Well friends, you haven’t heard from me for a while from this blog as everything has been just fine with my health.  I’ve been feeling great, working out hard on the erg and enjoying life.

Unfortunately,I’ve hit a bump in the road that has landed me back in the hospital.

Yesterday I woke up with a stomach ache.  No big deal, just thought I was hungry as I had eaten very lightly the night before.  After taking Hannah to school I came on back home to deal with cramping and nausea.  By late morning it had gotten pretty ugly, but I was not thinking about anything other than a stomach bug.  We went in to see our family doctor and he brought up the possibility of a bowel obstruction, which was definitely not on my radar.  An x-ray didn’t rule it out, but he was betting on a bug.

Later in the evening things got worse to where we called our doctor.  He sent us to the ER and I’ve been here ever since.  Very good care in the ER, great drugs that take the edge off and more X-rays and a CT scan that confirmed that all is not right in Tom’s Bowel Land.  An obstruction in the upper part of the colon.  Could be scar tissue or a badly digested burrito.

Now comes the truly nasty part: in order to relieve the top-side pressure that was causing pain they inserted a tube through my nose into my stomach.  That was, without a doubt, the worse two minutes of my life.  Oh yes, it also took three attempts because I was sure that the poor nurse was trying to run it through uncharted territory.  No more gory details; suffice it to say that I now have a new #1 Most Unpleasant Medical Moment. Check with Mary for more details as she was assisting.  But, it works as once they got it hooked up to a vacuum pump and started siphoning away, the abdominal pain went with it.   It has also provided us with moments of levity as green popsicles get almost immediately recycled.

So, for at least the rest of the weekend, I am the guest at the fabulous Hillcrest Resort here in Waco.  The current thinking is that in many cases, obstructions such as this can be eliminated (pun intended) without surgery.  I am all for that without surgery part, especially as we are in full golf season and I am driving the ball pretty well.  Still can’t putt worth a damn though.

Stay tuned and once again, I would appreciate your prayers.

Tc

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Nothing new with me, just back to the normal day-to-day.

But today was a (nearly) perfect day.

Mary, Lauren, Hannah and I are spending the weekend at La Mirage in Port Aransas.   It would be a perfect weekend if Katie and PJ were with us, but they are busy with Life in OK City.

We drove here Friday night, fully expecting a cloudy, cool weekend – at least according to the Weather Channel.  We were all ok with that because it is still the beach.  We woke on Saturday to what we expected, that first cup of coffee perfect on the patio,  a gray sky above.  As we were taking a walk along the beach, the clouds began to break up and the sun came shining through.  For most of the rest of the day, it was a warm beautiful day on the Texas Coast, a delightful unexpected gift that was gladly accepted.

Tonight I was thinking about the idea of an unexpected gift, and how happy we are when it pops into our life.  What we tend to forget though is that that feeling can be with us all of the time if we look at each day as an unexpected gift.  When we move through our life thinking that it will last forever it is easy to miss the appreciation of the moment.  This is a mindset that Buddhism cultivates; live in the moment.  What that really means is to appreciate and enjoy where you are now  as the past is only a memory and the future a set of possibilities.  After all, life is just a series of moments.

This is one of the lessons that was made clear to me during my dance with cancer.  It doesn’t mean that I don’t get aggravated or disappointed when something doesn’t go the way that I expected.  It is a gentle reminder to pay attention to my thoughts and feelings at this moment and to not spend precious time worrying about the past or the future.

So whether sitting on the beach listening to the soothing sounds of the waves and birds, or at work dealing with the latest crisis, it can always be a (nearly) perfect day.

Peace…

Well, I’ve made it through my first full week back without too much problem.  It was fairly normal, with the exception of Friday when I pushed it too much.  We are (attempting) to run a new hourglass shaped bottle that looks beautiful, but is nearly impossible to convey from point A to point B without it falling down, usually in a domino affect.  I was way too active and was very tired when I got home – early to bed.

A good nights sleep cures a lot of ills, and I felt fine today.  Unfortunately I have spent all afternoon and on into the evening at work.  I contracted a new company to come in and do a major clean on the office and breakroom floors.  Until they pass our security screening, they have to be escorted while here, in this case by yours truly.  Plenty of time for me to catch up on some lingering paperwork etc.  I will say that keeping an eye on bb games over the internet is a poor quality experience.  Nice to see Baylor beat Texas at their house.

Katie and PJ are weather refugees this weekend, heading south to Texas to avoid the winter mess in OK City.  We’ll all be glad when they move to Ft. Worth this spring.

All in all, a good week, a normal busy week at our home.  Looking forward to a hot bowl of Zuppa Toscana when I get home in a little while.

Peace…

Update: my mistake -  I had an apparent brain cramp.  What Marcus is suffering from is Sarcoidosis.

Friends – I have an urgent request for you.  A friend and co-worker of mine at Coca-Cola is in dire need of healing.  You have blessed me with the healing power of your prayer and now I ask that you direct this to help my friend.

His name is Marcus Daughtry.  Marcus is a decorated Desert Storm veteran who is suffering from Sarcoidosis   Saranoids Disease. This disease attacks the lungs and liver.  Marcus is currently at a military hospital in San Antonio.  He has lost 60 lbs and is struggling to survive.  This ordeal has put a great deal of heartache and stress on his wife and young daughter.  Marcus is a great guy and needs your help.

Please pray for his healing.

Thank you…

Sorta.  Started back 1/2 days this week.  Actually, it was great to be back among my friends and co-workers.  Everyone that I spoke with was very gracious in welcoming me back to 8400.  It will be a challenging year for us, but if we work well together, we can get it done.  This part bears repeating:  if we work well together, we can get it done.

Dr. Howton was right, though; it was a great deal more tiring than I expected.  Repeatedly I had to tell myself to SLOW DOWN.   By noon, I had had enough fun for one day and was very glad to get home and trade the khakis for sweat pants.  Of course, there are those out there who would say that about nearly every day, but hey, imagine how bored we would be without those daily challenges.  My personal goals for work this year are to maintain a positive attitude under all circumstances, be meticulously organized, and be highly efficient and productive.  I value my job highly and can expect to give full effort while at the plant.  At the end of the day, though, what goes on at 8400 stays at 8400.