Bad news about bad news

We found out on Friday, after the lab examined the lump that was removed in the operation on August 30, that the surgeon needs to operate again and take more out. This is very sad news and has us all down in the dumps. But we are renewed in our determination to pray about this and to hope for the best. The prognosis is still excellent but we had hoped the operation last week was going to be the end of it. Now, Cindy is faced with another operation and radiation treatments that could last into December.

We would appreciate your prayers. Thank you.

Good bye to Tropical Storm Earl

We were fortunate. The storm that was Hurricane Earl lost a lot of its punch by the time it got close to us. When it finally started affecting us it was downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds less than 74 miles per hour. And that was at the center of the storm. Where we are, about 140 miles from the center, it wasn't as bad as a lot of unnamed storms that we get from time to time. I don't want to come across as an "I've seen it all" New Englander. It could have been a lot worse.

I am very glad that the people in charge took this storm seriously and put restrictions on where we could go and what we could do. Also, I'm glad they put emergency procedures into action. There are a lot of people who complain that it was all for nothing. "Why did they tell us we couldn't go to the shore? Why did they waste money by calling up the National Guard and opening emergency shelters?" And from the tourist businesses here, "Why did they scare away all the tourists?"

My answer is, "Because of what could have happened." Tropical storms and hurricanes always lose a lot of their strength when they get into the colder waters here. The National Weather Service and the Coast Guard know this. The idiots who spout off about the "waste of time and money" aren't the only ones who know this. What the National Weather Service and Coast Guard know that the idiots don't is that up until the last 10 - 12 hours, conditions could have changed and Earl could have been a disaster.

Another way to think about it was that this was good practice. Getting the emergency shelters going and calling out the Guard and getting local emergency workers ready is something you have to do from time to time anyway so you can test your procedures. You don't wait until the time of emergency to come up with plans and try them. And, of course, people act differently when it is a drill from how they act when it is a real emergency. And the dedicated people who help out in emergencies are nice enough to help even the idiots when they need help.

Waiting for Hurricane Earl

It looked at first like this might be a major storm and we might be hit directly but now Earl is seeming less threatening. We're still not letting out our breath but it looks like we're going to just get a lot of rain. The image to the right (from this site at NOAA's National Hurricane Center) shows Earl moving more to the East and beginning to lose its punch as it gets into cooler, northern water.

It was announced at lunch that our office will be closing early today. Even with the weakening storm, I think this is a smart thing to do. Hurricanes, by their nature, are unpredictable. I'll be glad to get home before the hard rain hits. Wouldn't it be interesting if we found out later that God had originally planned for this to be a devastating storm but that a large number of people prayed about it causing Him to lessen the storm because of their prayers? It would make a good story anyway.

I just hope we don't lose power tonight.

Good news about bad news

The bad news is that my wife, Cindy, has been told she has breast cancer. The good news is that it is in a very early stage, is confined to the milk duct and is tiny. More good news is that she had a lumpectomy on Monday (August 31) and there were no surprises. We still need to wait for the report from the lab on what they found.

She has recovered quickly from the operation (no overnight stay) and the worst thing seems to be the headache she has. We have no word yet on any treatments that may need to be done. That's all to be found out.

We got more bad news last week, though. In a strange coincidence, my mother-in-law (Cindy's mom, that is) has also just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her cancer is also very small and was detected early but it is further along than Cindy's cancer. Mom's operation will be later this month.

I'll be writing more about this as we find out more information. This is such a hard thing to hear but it is so encouraging to see the reactions of our doctors, their staff, our friends and family. Everyone jumped in to handle this quickly and we've been showered with love and prayers. Cindy's successful operation was an answer to prayer and we are certain to see more. The bottom line is - in spite of some medical professionals' saying women younger than 50 don't need mammograms as often - make sure your wife, mother, daughters and female friends have a mammogram every year when they reach 40 years old. It can save their life.

An engineering "Miracle Worker"

I remember seeing the movie The Miracle Worker as a child (if you consider being 11 years old a child). I didn't particularly like it but I went because my parents wanted to go and I always went with them. At that age, I couldn't understand how Helen Keller's parents would let her get away with so many things and allow her to become so violent. Also, I didn't understand why Anne Sullivan would stick with such a difficult job. Everyone was mad at her. All the time. But as I look back at it and when I see it on television now with a lifetime of learning about these things, I now consider it one of my favorite movies. How a young woman had the courage and ability to help a younger girl, who was also courageous but blind and deaf, learn to read, write and speak is still beyond my understanding. Well, if they ever do a remake of this movie, my suggestion is to update it with one of the guys in our repair department.

