Excitement, a Scare, and More of the Same…

Church bells will be ringing in the not too distant future as Jonathan, my daughter Lyndsay’s boyfriend of 3 years has asked for her hand in marriage! Jonathan popped the question while the couple was taking a long deserved, end of summer trip to the beach. Lyndsay, an English major graduate of UNCC and Jonathan currently live in Greensboro. Jonathan is finishing his graduate degree in biology at UNCG and Lyndsay is employed by SunTrust Bank. Jonathan has applied to several medical schools and the future looks bright for acceptance and the long road toward his dream of becoming a doctor. Wherever he lands, Lyndsay is talking of continuing her education in a graduate program.

As parents, Alison and I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and our support is firmly behind them. They are intelligent, firmly planted and complement each other very nicely. Initial indications place the wedding in May or June, fitting into Jonathan’s school schedule.

We received quite a scare from ASU, when I was contacted by Travis suitemate, Kyle on Tuesday afternoon. For the second time since last January, Travis was in the infirmary with a highly elevated heart rate. I took off for Boone in the late afternoon and we moved him from the campus medical facility to the emergency room at Watauga Medical Center. There, he was given intravenous fluids and nausea medication. They pumped the 100 mL bag of fluids into him in less than an hour and the medication did wonders to bring his resting heart rate down from 110 – 120 bpm to 55 – 60 bpm. We were able to finally leave the hospital and get to our hotel room (thanks Alison and Mark) around 12:30 am. He was feeling much better, but as of this morning he was still a bit woozy, probably more from a lack food than anything. I got him up around 8:00 this morning and talked him into going to his 3 morning classes. (edit: At least I thought he was going to class…He made it as far as his dorm room and hit the bed for several hours). We visited a cardiologist this afternoon where he had an echo cardiogram (the same basic system to view unborn children). He will wear a heart monitor for the next 24 hours.

Travis’ weekend began with a 13 hour drive to Baton Rouge, LA for the ASU/LSU football game. With little sleep, they were on their way to the stadium at 8:00 Saturday morning. With Gustav threatening the Gulf coast, the 7:30 PM game was moved to a 10:00 AM start. The weather conditions were brutal (80’s with high humidity) and he soon ran out of cash. Not able to purchase water with his ATM card, he was forced to do without until they left the 41 – 10 trashing by LSU. Following a BBQ lunch, they set off for Boone, to return at 6:30 am Sunday morning.

My boy isn’t the best traveler and he experienced motion sickness for much of the trip. Being run down, dizzy and dehydrated, his heart rate skyrocketed and he became listless and nauseated around noon on Monday. I have to keep on him to pound the fluids, listen to his body and chill out just a little bit. His intention of straight A’s for the semester hangs in the balance and I am hopeful that this little episode will slow him down, even a little bit. The home opener for ASU is this coming Saturday and I’m certain that he doesn’t want/need a repeat performance.

Speaking of repeat performances, I was back at the dermatologist this past Friday to have a basil cell cancer removed from my left collarbone. I have immense confidence in Dr. Wolf, who enjoys his art as much as he enjoys hacking on me. He removed a rather large (2-in. diameter) patch of skin and stitched me back together as Cathy was on hand for moral support. The surgery went well and I was pressure washing the driveway in a matter of hours. While I have a difficult time wearing a seatbelt or my Camelback while riding, I seem to be healing well. I will know the results of the biopsy soon and if additional measures are required, I will be waiting until I return from my trip to the southwest, later this month.