Jason's Untimely Thoughts

Thursday greetings, Tiger fans. Football season is so happy that we’re to the point of grumbling about the unpleasantness displayed in our 25-point victory last week. Fantastic problems to have.

The Big 12 schedule kicks off this weekend with the Puffalos of Colorado coming to town. Kickoff is at 11:40 a.m. with tailgating to begin by 9:30. We’ll once again be joined by team members from Miller’s Professional Imaging, which means plenty of pre-game entertainment and food. Hoss’ Market is bringing breakfast, to be served beginning at 9:45.

The Tigers wil easily improve to 5-0 on Saturday (35% to 14-0), as Colorado comes to town to serve as some sort of freaky carnival mirror-image to our beloved Tigers. We’re 4-0, they’re 0-4. We’ve allowed a total of 37 points, they’ve scored a total of 36. Their QB has thrown for 296 yards total, ours throws for that every game. Our head coach was in the MAC, theirs came from the WAC. Our black & gold looks good, their black and gold looks tired. We’re ranked and they’re rank. Budweiser vs Coors. Ozark Mountains vs, um, you get the point. To quote friends from college days, “we will not not kill them.”

See you at the game. You can’t spell KU sucks without CU.

Sarah has another round of blood tests and CT scan scheduled for early next week (last week in September).

After that, coincidentally, she’ll be headed to Portland, Oregon, for more education. She’s hoping to attend the Pacific Northwest Carcinoid Cancer Support Group’s Patient/Physician Conference, which takes place Sept 28-30. Many of the top physicians in carcinoid, both US and international, will be attending and speaking, along with patients from all over the US.

We messed around and didn’t get registered for the event in time. However, since we have some good friends in Portland, Sarah decided to head out there anyway in hopes of crashing the event if possible.

I’ll almost certainly provide another update after she returns from that event. (and if you happen to be looking for photos from the MU-Colorado football game, this explains why there aren’t (or won’t be) any.)

We’re past the 20% mark on our way to the Tigers’ first ever 14-0 season, with a victory over the Bobcats of Ohio University coming this weekend. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. and we’ll be tailgating by 10:30 or 11:00. Not expecting much of a tailgating crowd, so won’t have much in the way of food. We’d still be happy to see you though.

Ohio is coached by Frank Solich, formerly of Nebraska. After 30+ years in the land of corn as a player, assistant coach, and head coach, turns out they didn’t like him very much. He was fired after a 10-3 season in 2003. No similar problems in Ohio, where his Q-rating is through the roofie after just one season. (Solich given date rape drug?)

This is the last non-conference game of the year (we’ll play another non-conference opponent this season, but that will be in January 2007), so the last chance to come to a game without feeling disgust and hatred toward our opponents and their strangely dressed fans.

p.s. down with the shoebirds.

Or at least a seat on one.

Anyone know anyone with a plane that’s going from Columbia to New Mexico on Saturday? I’d really like to go to the game out there.

And I’d still like a Segway too.

Sarah’s been doing some freelance work for the Columbia Tribune recently. Her shot of Hickman/RB Volleyball in today’s paper reminded me of another of hers that ran a few years ago.

RB/Hickman volleyball

Columbia College volleyball

Happy football season indeed, as the Tigers looked as good as could possibly be expected in their 47-7 win over Murray State last weekend. Mizzou is favored by 10-points over the Rebels from Ole Miss this weekend, and I say we’re in for a better win than that. 35-20 is my prediction.

Kickoff Saturday is at 11:40 a.m. We’ll be at the tailgate by 9:30. As always, if you’d like us to bring stuff to the game for you, just leave it on our porch sometime before midnight on Friday.

I had my gall bladder removed a week ago and haven’t been funny since. The gall bladder’s main purpose is to store bile, so I’m also likely lacking there. Thus far, I’ve found no scientific evidence that bile and humour are interconnected, but I have my suspicions. I also have my suspicions about the so-called “heat index”, “wind-chill factor”, and tiny ears of corn served at banquets, but those are topics for another time. (I thought spelling humour like a Brit might make me funny again, but I’m afraid it really just made me appear pretentious.)

on a side note, ESPN is reporting that the mythical shoe-wearing birds hate children. ESPN says beakers hate kids

While some would argue that the proof is the $35 charge for the 3-month old to attend the game, the more astute of us would point to the fact that the poor kid’s parents want her to graduate from KU someday.

