Horrible Treatment at UW Health Pain Management Clinic!

Yesterday, we left at approximately 8 a.m. for a much-anticipated appointment with the University of Wisconsin Pain Management Clinic.  Unfortunately, we were, shall we say, less than pleased!  

Below is the letter I just sent to the UW Health Patient Relations Department:

RE:          Leslie Liegel, PA, Complaint

Dear Sir or Madam:

On August 20, 2019, my husband and I had my husband’s first appointment with the UW Health Pain Clinic.  Unfortunately, that appointment was with Leslie Liegel, PA.  We live in Athens, Wisconsin, a drive which took us approximately 2-1/2 hours.  We left our home at approximately 8 a.m. for our 11 a.m. appointment.  Unfortunately, traffic was not on our side, and we were 13 minutes late to our appointment.  The receptionist explained that there was a 15 minute window, but that we were within that window, at 13 minutes.  While speaking with the receptionist and completing the last-minute registration information, Mr. Liegel informed the receptionist that he would not see my husband and that we would have to reschedule the appointment.  Needless to say, my husband and I were flabbergasted.  We pleaded with the receptionist, who again asked Mr. Liegel, who again declined to see us, even though we had traveled 173 miles to this appointment and I had taken the day off of work.  As we were pleading again with the receptionist, the office manager happened to come out.  The situation was explained to her and I’m assuming she discussed the matter with Mr. Liegel and came back out to advise that we would be able to see him after all.  We were able to complete the registration information and were escorted to a patient room. 

We spent approximately ten minutes finishing additional information with another woman (possibly a nurse?), and then Mr. Liegel entered the exam room.  Upon his entering the room, he introduced himself to my husband and completely ignored me.  He reviewed my husband’s information on the computer and asked a couple of questions.  He then did a brief examination on my husband and asked him to walk towards the door and walk back and then to attempt to walk on his toes.  After that, Mr. Liegel indicated that my husband may be a candidate for infusions and that our time was up.  I asked him what the infusions were and what was the difference between infusions and a pain pump and why was he not a candidate for the pain pump.  He briefly explained the lidocaine infusions and when I asked for additional information, he rummaged through the desk, but was unable to find any information relating to them.  He then wrote the words “lidocaine infusion” on a business card and told us to “Google it.” 

At that point, I asked Mr. Liegel how my husband’s pain medication would be handled, because he has a doctor with Advanced Pain Management that prescribes his Hydrocodone.  Mr. Liegel informed us that UW Health Pain Management does not write prescriptions for pain medicine and that we would have to continue seeing my husband’s doctor at Advanced Pain Management.  He then stated that we should make an appointment in three weeks to go over the infusions and schedule any tests that may be needed and left the exam room.  We arrived at UW Health at 11:13 a.m. and left the exam room with Mr. Liegel at approximately 11:50.  A total of approximately 37 minutes was spent at the Clinic, after driving more than two and a half hours. 

To say we were disappointed with Mr. Liegel would be quite an understatement.  Mr. Liegel has absolutely no compassion and did not care that we were stuck in traffic or that we had driven 173 miles just to see him. 

My husband is in an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis.  He has a very complicated health history, having had cancer 3 times, a bone marrow transplant, congestive heart failure, a pacemaker defibrillator, bulging disks, a history of shingles and neuropathy in both his hands and feet, among other issues.  We came to UW Health, in part, based on the information on your website.  We expected, after having had to wait approximately one month for an appointment so that all of his records could be gathered, that his records would have been reviewed by your “team” of doctors and that we would be meeting with more than just a physician assistant.  We assumed our appointment would last a couple of  hours and that we would be meeting with these additional specialists on the “team” and a plan of action would be put in place.  We did not expect that we were only allotted 40 minutes with an egotistical PA who appeared to have not even bothered to look at my husband’s records prior to his appointment.  Instead, we were met with a physician assistant who at first refused to see us, and when he did see us, was nothing less than arrogant and condescending.  Additionally, I have since discovered that the doctors at UW Health Pain Clinic do indeed prescribe pain medications, so Mr. Liegel outright lied to us.  

The lack of compassion expressed by Mr. Liegel for someone in constant pain (as stated on his form, my husband’s pain is generally an 8 out of 10) was infuriating, and quite frankly, disgusting.  Instead of even attempting to obtain information relating to the lidocaine infusions, Mr. Liegel told us to look up the information ourselves by “Googling it.”   As the internet is full of inaccurate information, and we specifically wanted information on UW Health’s lidocaine infusion program, advising us to “Google it” was completely unacceptable. 

