Mark and I are taking Monday and Tuesday off this week because he had appointments scheduled on both days at the VA in Muskogee.

Today was Mark’s appointment with the hand clinic.  Right before we left California, Mark’s right hand was tested and they said he had carpal tunnel.  They would have scheduled him for surgery there but we were getting ready to leave, so they gave him a cortisone shot and told him to get an appointment with the hand clinic as soon as we settled in here.  This was Mark’s first appointment with the hand doctor.  The doctor looked over the notes past doctors had written (the VA is connected by computer all over the country) and did a few tests with Mark’s hands right there and agreed to do the surgery.  Mark’s hand surgery is scheduled for May 1st.  Hopefully he will be healed enough by Memorial Day weekend for the busy summer we are expecting.  When we got home we talked with Jeff and Melanie about it and they’re going to put him on light duty, maybe doing things around the office, till he recovers.

Then Mark had to fill our external propane tank, so while he was doing that I went across the street to talk to our Baptist Workampers.  Clyde was trying to deal with technical support on the phone, so I brought Kathy over to visit at our site.  Mark built a fire and we were visiting, and when Clyde finally got off the phone he came over too.  Mark built a fire and Kathy and I sat near it to stay warm while Mark and Clyde sat at the picnic table and visited.  None of us got any dinner.  We kept talking till 10:00 this evening, but it was nice to have that chance to visit.

Clyde needs to get into the VA system here, so we’re going to lead him and Kathy there when we go for Mark’s appointment tomorrow, but we decided to go early because there’s a museum right next to the hospital called the Five Civilized Tribes Museum that we’d like to see together.  Clyde has Cherokee in his blood and wants to do some research while they’re here.  I don’t know what all that museum has, but that’s why I first went over to talk with them tonight; because I knew of Clyde’s interest and I wanted to invite them to check it out with us.  Maybe I’ll be able to tell you more about it tomorrow.