Greetings tailgaters, football fans, friends, family, and all.

September is here, which Adelaide would tell you means it’s time for football. She’d also remind you that her birthday is in September. And that Jack’s birthday is after her birthday. And who else’s birthday is after my birthday? The conversation would probably then drift toward dance class, mermaids, and cupcakes with lots of hand gestures involved, but, actually, I digress….

September means football, the happiest time of the year. On Saturday, at 6:00 p.m., our beloved Tigers take on the Racers from Murray State University. Located in Murray, Kentucky, they claim to be “Kentucky’s Public Ivy University.” If I was them, I’d change my name to that. PIU has a nice ring to it.

You can impress your football neighbors by letting them know that Murray State’s all-time leading rusher is a gentleman named Don Clayton, from Malden, Missouri. (Go Green Wave.) Don was my high school football coach and had a brief stint with the Patriots before a knee injury ended his career. All proves to show that dolts whining about Missouri coaches not ‘sealing the borders’ in recruiting have a long history of being right. Or that it’s impossible.

We’ll be tailgating in the same spot again this year, Lot D, as the Tigers embark on the school’s first ever 14-0 season. For the Murray State game, we’ll again be joined by the fine folks from Miller’s Professional Imaging. Food provided by Buckingham’s BBQ, to be served beginning at 4:00. I’ll likely be at the tailgate by 2:00 or so. Or maybe noon. Any and all are welcome.

On the health front, since we hadn’t visited enough hospitals recently, I went to MU Urgent Care on Friday morning. They liked me so much that I stayed overnight and they invited me back. I’ll have my gall bladder removed tomorrow morning. So when you see me next, be sure to punch me in the gut.

on a side note, screw ku.

Several times over the last few months I’ve awoke at about 2:00 a.m. with fairly severe back pain, sometimes abdominal pain too. It’s always lasted a couple of hours, then that was it. Something to be concerned about for sure, but we’ve had other more pressing things to deal with.

On Friday of last week, same thing, except for the couple of hours part. It seemed to hurt worse, and absolutely did not go away. Kids were going to daycare, I had a slow day at work, so off I went to Urgent Care for some drive-in medical care. I would have gone to my family physician, but I didn’t realize when I was assigned to him that he was a resident and soon would be moving away.

It’s a walk-in clinic, so I was the first one there and was seen immediately. They poked, prodded, asked some questions, did some tests, all good, to conclude I had a gall stone and would almost certainly need my gall bladder removed. The only question was now or later. This was around 11:00 a.m. My response was “There’s no time like the present, let’s go.”

After a bit, they concluded I needed another test. This was at the request of surgery, who had now been consulted. Although I asked, I was never quite clear what the purpose of this test was. If anything, the test proved that my gall-bladder was completely blocked which was a further indication for immediate surgery, or so the pamphlet I read beforehand seemed to indicate. However, I became convinced that the test was purely for stalling purposes, because unscheduled surgery on Friday afternoon wasn’t very convenient.

During that test, I finally got a little pain medication. I then returned to the clinic where I got more pain medication, the first two items of relief all day. This would have been about 2:00 p.m. A few minutes later, a swarm of physicians (surgical residents) came in to check on me.

My pain was better, amazing since I’d just received pain medication. They indicated that surgery on Friday night was difficult, because of the propensity of college kids to do stupid things requiring emergency surgery. Also, since my pain was better, that probably indicated I was going to get better and didn’t need surgery immediately. Revised plan was to admit me to the hospital and watch me until I got better. Surgery was scheduled on Saturday morning, if still needed.

Upon admittance, I was allowed hourly dosages of morphine, as long as I remembered to ask for it. Since I was still in quite a bit of pain, did those quite frequently. Finally, around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, the pain had completely gone away.

Saturday morning, the swarm reappeared and confirmed that Friday night was crazy and it would have been difficult to get into surgery. Since I was feeling better I could just come back next week and have surgery when it was convenient. For them. When I asked about already being scheduled for surgery Saturday morning, they indicated that was just if I needed it and someone else had already been taken in.

So, revised revised plan was to come in to surgery clinic on Monday morning, to meet with the surgeon and anesthesiologist for consultation and consent. I asked if any of that could be done while I was already there, and they indicated that since the office staff wasn’t in it would be difficult.