Neither my husband, nor I, understood the need to come back in three weeks to further “discuss” the lidocaine infusions and to schedule whatever testing may be necessary prior to any potential infusions.  We have no intentions of driving almost 350 miles for yet another less than 30 minute appointment with a physician assistant with a sneering attitude and complete and utter lack of compassion, only to have to schedule more appointments to have tests completed at a future time.  Additionally, I absolutely refuse to see any professional who outright lied to me and my husband.  That one lie has proven Mr. Liegel to be completely untrustworthy, unreliable and absolutely unprofessional.  I do not trust Mr. Liegel to tell us the truth about anything after lying about prescribing pain medication.

We currently have an appointment scheduled for September 9, 2019 with Mr. Liegel.  I will be canceling that appointment, as we will never waste our time with Mr. Liegel again.  I refuse to be treated in such a horrible, condescending manner.  I refuse to be lied to by a medical professional and I refuse to have my husband treated by someone with absolutely no compassion.  Mr. Liegel is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the medical profession and I will be filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services with regard to Mr. Liegel’s unethical behavior. 

Sincerely,

Gregory P. Miklaszewicz

Julie A. Miklaszewicz

GPM:bms

My Sweet Protector -- Sophie the Newfoundland!

Most of you know that we have a Newfoundland named Sophie that we acquired almost two years ago.  Sophie is the sweetest dog, even if a bit of a drooler!  LOL (That may be a bit of an understatement!  Ha, ha!)  

Anyway, this morning before starting work, I let Sophie and Mater out and walked out with them to enjoy the cool morning air.  There's a couple rabbits that have made their home near our barn, and they've been driving the dogs nuts in the morning.  This morning; however, was different.  Sophie was looking to the east and started barking like crazy!   Because she was barking at something, of course, Mater had to start barking, too!  

I looked and looked and couldn't see anything in that direction.  Mater eventually decided that Sophie was nuts and stopped barking, because he couldn't see (or presumably smell) anything, either.   But Sophie wouldn't stop  She'd run to the end of her rope and bark and bark, and then come back and stand in front of me, as if she was protecting me from whatever she was barking at.  She did this for at least ten minutes!  

Greg came outside to see what the fuss was about, and we realized what Sophie was barking at and protecting me from.    See the picture below: 

If you look closely, to the left of the shed, there is a wheelbarrow leaning over a tire.  Yes, indeed, my precious Sophie was protecting me from a WHEELBARROW!     How sweet is that?!  

Normally, the wheelbarrow isn't there, so Sophie was wigged out about it!  We knew it was the wheelbarrow because I went to get it and when I brought it to her, she ran around it, sniffing it, like she had never seen it before and needed to know what this thing was!   

This was the first time I had ever seen her protective instincts!  My dear, sweet, 135 pound Newfoundland!   I must say, this beautiful giant is one of the sweetest, gentlest dogs I have ever met!  Even though she's a lot of work, and a lot of extra cleaning (she sheds more than four dogs combined!), and of course, there's the slobber (and lots of extra cleaning), it's all worth it!   

(Don't worry, even though we're in Wisconsin, this picture isn't from today!)!  

Greg's Health Saga Continues -- Next up -- ACUPUNCTURE!

So, even though I haven't written for a while, not much has changed as far as Greg's health is concerned.  He is still in an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis.  He's had some back procedures (radiofrequency ablation) that have done absolutely nothing for his bulging disk pain, even though it's been five weeks since the first procedure.  

We used a program through our insurance called "2nd MD" and it provides a second opinion.  A Harvard trained and educated pain specialist was chosen for Greg and after reviewing his records, we had a 45 minute video conference with him.  One of his biggest suggestions was to put Greg on a time-release pain medicine, with additional meds for "break-through" pain.  Greg's pain doctor at Advanced Pain Management was not very receptive, to say the least.  His attitude appeared to be that he knows what he's doing and did not like the fact that we went for a second opinion.  He appears to not like it when I question him!  And trust me, I have a lot of questions!  (Imagine that!)   I have not had a favorable opinion of this doctor for a while now, but there was literally no one else available, so we've been stuck with him.  I have had disagreements with their staff and have made formal complaints to their head office.  I am a thorn in their side, and I don't care.  If I don't advocate for Greg, who will?  Too bad if they don't like me questioning their treatment or not being happy about waiting 24 hours or more for a call back.  They treat their patients like we should be lucky they are there, instead of being compassionate, caring doctors and staff who are treating people that are in pain 24/7.  It's not right and I'm sick of it!    

