Week in Review

Well, where to start? Friday,(I know last week, but still important) we got the news about the tumor. The weekend was spent dealing with that bit of news and coming to the conclusion that it is not as bad as it sounds. The sound, brain tumor, has a certain finality to it. We thought we were in for a fight like with the beast cancer. Luckily that will not be the case this time. Things began to look good on Monday. The surgery was a success and the tumor was removed. By Tuesday afternoon Robbie was awake and in some pain, which is to be expected when someone cracks open you're skull and digs around, but she was her old self, fussing at Adrienne about something.

Tuesday I was in Columbia for some training put on by the EPA. I was going to be away for a couple of days and was a little on edge, but good news kept coming. Robbie had done so well they had down graded her to a regular room and she was out of ICU. I was able to get a ride in that afternoon at Ft. Jackson. Rodney, don't remember his last name, met me at the Columbia office and I followed him to the Fort. Security was pretty tight as expected, but I haven't been there since 9-11. We got rained on and were dodging thunder storms, but the sun came out and we had a nice ride of about 35 miles. Met Harry, the director for region 3(don't ask, it will take too long) and in my class, and finished the ride as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. I called home, more than once, to check in and everything was fine, great even.

Wednesday I was awoken at 5:45 am, the alarm clock was set wrong. My roommate, Paul reset it and we snoozed for another hour. Then dressed we went down for breakfast. The breakfast was good, but the coffee was a little weaker than I'm used to. Then to class. They crammed the whole days worth of material into half day so we could do the facility inspection portion without dealing with Ernesto. This means I get to go home early, but had to deal with checking out early and packing, and missing part of the class. I know that part anyway. Ashley, another member of the class, was especially nervous, she works and lives in Charleston. I scarred her for life back a few years ago in EQC school when we went to a Chinese Buffet for lunch. They had whole small octapie on the bar and I was talking to her as the tentacles were dangling out of my mouth and quivered as I spoke. She says she still has trouble eating calamary. She also wants to get home to see her,"little man", her 18 moth old son, I can't blame her. We make it back in time for the rest of the class and we all meet a Fudrucker's for lunch. After we do the facility portion of the class in the 98 F heat and don't forget the 100% humidity. I'll post pix later. Afterwards we return to Fudrucker's to rehydrate and discuss the inspection, which was brief. Most of the class left for home at this point, but I thought another ride was in order, it beats being stuck on I-20 or I-26 in rush hour traffic. Harry and I waited for Rodney at the gate to the Fort and we did pretty much the same ride as the day before, but dryer. At some point we were joined by Bob. Let me tell you Fort Jackson is not flat and most of the roads are in fairly bad shape. I was glad I was on an old lugged steel frame with long chainstays. It has been ten years since I was on base and things are pretty much the same with the exception of the tighter security and limited access to the Fort. At the end of the ride we had 36 miles and I beat my max speed record for the fixed gear. I got up to 40.2 mph, which means 185+rpms. I changed in the car and headed home. I called Adrienne and got another round of good news. If Robbie keeps doing as well as she has been she will get to go home in a couple of days, fantastic!

Thursday I get up and do my usual thing, but not much coffee in the house and I am dragging. I make it to work and things get done, but I don't know how. It seems that everything has caught up with me and I am exhausted. I go to lunch and see the scariest thing, I'm still not sure if it was a woman or a man on serious hormone therapy. I'll probably have nightmares about this. Back to work and the rest of the day is a blur. Debbie gets us a cold cut tray so we wont have to worry about cooking this weekend, thanks Debbie, and I stop by the hospital to check on Robbie. She looks better than I thought she would, except for the hair cut. She is sitting up and talking like she hasn't had someone messing inside her skull. She has some swelling, but that's due to the steroids they've been giving her. She is doing great and will come home tomorrow, Friday. In seven to ten days they will start the radiation treatments, but they are supposed to be very mild and she shouldn't have any serious side affects. I think the worst is over. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers, they mean so much to us.