Went to surgery clinic as asked on Monday morning then. Entire process took about 1.5 hours and everyone was helpful and friendly. Except that I couldn’t talk to the anesthesiology folks, but I had an appointment for 10:00 on Tuesday. Wouldn’t that be OK? No, it really wouldn’t.

In the end, went back to anesthesiology at 10:00 on Tuesday. That entire process took another 2 hours or so. From both meetings combined, I confirmed my address, health insurance info, and phone number 4 times, none of which had changed since I was there on Saturday. There was a grand total of 10 minutes of useful time for me, when I was being told about the procedure and the anesthesiology.

Finally, surgery is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. on Thursday. I need to be there an hour earlier, because it takes time to verify that I haven’t moved, changed my insurance, or changed my phone number in the last 48 hours. Also, I finally get to meet the actual anesthesiologist.

The care I’ve received has been great. People have been friendly and knowledgeable. However, I’ve had my fair share of hospital visits lately. In contrast to some other places we’ve been, the only worries about convenience since I first arrived on Friday morning, have pointed at the physicians/staff, not the patient.

If I’d have had surgery at around 2:00 p.m. on Friday, as it seems likely I could have, I would have almost certainly been recovered enough to return to work on Monday. As it was, I was in pain for another 12 hours, had to miss another 4 hours of work in preparation for the surgery, will likely be out two more days of work from the surgery, and had to invest at least fifteen minutes typing up this saga. Certainly was convenient for me. I’ll bet I get a discount.

On a side note, screw ku.

Here is a recap of some random stuff that is happening in our lives right now.

• Right now, I am extremely annoyed that something about my computer and this software will not allow me to enter an apostrophe. No contractions in this post.
• Since we have not visited every hospital in the country yet, I decided to go to University Hospital early Friday morning. Ended up being admitted and stayed overnight. Headed back there shortly to schedule laproscopic surgery to remove my gall bladder. That will probably happen later this week, unless it interferes with the football game on Saturday inappropriately.
• We have started finishing the attic space. No matter that we’re not (hey, look at that, I accidently snuck an apostrophe in there. I win, computer loses.). Anyway, no matter that we’ve never finished the upstairs bathroom, never taken out the old kitchen, and still have trim work and painting to do in the upstairs bedroom, on to a new project. We’re building a bedroom and playroom upstairs for the kids to share. Fortunate to have found someone we know to start the work for us, and that is going well.
• Sarah is not taking pictures for Inside Mizzou magazine anymore. That sucks, as they paid her. I can’t see how that magazine is going to exist anymore, but maybe I’m wrong there. She will still be taking pictures at football and basketball games, probably for the athletic department in some fashion.
• Adelaide is busy planning her fourth birthday party. Somehow, she has it in her head that she needs a Mermaid party. Has her costume, including green shoes to compliment the tail part, all figured out. Also believes we’ll need a slip and slide for the mermaids to play on. I have no idea where any of this came from, including how she even knows what a slip and slide is.
• People at work are mad at other people at work. That makes it fun for the HR guy. Speaking of which, I hate being introduced or referred to as the HR guy. Mostly because I tend to hate the HR guys, so I don’t really want to be in that grouping.
• How does Jim Edmonds suddenly develop post-concussion syndrome from an injury in late June? Coincidentally just around the time the Cardinals start saying maybe he isn’t worth the money. I’ve been saying that for years.
• Football season starts Saturday. Tigers play Murray State in the home opener. Tailgating beforehand with many, including the Miller’s crowd again.
• I’m truly convinced that me owning a Segway “human transporter” would make our lives easier. I want one. Or two, but one would do. Damn materialistic society.

Humidity-drenched greetings to you and yours… Sarah & I returned from Baltimore late last night, with relatively positive news. First, thanks to all those who survived their time with the kids in our absence.

The folks at Johns Hopkins were great, we received fine treatment and were happy to be there. Sarah had bloodwork, a CT scan, and an endoscopy performed on Monday and then we met with a surgical oncologist on Wednesday morning. They found nothing new with the CT scan or endoscopy, which was good news. Sarah’s stomach surgery appears to have healed well and they found no evidence of carcinoid remaining in her esophagus, stomach, or intestine.

One of the reasons we were interested in talking with this physician was that he is highly aggresive surgically. In an odd twist on things, he didn’t think surgery was the best option for Sarah, but his rationale made that good news. He said the distribution (all over Sarah’s liver) and relatively small size of the tumors would make it difficult for him to get all, or even most, of the tumors. With symptoms under control and liver functioning normally, then, it would likely be more trouble than it was worth to perform surgery right now. If there was a change in size of the tumor(s), or liver function was affected, then he would be willing to consider surgical options at that time.