The doctor did agree to put Greg on a time-release medicine and after a huge shit-show of trying to get it approved and then getting it at Walmart, Greg was finally able to start on it.  Suffice it to say that the medicine prescribed did NOTHING for his pain!  We have a case manager through our health insurance and she put us in touch with one of the head pharmacists, who told us that the dosage given to Greg was outrageously low, especially considering the amount of pain and the length of time he's been on opioids.   Greg was on this medicine for a week and it was doing absolutely nothing for his pain!  When we went to see the doctor, and he tried telling us that it could take up to two weeks to begin working, I stopped him in his tracks and told him that was absolutely NOT ACCEPTABLE!   (By the way, the pharmacist said that the doctor is full of crap on that point!)  We ended up going right back to his regular pain meds, and the doctor had nothing more to offer.  Zip, Nada, Nothing!    Suffice it to say I'm NOT pleased!  Trust me when I say that this is the very short version of what happened at that appointment!  

Because of that, I started researching more within our health plan.  As it turns out, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (about 2-1/1 hours away) is in network, but none of the doctors are.  That's not helpful!  UW-Health, in Madison, WI has a Pain Management Center and the clinic and the doctors are all in network!  I contacted Greg's PCP and requested a referral.  Fortunately, his PCP had no problems referring him there and agreed we needed to look at another alternative (I'd have opened up a major can of whoop-ass on her if she argued about it!  They don't like to refer out of their Aspirus network, so I was prepared for an argument.  Fortunately, that never happened!)   They are requesting his records and have scheduled an appointment for us for August 20th.  Please keep Greg in your prayers that they are able to do something for his constant pain!  This is no way to live!   

In the meantime, I did more research on our insurance, and found that up to ten acupuncture visits for pain management are covered!  Unfortunately, the closest in-network acupuncturist was an hour away.  Oh well!  That's closer than Madison (2-1/2 hours), and if it can help his pain, then that's what we're going to do!  

So, his PCP again had no problem referring us to the in-network acupuncturist.  I have a stupid plan that requires referrals for EVERYTHING, but it only has a $1,200 deductible, so we deal with it and I make sure we follow all the stupid rules to the letter.  Greg's bills so far this year are around $220,000 and between my UHC coverage and his secondary Medicare Part B (that we pay for), we haven't had to pay anything additional.  We are very blessed that I work for UnitedHealth Care!   

Today was Greg's first appointment with the acupuncturist, and it was interesting to say the least!  The doctor (he's also a chiropractor) reviewed all the information I gave them (I have Greg's very extensive health history all typed out in a nice little spreadsheet -- I know, shocking that I would be so organized, right?!  Ha, ha!  I guess my OCD comes in handy for stuff like that!  I even carry a spreadsheet of his meds because there's so many! ) 

Anyway, as promised on Facebook, here are some pictures!  First is the table.  I know, doesn't look like much, but there's a heated pad under there!  

The doctor is pressing on various areas of Greg's back.  

In the next picture, you can see some of the pads they put on him.  He had them on his back and on his legs.  It's some sort of magnetic thing, I think!  Too much information that I just didn't absorb all of.  Sorry about that!  

Next are going to be pictures of the needles.  If you're squeamish, you should probably stop reading now!  LOL!  

There are some pressure points in the ears, so he started there!  

Greg said he barely felt the needles going in.  He said it hurts more when I put in the needles for his weekly IVIG treatments!  These needles are thinner than an earring stud!   Super thin!!!!! 

Here, you can see a bunch of the needles in his back.  The different colors are different lengths of needles. 

The needles stayed in for about 30 minutes total.  Apparently, this is a treatment that does require more than one to work, so Greg hasn't really noticed much relief yet.  But, we're still hopeful!  The doctor is going to be gone all next week, so he won't be going back for 1-1/2 weeks.  At that point, he can go himself.  There's no need for me to go with.   I always like to go for at least the first appointment with someone new, so I know what's going on, and so I can help add to the discussion of his treatment/history. 

We're also starting Greg on some CBD oil.  The doctor really thinks that this will help Greg, and it won't interact with any of his other meds, so why not?   It cost about $100, which seems like a lot, but it should last about 1-1/1 months.  And, if you think about how many times you go to the grocery store for a loaf of bread or gallon of milk and blow 100 bucks, well, there you go!  

