continuation of "the saga continues"

So here we were in Oklahoma the first of June 1967 and Boy! was it hot. We had never experienced heat such as that of the west in summer. While we waited for our car to be repaired after being hit in Indianapolis we rented a car with air-conditioning. Aah! It was like heaven after never having it before. The heat is very tough on infants and babies, so our baby traveled so-o much better when she was cool.
Lee started work at Reynolds Army Hospital as a staff nurse on the Orthopedics floor and he enjoyed it very much. It was the first time since we were married where we felt so safe and secure. However, looming over us on a daily basis was the threat of receiving orders for Viet Nam. It seemed almost everyday when Lee came home he had news of another of our nurses being sent to Nam. Lee had been told when he volunteered for the "Army Nurse Corp" don't worry we have plenty of volunteers for Nam. What they neglected to say was that almost all of the volunteers were females.
Lee's knee had become more and more painful and I finally convinced him to see the Orthopedic physician. He was seen by the doc in the morning and a date was set for surgery. That very afternoon Lee received his first orders for Viet Nam. It was about the 20th of December, the actual day of Lee's knee surgery before he was told that he would not be going to Viet Nam this time around. The knee surgery turned out to be more extensive than we thought. When Lee came out of the surgery he had a full cast from his right hip to his ankle. I visited him that evening in the hospital and he was in a great deal of pain and the knee was very swollen. He was sedated with morphine and he didn't remember that I had been there. Sometime during the night the cast split open, Lee had an infection in the surgical site. The next day they took Lee back to surgery and the wound had to be debrided, and then a new cast was applied. His entire leg was casted from Dec. until May when it was removed.
Before Lee entered the Army we were accustomed to being paid bi-weekly which sometimes was difficult enough, trying to make ends meet. In the military we were introduced into a new system. The military check was deposited in Lee's checking account once at the beginning of the month. So it was a whole new experience for us to try and shop at the 1st of the month and make the food last until the next month. It really required meal planning which was novel to me, but I learned quite quickly. As long as I had some meat and potatoes and flour, shortening and the basics I was able to put a meal together. Being of Irish heritage my mother always fixed meat and potatoes for my father because he refused to eat spaghetti, pizza, Chinese food or any ethnic food. Sometimes at the end of the month it would be slim pickings, but we managed. Some of the other young couples would run out of food at the end of the month and go to the "Officer's Club" for 3 or 4 days before payday and charge their meals. We never had to resort to that. Lee always said "that is like paying for a dead horse."
Our health care was all provided by the military hospital and Lee would need their services after approximately 6 months of active duty. When he had been in the head-on collision while still a student he also injured his right knee quite seriously. When the other car hit him head=on his knees were pushed under the dashboard, basically crushing the right knee cap For some several months he had experienced severe knee pain and pain killers.