Coming Up for Air

So let's get caught up here a bit on some lingering laundry.  This past couple months has been a bit of a kick in the pants - not in a majorly severe sort of way, but more like - "Can I buy a break here for a minute?" kind of way.  The whole deal with Kathleen having Graves has been, and probably will be from time to time, a setback for our "normal" lifestyle.  I think we will manage that fine and do whatever it takes to keep her leveled out.  To add insult to our already peachy Spring fun, I found a tumor on my chest May 12.  Just so no one hyperventilates prematurely, you're stuck with me.  (I will also warn you ahead of time that there is a potentially gross photograph somewhere in this post...)

Anyway, I did the rational, well adjusted, emotionally stable thing and started going through the checklist of all the heinous scenarios represented by this little ball of unwelcomed joy residing without request on my chest - typical reaction for a sane adult I'm sure.  But, it gets even better than that, when the doc says "blah, blah ... family history of breast cancer, blah, blah...  you get to go have a mammogram and ultrasound ...blah, blah".  What????????????  Guys don't have that stuff done???????????    So on the 23rd, I'm getting smashed, poked, prodded, and ultrasounded (yeah, it's a word if you're playing Scrabble with me)  Next stop on this parade is the surgeon - May 23 I get a nice 2 cm cut in the chest and he "pops out" this guy through the nice little hole:

Say Hello to my Little Friend

I named it Elvis, by the way - and it has left the building.  And the surgeon didn't flinch when I asked him to have the nurse take a pic with my phone before my pal got shipped off to the laboratory.  I wanted the jar on the mantle but he wouldn't go for that....  So to get on with this before you go read something interesting, stitches are now long gone, Graceland is healing fine, and pathology is GOOD - nothing bad, nothing close to bad, just a "plain old Lipoma, or fatty tumor"  in his words.  Back in business and time to COME.UP.FOR.AIR. !!!!!!!!!!!!!  So it is now time for summer FUN.  And no doctors offices.  And more trails. LOTS of trails.  In the mountains.  Including pictures of said trails.  Is that OK???  And if you ever need advice on running 19 miles on trails with a Nathan pack and stitches in your chest 3 days after surgery, drop me a line.  Just don't tell your surgeon - they get a little weird about that.  :)

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So after all that "fun" was behind us, we had family travels to get after.  Kathleen's dad got married Saturday in Iowa, so we had some road trip activity this week.  Sweltering, steamy hot back there in Iowa - you people that run in that slimy humidity in summer deserve some props - I will take altitude and lots of hills over that.  Got in a 9 and 13 mile run (K felt good and got in 9 and 9 - woo-hoo) while there but no pics.  Kind of weird, too, to be getting ready for a parent's marriage...  If you have read our blog for more than a few days, you may remember that Kathleen lost her mom to a long battle with cancer last year.  It just so happened that dad met a lady in his town who had lost her husband to ALS two years back.  So they had some things in common right off with watching their spouse be stripped of life by heinous diseases.  One thing led to another, and they decided they did not want to be lonely, so at the tender young age of 70, dad is now married again.  We liked the analogy their pastor used - that they both have been through a  long season of winter and now it is a new season of spring and renewed life. We had spent a wee bit of time with the new bride back in the fall when we were on an emergency visit after an operation landed dad in the hospital.  We spent as much time as we could with her this week as well and could not have picked a better person.  We are so happy that they found each other and wish them many years of health and happiness together.  There was also lots of fun family time with K's brother, sister, spouses, and kiddos (and met the new 'family' who all seem real and nice).  We are thankful everyone gets along well and we all had a great time together.

Happy Trails incognito ~ Photo op with the new bride!  
Hanging out at dad's house before the wedding 

So now we're looking to get back in the saddle with some good old trail running.  Hopefully we'll be back on track with scenic trail photos next week. Summer is here and it's time to get after it!  Happy Trails!