Afterwards, we went for lunch at Charcoal Grill (we LOVE onion strings, versus onion rings, and they are one of the few restaurants around here that have them.  YAY!).  The food was excellent and we ate enough that we won't have dinner tonight!  

After that, we stopped at a store to look for a dress for me for Erica's wedding.  Unfortunately, we didn't find anything, so we'll be going to David's Bridal in Eau Claire on Saturday (about 1-1/2 hours away).  So, we went to their sister store in Marshfield, and ran into Aaron and Rachel there!  Aaron needed to get fitted for his tux for Erica's wedding and a friend's wedding.  I had a feeling we may run into them there, and it was great to see them!   There were also stopping at Abby's new house for dinner (in case you didn't know, our 21 year old daughter, Abby (the one that went to Australia for six months) bought a house!  How incredible is that?!   So, we stopped there on the way home to see how it looked after she moved in her furniture and painted.  It's absolutely adorable and we are so incredibly proud of her!  

I know I need to post more on our trip to Australia.  I have tons and tons of pictures I want to share, but between work, taking care of Greg, making stuff for Erica's wedding and bridal shower, I just haven't had time.  

If anyone takes CBD oil, or has more information on it, please let me know!  I'm curious as to how long it might take to see some results (if any), and of course testimonials of how it's worked for you!  Feel free to leave it in the comments section here!    

So, that's what's going on with Greg.  It's been quite a journey, and we're anxious for it to end.  I am very hopeful about UW-Health being able to help him.  They have an entire team of doctors that work together to come up with treatment plans, so we're not stuck with just one doctor with a god-complex!  

Hope all is well with everyone!  Love, peace and prayers for all! 

Julie 

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year on this day, we sent our youngest off on the adventure of a lifetime.  Abby left for her six month internship on Moxey Farms in Australia! Moxey farms is Australia's largest single site dairy farm with almost 6,700 acres and producing almost 19 million gallons of milk!   I remember spending the day, and the next day, stalking her planes!  What an incredible experience for her!  Because of this, I will never forget my 53rd birthday!  

This year's birthday was quite different!  It was basically a "normal" Sunday, with church in the morning, and working around the house once we got home.   

As most of you know, I've been working hard on our little "woods" on our property.  You may wonder why I've talked about this area of our yard so much, and the reason is simple.  For the first 12 years of living here, we pretty much ignored this area!   This area had become very overrun with weeds and burdock (I really hate burdock!).  That's the plant that leaves "burrs" all over the place that stick to your clothing!  YUCK!  Anyway, so a few years ago, I bought my walk-behind trimmer (kind of a wanna-be brush hog), and started to work on that area of the yard.   I don't like to use poison on weeds if I can help it because of the chickens.  They free-range and wander the whole yard, and the last thing I want to do is poison them.  From what I've read, if I continually whack off the burdock while it's growing, eventually, it will stop growing.  So, I go out there every week or so in the summer and whack everything down, including all of that nasty burdock!  While doing that, I'm adding all kinds of cool stuff to make it look pretty!  

You may recall that last fall, we were able to get the big galvanized steel trough out of the barn and put it in the woods with the intention of using it as a planter.  Well, something that big would take a LOT of dirt, so Greg filled it with the branches from the trees and bushes I chopped down.  Then we put landscape fabric over that, and then dirt.  Even with that, it took about 28 bags of dirt to fill!   We finally got it done, though and I planted a bunch of flowers  in it and planted a boatload of seeds!  I had some new from this year, and a packet of wildflower seeds from 2015.  I'm not sure if those will grow or not, but we shall see! I'm excited to see how it looks in a month!  

The new chickens are enjoying this part of the yard!  

The picture below is from the road. 

And a couple close-ups.  In this first one, the container with the fern in it (the fern is fake) is a pig feeder that Abby picked up for me last year!  How cool is that?!  You can also see a bit of what looks like an old red barn door.  It's actually a part from an old farm wagon that Abby got for me!  That girl sure knows what I like!!!  

Here, you can see the wash tubs that I bought two years ago at a big flea market.  I still have not ever seen beautiful round enamel ones like this, either in someone's yard or at another flea market!  

