February 2006

We arrived in Deer Creek in early afternoon. The campsite site that we purchased was still a long way from being completed, so we were given a free campsite until at least early March. We got set up and then we went to Shelly and Laura Singer's coach (in the next site) to watch the Super Bowl and munch some noshes and grinders.

On Monday morning, February 6 the four of us went to Celebration Hospital where Shelley was due to have surgery on her left shoulder which has been really hurting her for some time. She went through pre-op and then the surgery began around 10. Laura and Shelly were there, providing wonderful support. Shelley was awake by early afternoon and we left the hospital at about 3:30. Not only did she have her arm in a sling, but she had a pain pump dripping morphine into the wound and a gizmo which allowed ice water to be pumped around to keep things cold and prevent swelling. The care in the hospital was really great. The rest of the week was really reserved for recuperation. The anesthesia made Shelley sleepy all week, and she napped frequently during the day. On Thursday morning, she pulled out the pain pump and we rebandaged the three small areas where the surgeon had operated. She absolutely couldn't wait to take a shower. We went to the hospital for her first session of physical therapy on Thursday. Each day the pain seemed to get a little less, her sleepiness seemed to be a little less, and the movement in her arm and shoulder seem to be a little more. Although she was still in pain, it seems like the recuperation process is going along at a rapid pace. In fact, on Sunday morning we met Shelly and Laura and one of their son's family at Disney's Magic Kingdom. We wandered around for a while and had lunch at a nie restaurant called Tony's. On the way back, we wandered around the town of Celebration. This town was apparently planned and built by Disney and it reminded me somewhat of an village from the 1950's. There were attached homes, apartments, and private homes of every size, and it seems as if it would be conducive to walking around or just hanging out. It was an attractive place, but it was pretty obvious that housing there would be pretty expensive.

The week following surgery was filled with lots of fun things. Monday, our friend Joe V. stopped by. He drove down from Long Island yesterday and his wife is flying down on Thursday. Joe and Sue helped us move our stuff from our first coach, the Adventurer, to our new Holiday Rambler Endeavor, in December, 2004. They'll be back in the Orlando area later on in February so we'll see them then. Tuesday, 2/14 brought us back to another therapy session for Shelley. They are working her shoulder, and it is pretty sore and achy by the time an hour is up and therapy is done. We met Pearl and Harold Laroff at Mekong, a local Thai-Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant that was really good. Wednesday afternoon, about 20 couples who were waiting for their pads to be completed, held a get-together to get to know each other. It was really fun for us, as we really had not met many of our neighbors-to-be. Thursday was PT again. On Saturday, Shelley insisted that she was OK for riding a bike, so bike we did. We intentionally rode by the site of one of the organizers of Wednesday's get-together and we spent some time with Woody and Jane Webster. Then another of the organizers, Tony Limberg, joined in. We sort of invited ourselves to join Tony and his wife Barb, as well as another couple, Dick and Sally, at dinner in the Deer Creek clubhouse. The food was really good. By the way, after leaving Woody's campsite, we biked down to Regal Pointe to find that our site had been leveled and the pavers installed!! The rest of the month was relatively uneventful. We made friends with a number of folks who are also waiting for Regal Pointe to be ready. We are all currently staying in the campground for free, and once we move, we'll have to pay for the carrying costs, we're all just fine sitting tight!! But its nice to be meeting all of our new neighbors, or at least lots of them. Shelley has been going to physical therapy twice a week and has been generally getting more range of motion, but the day after PT is always tough, with pain in her shoulder. Thursday 3/2 she has an appointment with the doctor and we should find out more about our schedule for the next few weeks.

On February 21st, our cousins Craig and Jessica and their children Samara and Seth came down for a vacation to Universal Studios. We went over there to join them for dinner. We went to Portofino's at Universal's CityWalk. To get there, we walked to CityWalk and then took a boat ride over to the restaurant. It was so beautiful and there were people on the balconies of the building, singing Italian opera. The evening was gorgeous and we ate outside on the piazza! Their children were so cute and we got to meet their new son Seth, who was adopted from Russia about a year ago. We really had a lovely evening.

On Friday, 2/24, Norm went to Cape Kennedy; Shelley opted to stay at the coach. Upon reaching the Visitor's Center, he was confronted with a choice of plans, costing anywhere from $21 to $56. He selected a program toward the lower end of the range. The program for visitors is run by a private company and is not funded at all by the government. The day consisted of a bus tour with intermittent stops at various launch pads and exhibition halls as well as admission to 2 IMAX movies. A few highlights include:

The Vehicle Assembly Building which is about 550 feet high. However, its square shape makes the building seem much smaller. The volume of the building is 2.75 times as large as the Empire State Building; by volume it is the 3rd largest in the country. The picture following shows an American flag painted on the side of the building. Each stripe is wide enough to for us to drive our motorhome on it. (8.5 feet)
Amazement at how large the rockets are and how small the astronaut's living/working area is.
Surprise that Cape Kennedy was so large and was located in the middle of a nature area.