Our company used to sell a line of products that were electronic data logging and control devices. You could write a program (in our own programming language) and store it on the device to have it collect and store data (like temperature, humidity, air pressure or whether a switch was open or closed or whether a light was on or off - and many other things) and store that data with a time tag so you knew when it happened. You could also control things like switches, motors or lights and make decisions about how you wanted them to work. For instance, one popular thing for our customers to do was monitor the temperature of something and then either throw a switch to start a heater or a cooler to bring the temperature back in line. Some scientists even used our boards to run and control experiment on the Space Shuttle, in under-sea pressure cases and in remote locations like Antarctica. The idea is that these places are inhospitable for humans to be there for long so our device would try to make decisions of how the experiment should proceed and record the results of the experiment. As you can imagine, these are very complex devices.

But our company dropped that line of products year ago. But the need for those devices didn't stop and customers continue to try to use them and get us to repair them if possible. So, when a customer called me a few weeks ago about trying to get some of our devices running again, I said I'd look at them to see what I could do. I found that two of the five boards were working and I was able to upgrade them with the latest operating system. But three of them were in bad shape. They couldn't communicate. In a sense they couldn't see, hear or speak. I tried a few things but I couldn't get them to go. I talked with one of the guys in our repair department and he offered to try. Since the boards were old, so was our equipment to test and program the devices. The programs don't run on new versions of Windows and our repair guy had to fire up his old computer - and it wouldn't work, either! So, first he had to get his old computer running. Then he had to remember how to test and work on the old boards. Then he had to patiently work through the board to figure out what was wrong. Finally, he had to find replacement parts for the parts that had failed. Our parts buyers weren't buying new parts for these old, discontinued boards and the components were cataloged or stored in the usual place.

Finally, he was able to get the boards to "speak" and "understand" - kind of like the breakthrough that Anne Sullivan made with Helen Keller when Helen finally made the connection between the things of the physical world and the movements of Anne fingers as she spelled out words into Helen's palm. Our repair engineer's miracle didn't take as long as Anne Sullivan's but it was still a miracle. To me at least.

The Ball Game - just one more post

When I went to the ball game on August 31, the Red Sox were playing the Detroit Tigers. I was looking forward to the game itself, of course, but I was also looking forward to seeing Jim Leyland, the manager of the Tigers. I think he is a great manager and I've always felt badly that he has only won the World Series once. I grew up in Pittsburgh and followed the Pirates even after I moved away. Mr. Leyland coached the Pirates for eleven years and for three of those years (1990, 1991 and 1992), they finished at the top of their division and went on to the National League Championship game only to lose there without getting to the World Series. The Pirate organization always stressed batting over pitching (the team had the nickname "The Lumber Company" in the 1970's) and I thought Jim Leyland did a great job getting the best from his teams in spite of the organization's lack of top-level pitching. He helped develop Bobby Bonilla, Jay Bell, Barry Bonds, Tim Wakefield and Andy Van Slyke - only to see them traded away once their contracts were up for renewal. Although I was glad to see the Red Sox win, I wish the best for Jim Leyland. I just wish he'd give up smoking.

Another pleasantly surprising thing happened with a member of the Tigers. The young Miguel Cabrera is a member of the Tigers and can he hit! During batting practice, he launched a steady stream of balls into the stands and made it look easy. He was so impressive, the people in the stands nearest home plate (where I was sitting) gave him a round of applause. He was surprised and made an appreciative bow to the Boston fans. I liked this show of good sportsmanship on both sides. I thought about shouting, "Well done! Take the rest of the day off." But I didn't. Mr. Cabrera hit a home run in the first inning with a man on to give the Tigers an early lead. He had a pretty good day getting two hits in three at bats and walking once. Luckily, for the Red Sox and their fans, it wasn't enough and the home team won. I can still admire an opposing player and manager, though. I think they are both class acts.

I've ridden over 1000 miles on my scooter

It's been about two months since I got my scooter and I've already ridden over 1,000 miles on it. As you can see in the picture here, it was at 999.2 miles when I left this morning and it turned over 1,000 just down the street. I didn't have time (or the room) to pull over and take a picture of the event. I figured this was close enough.

I love this scooter. I look for excuses to use it (even when I shouldn't). It is fun to ride and I feel it is very safe. It is stable and easy to handle. It gets between 90 and 100 miles per gallon so it doesn't cost much to use. Because the top speed is about 50 miles per hour, I take back roads to work and I'm enjoying that, too. It turns out to only take about 5 more minutes to get to work on my scooter than it does in the car using the more direct four-lane highway (it takes about 20 minutes to get to work in the car). One of these days I hope to take the time to take some pictures along my route to work. I'll post them here.

I mentioned above that I look for excuses to use my new scooter ("Oh, we need milk? I'll just zip down to the store on my scooter and get it!") and that sometimes I shouldn't have. That happened when I went to pick up some pizza we ordered. The boxes were too big to lie flat on the floor board or inside the seat so I stood them on edge between my feet. When I got home and opened the boxes, I saw that the pizza had slid down and that half of each pizza was folded over. My family was not pleased. I ended up eating the folded pieces. They were delicious! See, even food tastes better when it's been for a ride on my scooter.

In the interest of full disclosure: I'm actually posting this on August 20 but this happened on August 17 so entering it like this will help me remember the day.