Hey folks,
 
I just got home about an hour ago, only to see nearly a month of unread
ferret-related emails.  Ouch!  It will take a while to wade through them,
and some have a priority, so please be patient as I slog through them.
 
It has been a very interesting time since I last posted (almost a month).
As I drove out to Reno, I received a phone call telling me my mom was in
the intensive care unit at a California Hospital.  I called the doctors
and was told she was stable and not expected to die, so I elected to
continue on to Reno and give the talk as I had promised that Saturday.
By Sunday morning, my mom was extremely ill and we were told death was
imminent, so I dropped everything I was doing and bee-lined it to her
hospital bed in the Central Valley.  In technical terms, she was as close
as death as you could get without actually dying.  I stayed as long as I
could, and after assurances from her doctors, I sprinted out to Missouri.
I still had the Chicago talk to deal with.
 
I went in my house, hugged my ferrets, and took a 3 hour nap before
leaving for Minnesota in my pick-up.  I was headed north on I-35 when
a semi-truck merged into my lane, which would have been fine except my
pick-up was in the spot it was merging.  I was knocked into a concrete
barrier, but was basically unhurt.  That is, until the next day when I
realized I had a deep bruise in my left hip and a couple of
cracked-broken ribs.  And cut lips.  And a sore nose, but now I'm being
a baby.  My son came over, picked me up, and back to Columbia I went,
slept 3 more hours, and then a sprint in my car up to Chicago.
 
I got to Chicago a couple of hours late, but the talk went fine, and I
spent the night at a good friend's house, partially because I am an
honorary uncle of a great kid, and partially because I think I slept 6
hours in the last 4 days and just needed a place to snore.  I was calling
(and on call) about my mom, and I got even more bad news, so I sped down
to St.  Louis and hopped a flight to California.  I've been there all
week.
 
When I got there, my mom was on a respirator and unresponsive; when I
left, she was talking to me and ready to go home.  No one can believe it,
and I am just shaking my head about it.  Even three days ago she thought
I was a number of different people, calling me by four different names in
as many minutes.  She went from last rites to picking fights in just a
week.  Ok, make that just over a couple of weeks counting from when she
first got sick, but Monday to Saturday was quite a big difference.
 
I did NOT lose my mom, BUT I did just disappear without explanation,
standing up friends in St.  Louis, Reno and Chicago, and for that I
deeply apologize.  I have a deeply held and steadfast rule that my family
and ferrets come before ANYTHING else, so when things go bad, I become a
brake-less locomotive on a single downhill track without sidings.  Hey,
it's better than being a tugboat without a rudder on full throttle.  One
of my greatest fears is that she will die without me at her bedside.
 
So, since my last posting, I have been to California twice, talked in
Reno and Chicago, smashed my pick-up truck, stood up a half-dozen close
and dear friends, AND managed to collect 4 speeding tickets in four
different states which I think is a record (strangely, I was not speeding
when the truck hit me).  And when I think about it, it tickles me pink.
It was such a cheap price to pay to still have my mom.
 
I will work hard to catch things up and I appreciate the thoughts and
prayers of my friends during this time.  I am sorry for not reading my
email, but you try to access Yahoo while driving down a freeway at 85
miles per hour! ;-)  I'll try to get as much of it answered as I can
before I leave for the east coast in less than two weeks.
 
Bob C
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[Posted in FML issue 5026]