ArtPrize

Georgia was hospitalized four time in August and September for gastric pain. It appears the gastric bypass hasn’t fully solved her problem. Right now she has a tube in the bypassed portion of her stomach that comes out through her abdomen. It is there so a gastroenterologist can do an ERCP and look for possible issues in that portion of her stomach. The tube has to be in place for 2-3 weeks before the ERCP.

With all those hospital stays, we have had to stay close to home for the last couple months. But, this past weekend, Georgia was feeling pretty good and wanted to get out for a while. We decided to go to Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit friends and explore ArtPrize. I took Friday and Monday off to give us enough time there.

After a stop at Four Winds Casino for lunch and slot play (I won $100), we got into Grand Rapids on a rainy Friday afternoon. We spent that evening and all day Saturday with friends and family. The weather was beautiful on Sunday when we went downtown for ArtPrize. We were joined by our friends Dennis and Mary and their daughter Roxanne, with her baby Ian.

ArtPrize is a huge art show that is spread out over many venues all over town. That meant a full day of walking for me. Georgia had her TravelScoot to help her get around.  Having friends with us made it a very pleasant outing. There was no way we could see everything but we got to as many venues as we could.

We ate lunch at Peppino’s Pizza downtown. From there we walked to the Grand Rapids Art Museum which is one of the larger venues for works that must be kept indoors. Then a short walk back to the car and to our hotel.

We drove back home on Monday with a short stop at St. Alexius Hospital to pick by some CDs with the images from the tests Georgia had while she was in the hospital there. She needed those to take with her to her first appointment with the surgeon who will do the ERCP. That appointment happened Tuesday afternoon and her procedure is now scheduled for Monday Oct. 10. Hopefully it will shed some light on the reason for the attacks she suffers.