This next picture is the last area that I need to reclaim.  Last year, it was so thick that you could hardly even walk in it!  Before everything started growing this year, I went out there and chopped down a buttload of Poplar trees that just grew up here.   It's going to take a while to get it to where I want, but it's a start!  

And some pictures of the front of the house.  Here, you can see on the left, the washtub that I had an old babysitter go back and pick up the stand from a garbage pile!  Along with some other antiques.  Notice the old cast iron stove on the right?  That has an old soup pot with flowers in it and a tea kettle planter!  See what I did there?   Kitchen pots used as planters on a stove!  Ha, ha  I still need to do some trimming of the bushes, but that will now have to wait for fall.  

I need to do some more weeding and trimming here, but I'm so happy with how the front is looking! 

If you recall the before and after pictures when I trimmed these bushes you could hardly see the white Bleeding Heart that was there.  This is a plant that I bought about 3 years ago from a Master Gardener, and it's definitely a masterpiece!  This plant is HUGE and so beautiful!  

So, that's a brief stroll through the yard and what I've been working on!  It's been a lot of work, and my back is definitely feeling it, but I'll be fine in a day or two, and I'll be smiling every time I look at what all the hard work has accomplished!  

Until next time!  Love, peace and prayers to all! 

Julie 

I smell a RAT or COON in the chicken coop!!!!!

Well, I haven't admitted anything until yesterday, but we have a predator in our chicken coop!  No matter what we did, it was getting in there and killing almost a chicken every night!  It wasn't just killing them, it was eating them.  As gross as it is, and I'm really sorry about this, but I'd go out there in the morning, to find a dead chicken with all of it's guts completely gone!  It was heartbreaking.  We did everything we could think of to reinforce the coop, but nothing was working.  (And no, I'm not going to gross everyone out with any pictures of the chickens!  You're welcome.)  

I contacted a work friend of mine, whose husband does a lot of trapping.  I figured Charles was the one person that could help us!  I decided that the chickens (all 4 that were left) were going to go in the garage overnight, along with the geese, ducks and turkeys.  I just couldn't bear to wake up to any more dead animals!  

I bought a couple trail cams and Charles stopped over yesterday to look over the coop.   He came back this morning with some traps for us to use.   We've got them all set up in the coop, as you can see below.  

There's a few more that I didn't take pictures of , but suffice it to say the coop is well armed!  I also have a trail cam inside the coop, aimed at the trap directly above (I strategically took this picture so you would not see the chicken carcass that we put in there for "bait.") 

If you liked the story of me "walking" my turkey home last fall, you'll get a real kick out of this one!  

It's not as easy as you would think to get chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys into a garage!  Yesterday, the chickens had already gone into the coop for the night.  We took one of our old dog kennels out there with us to put them in to carry them into the garage.  Greg was standing at the door, trying to keep them from getting out, but it was made more complicated by the fact that both Butterballs were in there, too, and they wanted to get the bread that I was throwing into the cage to tempt the chickens!  UGH!  

OK, let's stop a minute and think this through.  We got the turkeys out of the coop and managed to get three of the hens in the cage.  Fred, on the other hand, was not so easy to get in there!  Once, he managed to get outside the coop, because Greg was trying to keep the hens in the cage and not guarding the door!  So, we finally get Fred back in the coop and I told Greg we should take the cage with the hens into the garage and come back to get Fred.   So, we get back to the coop and Fred is on the roost.  It's not quite dark yet, so he can see me and he knows that something is up, after all, his girls are all gone!  He's on the top roost, and I have to grab him.  No easy task!  So, I managed to grab him and flipped him upside down to carry him by his feet!  Greg just stood there with his mouth open!  LOL  In case you didn't know it, this is exactly the proper way to carry a chicken and does not hurt them.  They immediately become docile and just kind of, well, hang out!  HA!   

So, now the chickens are all in, and I manage to fairly easily get the turkeys in by tossing some bread in the garage.  Next are the geese and ducks.  Greg was outside with them, walking behind them, arms outstretched to kind of "herd" them toward the garage.  So he's getting closer, and I'm throwing bread to entice them in, and of course, the turkeys are wanting to head outside to go after the bread, too!  ACK!!  So, picture me in a ninja stance, legs spread, arms spread, scooting sideways back and forth to keep the turkeys from running outside while trying to not be in the way of the geese and ducks from getting in!   Back and forth, back and forth, stopping, scooting, hollering.  OK, the geese are in, so now it's time for the ducks!  Again, I got my ninja stance on, scooting back and forth, because now I have two turkeys and two geese who want to run out for the bread that we're using to try and get the ducks in!  So, we finally get them all in there, and holler to Greg "CLOSE THE DOOR!"  Meanwhile, I'm still doing my ninja scoot so they don't run under the garage door and get squished!  

