help me” very faintly.  I went from relaxed to high gear in an instant.  Since Patty doesn’t know why she is like this and doesn’t know if she is having low blood sugar I give her glucose tabs to chew.  This does two things; one, if she has a low sugar this will fix that, and 2, it helps to keep her awake.  While she is chewing the tabs I get her blood sugar meter and we start to get her reading.  By the time I get the reading of around 300, I already knew she was probably suffering from low blood pressure.   There really isn’t any reason to take her blood pressure because I can’t fix that and just wastes time.  At least with the sugar reading I will know for sure that I can’t fix it and it is good to tell the emergency people when they arrive as they go that direction first too, wasting more time.

I called 911 and had an ambulance here in less than 10 minutes.  After I knew they were coming and I was sure Patty was conscious, I ran to the office to let them know so the front gate could be opened for them.  They found her blood pressure at 80/40 so they started a saline drip and then took her to the hospital 10 miles away.  I got clothes for her as I thought she would probably be released within a couple of hours and I was right.  As soon as they had her BP back up they let her go.  We left the resort at about 4:15 and were back by about 7pm.

The underlying cause, her intestinal issues are still unresolved.  Right now she is eating smaller meals and has changed her acid reflux drug.  These things seem to be helping but she is still not completely right yet.  We saw a Gastro Dr. this past Tuesday and she has an endoscopy procedure scheduled for the 20th.    We need to either fix this or at least  find a way to preempt her BP going low.

Now, on to better stuff.  The resort has been getting ready for Christmas so we are seeing a lot of lights around and also in the club house.  We decorated our RV so we could be in the holiday spirit too.  

A holiday decorated cactus here in the resort!

Cool golf ball tree in the club house.

Our RV decorated for the holidays.

We also went to see the Hidalgo Festival of Lights last week. They do a real good job with this light show.  For just $12 you get a simple dinner and a tram ride around the city to look at all of the lights.  The tram ride takes around 40 minutes to see all of the lights.  We went to the festival, which is about 15 miles south with friends from the resort.  There were about 40 or so of us from the resort that went.  It was a nice time and really felt like the holidays especially since the temperatures were in in the low 60s.

The "locomotive" pulling our trolley around.

Spaceship landing for the holidays.

Yellow rose of Texas.

Some of the houses were just great.  This one had the lights moving to music.

Muy buena Mexicano ninos coro.  The little guy on the left was awesome!

I have now golfed 3 times since I have been here.  That is more golf than I played the whole of last year.  I have decided to play with the resort group on Wednesdays for now.  They play both Monday and Wednesdays.  I am hoping to have another day of golf during the week with Patty too.  However, she may join me on Wednesdays.  I would really like to get my game to be consistently under 100.  I play at the 105 level most of the time now.  I really have not played consistently for the past 6 years and I want to get back into it, at least during the winter here.

About a week ago we went to South Padre Island with friends from the resort (Pete and Beckey, Doug and Alanna).  This was the first time we went to the beach via 4x4 in the sand.  

The beach sand is hard enough to drive on and to get where we wanted to go where you can be naked, you need drive way far north, about 12 miles on the beach.  You also need to watch the tides because the area to drive in closes with high tide and there is only the one way in and out for miles. That was an adventure, we really enjoyed it.

The causeway bridge to the island.  Great weather for going to the beach.

When high tide comes in this is water.

A blue heron lets me get close.

I finally got too close.

This was at least the 3rd flock of sea gulls that flew over us  on the beach.

Most days we have a regular routine.  Up at 7am and have our coffee and surf the web for news.  I and sometimes we then go for a walk.  I alternate between walking, biking, and resistance bands most days.  The afternoons I usually play water volleyball for about 1.5 hours.  Then it’s time for dinner.  Evening activities are playing darts, karaoke, happy hour, dances, and or social visits around the park.  Sometimes we just veg out too.

One of our bike rides places.

This picture was taken from Patty's window in the RV.  We think this bird is a green jay. It was much greener than in this picture.

Last Friday the 12th we went to Mexico for the first time this season.  We basically went over just to have lunch and pick up a couple of gifts.  We also got a couple of new blankets for ourselves for those cold winter nights here (we expect to have some temps at night in the 40s during the next couple of months).  While we were there, the Mexican town of Nuevo Progreso had a Christmas parade.  That was interesting to see, but not as lavish as what you would see in the US.

Picture was taken from the International bridge over the Rio Grande River.  These people are begging for money as you cross into Mexico.

Our lunch resturant.  The food was very, very good! Dos cervezas and comida was $21.
The man in the background is a live entertainer.

Mexican Christmas parade.

Last night we went to the welcome home dance here at the resort.  This dance is mostly put on by one of our couples here that do this professionally outside of the resort.  They really do a great job too!  We mostly just socialize at these events as most of the dancing is country line dancing.  We are not really into country music and we don’t line dance. They do have lessons here but I am just not really into it.

We also got our new darts yesterday in the mail.  We have been playing with the resort's house darts and we felt like we should have our own now that we are playing as much as we do here.  Tonight will be our first time to use them in games with other people.  Not sure we will be any better, but we will certainly feel better with our own darts.

Our new darts. 

That’s it for this post.

Stay Tuned!