This was a major departure from what we thought, that surgery might not be possible because we were ‘too late’. While the bad news is he is unable to go in and remove all of the tumors, we were already expecting that news. The fact that he didn’t feel surgery was worth the trouble right now, but could still be an option in the future, gives much promise of much more time to worry about all that.

The chemo-embollization I’ve mentioned before may still be the first hard-core treatment Sarah tries, but we’re not going to hurry to schedule that. As it stands currently, Sarah has decided to continue on the monthly shots of Sandostatin, let some time pass, have more CT scans done every three months or so, and continue to re-evaluate the plan as necessary. No timetable, we’ll just evaluate as we learn more.

Baltimoreans thought it was hot & humid. I expect to hear simultaneous laughter from almost everyone on this e-mail list. In fact, they thought it was so hot that they had to close the zoo, to protect people from going to the zoo and getting too hot (seriously). It was hot and humid, but nothing like the hot humid hills packed with snow and ice that I had to walk to/from school on. We had two excellent opportunities to hit an Orioles game, but if it was too hot to go to the zoo, really, how could we be expected to attend a baseball game? Especially an American League game. Much thanks to those who opened their home to us, especially for arranging for the family of deer to greet us by the road in the morning. In general, we heard lots of talk about how bad Baltimore is and was, but it was great by us.

On return from Baltimore, we were a little over an hour late landing in St. Louis. Turns out, that was a good thing though as the airport was in shambles after high winds/tornado came through, knocking power out for several hours and causing much harrumphing. We were seated next to an oncologist, an Air Force higher up stationed at the pentagon, and a newly minted US Army private, though, so we were safe. Plus, we got free parking out of the deal.

My favorite part of the trip was going to DC, where we learned much.

• First, it is also hot & humid there.
• Brock Olivo is still alive, and contrary to urban legend does eat things that are bad for you. Specifically, he eats gellato from the Smithsonian Natural History museum.
• There’s not nearly enough parking and way too many ugly fences around the various memorials.
• It’s evidently possible for security guards to be respectful at Arlington National Cemetary while simultaneously yelling at the patrons to be quiet so as to show respect. I had to fight against every urge in my body to not point this out to them.
• Although there are lots of signs saying no U-turns, they don’t apply (like many rules in DC).
• Finally, when practicing civil disobedience in front of the White House, it’s very important to be obedient to the angry man carrying the bullhorn. For instance, don’t scream “justice” when he screams “peace”, and vice versa. The man must be listened to when preaching against the man.

Since the plan as it stands is to wait, watch, and pay attention, this will be my last update for a while. The next thing many of you will read from me will be how the beloved Tigers are going to beat the Racers from Murray State by 50 points on their way to an outstanding season, with tailgating planned to precelebrate it all. (Any MU people reading this, I need a Lot D pass. Come on, you can do it.) Down with the naysayers.

Man, this is long, I’m sorry. On a side note, screw ku.

Sarah & I are going to Baltimore on Sunday to visit with some docs at Johns Hopkins University…. Their hospital was rated #1 in the USA for the 16th straight year, so we’ve got that going for us. Or maybe they’ve got that going for them.

Sarah has appointments and tests scheduled all day Monday and then a follow-up visit on Wednesday with a surgical oncologist there. On Tuesday, we hope to maybe hook up with some friends who live in DC. As I’ve said going in to every one of these visits, hopefully when we return we’ll have all the information and opinions we need and Sarah can choose which treatment option she’s most comfortable with.

The kids will be staying in Columbia at our house, so if you’re driving by you might stop in and make sure their grandmother is surviving. They are doing well, with Adelaide taking swimming lessons and soccer camp this week. She thinks her 17-year old swim instructor is cute, so that’s going well (and I’m already dreading teenage years). Soccer camp is in the evening and has been pretty muddy, which Jack is liking quite a bit.

Just over 50 days to football season, which is coincidentally how many points we’ll score while beating the Racers of Murray State on September 2. True story, my high school football coach is Murray State’s all-time leading rusher, but that won’t help them much. Football season is the happiest time of the year, so you’ve got 50 days left to be miserable if you so choose. Speaking of miserable, insert KU joke here.