Today was almost a repeat of yesterday, except because the coop was closed all day, the chickens and turkeys actually went into the garage voluntarily!   I had a couple chickens that ran in and out, but the geese were on their way in.  They were wary of what was going on, so as I'm doing the ninja scoot, I'm screaming for Greg to come out and help!  (Of course, I thought I could do it myself tonight!). So, he went out the side door to chase the lone hen that got out on me, and starts hollering that he didn't put his boots on, and it's kind of wet out there.  So, we switch places!  Now HE is doing the whole ninja scoot thing while I'm trying to chase the hen into the garage!  He was closest to the button, so once she went in, I hollered "HIT THE BUTTON!" to close the door.  Of course, this freaked out the geese, who started hotfooting it to the door, so I jump in front of them waving my arms to get them away from the door!   We finally got them all in and the door closed.  Sheesh!   

I am so glad we live in the country and there was no one there to watch!   

Hopefully, when we get up in the morning, we'll find some nasty critters in the traps in the coop!  Pray that we do, please because they need to be gone so we can get in there and totally clean out the coop to put new floorboards and fix any other holes.  I don't want to ever go through this again!  

I'll keep ya'all posted! 

Love, peace and prayers to all! 

Ninja Julie 

Daintree River Crocodile Hunting Cruise!

Prior to our incredible lunch, we went on a guided river cruise on the Daintree River!   The Daintree River is surrounded by the Alexandra Range mountains and deep valleys. Combined with the climatic conditions of the area the river is prone to quickly developing floods with little warning due to the high rainfalls on the 3,300 ft mountain ranges around the catchment and the influence of the cyclonic forces in the adjacent Coral Sea. 

Due to the ever-shifting deep center of the sandbar, entering the Daintree River has always been a problem for ship captains. The area was missed by Captain Cook when passing in the voyage where his ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. The Daintree River was discovered by Europeans in 1873 after they were attracted to nearby regions due to its vast natural reserves of gold.

Due to the river's isolation, saltwater crocodiles - once threatened in the region due to hunting - have flourished in recent years as beneficiaries of legislation that protects them. There have been numerous reports of deaths in the Daintree River from crocodile attacks and authorities warn tourists and visitors not to step close to the riverbank, stay within the confines of boats, and absolutely never swim in the river!

Here's what we saw when we first pulled up.  It looks a little run down, but it was actually a pretty cool place!  

We were given juice and tea and some biscuits (cookies) to munch on while we walked around a little bit.  We then boarded the boat for our tour! 

Lots of mangroves here!    Mangroves are really quite amazing trees!  

Mangroves are what are a collection of salt tolerant plants that are found along coastal areas and up rivers in the tropics and subtropics. There are 34 species of mangroves in Queensland with a total of only 69 species worldwide. 

Some species of mangroves are more salt tolerant than others and, because of this, there are distinct zones in a mangrove forest where the boundaries between species can easily be seen. 

Mangroves actually enhance their own environment, in a way. The root systems are designed to trap silt - the more silt builds up, the more mangroves can grow, and trap more silt and make more muddy areas for more mangroves. But mangroves have had to adapt to all this mud. In terrestrial plants, the soil gets soaked from rain and then dries out, allowing air to reach the roots. This doesn't happen with mangroves as there is little to no oxygen available in the heavy mud, so these plants have adapted their roots to be able to get oxygen without extracting it from the mud. Their roots grow up out of the mud so that oxygen is accessed straight from the air. Many of the root types are distinctive to the species of mangrove so the plant's genus can be identified sometimes by the root type alone.

Various other wildlife is also seen!  Sorry I don't remember what kind of bird this is!  

The first crocodile we saw! 

And for some video!   This is pretty awesome video of the crocodile we saw swimming in the river!   Listening to our guide is pretty funny!  He kind of reminds me of my cousin Jerry!    

And here's video of the Crocodile!!!!! 

And more pictures! 

Check out the crocodile!  

Some traffic on the Daintree!  

Beautiful views!  

In the picture below, they are restoring the shoreline.  

