All His Bags Are Packed, He's Ready To Go

After a tense weekend, we finally received some half-way decent news, and by tomorrow noon, Craig and Emily will be in Stillwater.  Williams Energy has graciously agreed to fly the duo in on their corporate jet – the same jet mom used six weeks ago.  And Craig couldn’t be more prepared.  According to Emily, he’s already packed for tomorrow’s trip.  Just further proof that Emily’s a far more patient person than I, she even endured his, “this shirt goes in this washer, and this shirt goes in this washer, don’t combine laundry of this sort, and make sure you turn things inside out.”  When we’re in Denver, Erin, Diane, and I typically do his laundry for him, and answer Craig’s “be sure to’s” with a “uh huh, you betcha, ten separate washers, got it.”  Little does he know we (gasp) consolidate, and surprisingly, all has turned out well.

As for Erin and I, we left for Stilly late yesterday afternoon, after joining Craig for his 12 p.m. meeting with Dr. Flaig.  Though his levels haven’t improved, they haven’t worsened either, making Craig a so-so candidate for travel.  It’s likely he bled somewhere, with the lungs being the likely culprit.  We’re infusing him daily with factor VIII, which seems to have helped with his anemia.  Symptomatically, however, he hasn’t improved.  He still suffers from fatigue, and yesterday night, he had a bad bat with the jitters.   He’ll meet with Dr. Flaig next week for another round of blood tests just to see if his blood levels have, indeed, stabilized.  Until then, he’s in a “guarded state,” which means we’ll be at the ready should things change while he’s in Stillwater.  With the Williams flight, and other arrangements we’ve made, we’re ensuring that he’ll, at the very least, be arriving in Stillwater under the best possible conditions so as to maintain his health.   We’ll be ever watchful that he doesn’t over exert himself while here.  Despite the known risks involved in traveling, Craig is determined to be here with us in laying Mom to rest.  I just wish his return to Stillwater was under better circumstances.    -- J