Long time, no blog

After a long break and a great talk with an old friend, Marie (who is working on getting a Triabetes article published) - I was convinced (told) to get off my butt and blog. Thankfully, I just discovered that we are on a 2 hour delay this morning and everyone is still asleep...rare.

OK, I guess you are always in danger when you think you are in the clear...at least that's the lesson that all horror films teach. We made it through the holidays in fine fashion, except for a little sickness...however, that kept us from traveling which was almost a gift. But we did decide to make it to Greenville to visit family. It was a whirlwind tour - we left friday after a workday and zoomed down before rush hour. Teri and Mallory, Lee, Alex, and Gray came down the next day and we all went ice skating and in general had a wonderful time. It was so great to see Zoe just swept up with those kids and take off. Zoe had only been skating one time before and I just had her in my arms the whole time. This time started the same but then we got this PVC contaption that she could hold on to. Well, it didn't take long and she had her "skating legs" - we were zooming around. Then Mallory took her and the smile never left Zoe's face for the next hour. I put my belt around the thing as a tow rope and off they went. Lee and Alex would later take turns pulling and they would go really fast and Zoe (with Mallory holding on behind) just soaked it up...it was really special to see. I thought to myself "sometimes parents aren't designed to let a child really grow..they are too concerned with safety"

That night Zoe and I went to Greenwood to see my parents - she was asleep before we left the driveway. We had a good visit and then got home a bit late and tired. The next day we spent a few hours with Steve and Jan and Morgan and Zoe was in heaven again...so much so that on the 5 minute drive back to maw maw's she lost it.

Well, I started the next semester the next day (and had a lot of work to do) and Ashley thought that she and the kids would just stay a week or a half week - it would give me time to get a lot done and she could just kind of enjoy the warm weather and family. So I went back - had trouble sleeping....the house was just so quiet. It was no better monday night - tuesday I had a diabetes workshop (wore the Triabetes T) and was going to tell everyone about the Triabetes project at a point in the workshop - then I get a call from Ash - she had gone to the doctor to figure out what she was feeling in her abdomen - they said that it might be an aortic aneurism and that she'd have to have a CT scan in the morning.

Holy cow.

5 Minutes later I was on the road. Got to Greenville - everyone (her parents, me, her) were pretty stressed....although Ashley was still cracking some pretty impressive jokes...rather dark, but funny. To make a long story short it turned out that it is her aorta that she feels, but no aneurism or tumors.

Aaaahhhh.

5 minutes later we were on the road. Actually that's not true - we went for runs and it was simply wonderful - I went about 7 miles, it was hot (no shirt, mucho sweat) and everything was beautiful - the trees, the sun, the road....amazing what a health scare avoided can do for you. Ashley's dad called later and said the same thing hit him - he just never felt so good - he said he could run the 20 miles home without a thought.

We got home and slept. I missed 2 of the first 5 days of school, but by friday all was kind of in order. I was back to being really nauseated in the pool and behind on my grading.

In other Triabetes news - I totally wussed out on Russ and Wayne Satruday - they were going to do an 18 mile trail run. After the week we had, I really thought it better to be around the family and not take half a day. However, it cannot be avoided - I wussed out. I get out on the parkway saturday and man did the bike hurt (and that was 18 miles on the bike! can't imagine running it). Of course it was uphill and cold, but it still hurt. I rode the trainer last night for an hour while I talked to Marie about Triabetes and life in general. I got my strips but there's no way they will last 3 months - Michelle has taken care of us however and sent some to bridge the gap. And right now I am trying to figure out a way to get out of running this morning.