We had to wait for the ferry to take us to the other side!   The ferry can handle about 40 vehicles and takes about five minutes to cross the river.   It's a cable ferry, with cables on either side of the shore.  There is a charge of $26 per vehicle to cross.   Unfortunately, we were not able to exit the vehicle while we were crossing  :-( 

After we crossed the river, we drove along the Bloomfield 4WD track to Emmagen Creek.  And that is a story for another post!  

Hope you enjoyed this trip on the Daintree River!   

New Year, New Medical Problems for Greg

As if the title to this blog post is a shock to anyone!  Ha!  It's looking like we're going to be facing more health issues/surgery for Greg. 

In the last few weeks, he's been experiencing some issues that caused us some concern.    Lots of peeing, fatigue, water retention, bloating, a return of acid reflux, lots of gas (oh, joy for those around him), and a sharp pain on the right side, under his ribs, that goes around to his back, right after he eats.   

We went to see his regular doctor on Monday, who mentioned gall bladder, and scheduled him for an ultrasound on Friday.  She also scheduled us to see their surgeon, because he also needs to have another endoscopy, to ensure that the acid reflux isn't a return of his esophageal cancer!  The acid reflux was something that really concerned us, and he hasn't had an endoscopy since September, 2017.  Praying that that test comes out clear!!!  

We saw the surgeon today and he agreed that Greg's symptoms are all classic gallbladder symptoms.  So, with that being said, we've got Greg on the calendar for the endoscopy next week Thursday.  If the ultrasound comes back that his gallbladder does need to be removed, that will be added to Thursday's schedule and will be done at the same time as the endoscopy.   

So, instead of new stuff growing in Greg (cancer), he's now starting to simply have parts removed!  HA!  Last year it was his hypothyroid, and this year, we start with the gallbladder (most likely)!  Sheesh!  If it's not one thing, it's another with this guy!   He has really forced me to take those "in sickness and in health" vows quite seriously!!   I will say, we were much happier with a simple gallbladder removal versus the many, many other things his issues could have been symptoms of!  Please do continue to pray for him -- that the endoscopy comes back clear and there is no return of the esophageal cancer!

And, just for fun -- we had about 6-8 inches of snow today, and I had to drive 22 miles on not very well cared for roads.  (Hwy 29 west and 13 north, for those in the area).   I plugged my truck in around 11:30 this morning and when we went to leave, my truck started just fine but after about 30 seconds, conked right out!  OYE!  I really wanted to take my truck, but God had other plans.  We had some cold overnight temps the last couple nights, and I'm not sure that I put any "anti-gel" stuff in the last time I filled up (my mistake).  Sooooooooooo, we're fairly certain that my truck is simply refusing to move because it's too dang cold (and the fuel has gelled).  I stopped at the local auto store on the way home and got some Diesel 911 and am hoping that it warms up this weekend like it's supposed to so we can get my truck moving again.   This would be only the second time my truck ever froze up (in 15 years!), and unfortunately, because it's now parked outside (the new car and Abby's car get garage privileges these days), we have to simply wait on Mother Nature to help us out rather than turning on a heater in the garage. 

At least we have the new car and were able to take that to go to the doctor.  It's front wheel drive and today was the first time I drove it in this kind of weather.  I felt it handled really well!  Course, there's also the incomparable skills of the driver!  HA!  

Just south of Stetsonville is where this picture was taken on the way home: 

I'm still working on my blog from our trip to Australia, and have the next entry about half done.  I'll be posting that as soon as I have some extra time.  Now that we are finally off mandatory overtime, that should be soon!  

Thanks to everyone for the prayers.  You all know how much Greg and I appreciate them!  

Love, peace and prayers to all!  

Julie 

Surviving the Polar Vortex with our Backyard Flock!

Taking a brief break from our Australia adventures to update folks on how we weathered (no pun intended) the recent outbreak of horrifically cold weather here in the middle of nowhere in North Central Wisconsin!   

I wasn't worried about us so much as I was concerned for our flock of chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys!  Our coop is not heated, but it is insulated.  As it's about 15 years old and was built with old weathered pine boards, there were definitely some drafts.  In 2010, someone was offering 4x8 sheets of styrofoam insulation for free and I managed to grab it up!  We placed those sheets between the studs of the coop and covered it with particle board (chickens will peck at the styrofoam!). 

Before -- lots of places for cold wind to blow through!  

AFTER:  You can see the styrofoam above the window in this picture.  

