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So we were at my parents this past weekend, myself, Mitz, Amanda, Erika and her boyfriend Bradley. We flew into Kansas City Thursday because it was cheaper and Erika was suppose to fly into Des Moines on Friday. As we were having our breakfast at my sister’s, Erika calls somewhat in a panic.

Mom, I am at the wrong airport. I was suppose to fly out of Raleigh NC, but I am at the wrong airport in Charlotte NC and it is a 3 hour drive and my flight leaves in about 2 hours.

..and with that, we started trying to arrange her flight in Raleigh without it costing her an arm and a leg. She eventually drove to Raleigh and paid the smallish fee to change her flight and got to Des Moines late Friday evening. But she will never live this down.

We went to Iowa for the weekend.  Originally, we were supposed to go for a wedding, but plans changed.  Instead of changing our tickets and paying some outrageous airline fees, we decided to use the tickets and head to see the family anyway.  So, instead of a wedding, we had a nice small family reunion.  We were able to see most of the relatives with the exception of our one nephew and sister-in-law who are in Washington.  One thing that our daughter learned on this trip and I’m sure she’ll never forget this is to always look at your itinerary and pay close attention to the departing airport location.   She’ll never live this one down.  We did have some fun with that.

Tom posted this on the CaringBridge blog…

9-12 We have some good news today. The results of the bone marrow biopsy is back and it did NOT show any cancer cells. So right now it is a waiting game for her counts to come up. She will still get some outpatient Chemo I believe that will be over some months and I am not sure how often she will need to come in to receive it. The prayers you have prayed has helped. Thanks.

That is a relief for everyone in our family. Since Diane was put in the hospital, Tom has spent every waking moment with her. I pray with outpatient Chemo, things will get back to normal in the family.

I’m waiting in line at the bank drive-thru window. I’m excited because I’m going home and I’m next in line. There is one car behind me. The lady at the window had children in the back seat. She must have not had everything she needed because I could see the tube go back and forth a few times. I had been waiting a few minutes now, and getting frustrated because I just don’t understand what kind of transaction would take so long. However, the last time the tube came back, it was obvious that there were suckers inside. Instead of taking the suckers out of the tube, handing them to the children, and driving off, she hands the tube with the suckers inside to the children. Let’s not forget that I’ve been waiting now 5 minutes and patiently waiting for her children to finish picking the suckers they wanted. I wanted to get out of my car or honk my horn and give her a piece of my mind. I just can’t understand how someone can be that self-centered that they are oblivious at the world around them. I know when I go to the drive thru, I make sure that I have everything ready and try to be as speedy as possible because I know how much I hate waiting so I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that–as the Bible verse says “Do unto others.”

I talked to my parents today to nail down some of the details on us traveling to Des Moines later this month. We were going to change our tickets to fly out in November for the wedding, but the airlines wanted a 120% premium to change our tickets to a flight in November. Unreal.

Our conversation was dominated with talk of Diane and Tom. Tom has been spending most of his time at the hospital. He told mom that Diane is having good days and bad days… Sunday was a bad day. The type of leukemia Diane has is called Acute myeloid leukemia, she will be in the hospital for the next 3-4 weeks. Tom created a page at CaringBridge so family and friends can communicate with Diane while she is in the hospital.

Since we have the ticket to Des Moines, we are going to use them to be with my brother and sister in law. I feel that there is really nothing I can do than just be there. Maybe that is all that is needed.. just to be there.