The coop still looks pretty much like this, but there are a few areas that had some drafts.  I put plastic over both windows because they are quite drafty.  I bought a few bales of straw from Erica's future in-laws and spread one around the floor of the coop and put two bales in front of the door.  We've always had problems with the door warping in the winter, no matter what we do and always have a crack where cold wind can come through.  (If anyone has any suggestions on how to build a new door that won't warp, I'd be happy to hear them!)   Two additional whole bales of straw were placed in front of the coop to block any wind.  There is a large gap above the door that I also wanted to block, and as I was very cold at this point, I just had Greg grab a piece of an old mattress pad we had and shoved it in there!  Yes, it's redneck, but guess what?  I don't care!  It did what it was meant to do!  

I also added some more plastic to the vent area at the top of the coop on the east side.  There is plenty of other ventilation, so I wasn't worried about not having enough.  When I ran out of plastic, I used some old feed bags!  Necessity IS the mother of invention, right?!  

In case you're wondering, those PVC tubes are their feeders.  They work great and keep the feed clean and dry! 

I ended up putting a second bale of straw down for bedding yesterday (thanks, Robby and Ken!), because it was supposed to be even colder overnight (<-- Seriously?  Can it really get any colder here?!)  The chickens would normally sleep on their roost, but in this cold, they were nesting on the ground.  They are smart enough to recognize that the straw offers them a good layer of insulation to help keep them warm!  If you watch a chicken in the winter, you'll see them "fluff" their feathers, and may stay fluffed (other birds, as well).   What this does is it traps air between their feathers and body and acts as insulation to help keep them warm.  Isn't God amazing in how He created these incredible birds? 

I know there are people from all over reading this, and we all have different definitions of cold.  During this polar vortex, we had nighttime temperatures of 35 below zero (F) and wind chills (feels like temperatures) of 55 to 60 below zero!  This was the coldest weather we've had in 23 years!  That's longer than Abby's been alive!!!!!!  Yes, it was cold.  Yes, it was miserable, but we all survived, including our flock!  It feels like our furnace has not shut off for the last two days!  I can only imagine how much propane we have gone through to keep the house warm!  But, at least we have propane and good working furnace!

You can see a gap in the boards above, where cold air was blowing through.  In the picture below, you can see that I covered it with an old feed bag.  Staple guns are great for this sort of thing!  

Just for fun, here's a picture of me as I'm heading outside in 40 below zero wind chills to take care of the chickens!  Fashion goes right out the window when it's that cold.  Staying warm is all that matters!  And for the record, even in the coop, out of the wind, I have NEVER gotten SO cold SO fast EVER!   I'm told I look "angry" and I haven't even been outside yet!  Well, just the thought of going out there in that cold was enough to make me not happy, but the thought of not knowing how they were all doing was enough to make me go!  Normally, Greg would take care of them, but I really wanted to do this myself, as not only is the cold even harder on him, but I'm just that much of a control freak that I needed to be able to see for myself how they were doing.  

I truly believe that covering any potential drafts and spreading extra straw (2 bales) for bedding and putting two whole bales in front of the door to cover any additional potential drafts made all the difference for my flock and is what kept them alive in their unheated (but insulated) coop during this "cold snap." 

I must admit, they are getting cabin fever. Today, they were trying to sneak out the door when I was taking care of them! It's going to be a whopping 12 degrees above zero tomorrow, so they will be allowed to go outside once again! I'm sure they will be thrilled this weekend, when it's more than 100 degrees warmer! Yes, it is predicted to be a balmy 36 degrees on Saturday and 40 on Sunday!!!!! YAY! 

Stay warm everyone! 

Julie

P.S.:  For anyone that wonders why we don't have a heat lamp in our chicken coop, here's a short story of what happened about ten years ago:

I woke up one winter morning and looked out the window at what I thought was "steam" coming out the top vent of the coop. When Aaron (about 16 at the time)  went outside to open the chickens before leaving for school a little while later, there was a FLASH of fire! He grabbed the shovel that was next to the coop and shoveled snow onto the fire to put it out! The chickens were all huddled on the floor as far away as possible. The heat lamp had fallen and landed "face down" in the straw. Fortunately, it was winter and the straw was damp, so it only smoldered.  BUT, with the air from the door being opened, the smoldering flashed into a fire! It could have been so much worse! Not only could we have lost the chickens and the coop, but Aaron could have been horribly burned! We've never used a heat lamp again. It's just not worth it. It's just too dangerous and is the way 99% of chicken coop fires start!