Off We Go

I was able to wrap up most of what I wanted to do at work yesterday by noon. I am lucky to have an employer who is so understanding of my situation. Here on the home front we crashed last night before getting packed, but we were able to get that done this morning. In about 10 minutes we are going to be leaving for the airport. We will be flying Delta (thanks to Stephanie's mom Toni) and will arrive about 6:55 Cleveland Time. We will be taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel. The whole family is quite anxious but in good spirits.

-Chip

Preparations

We are making preparations, preparations for war.

At least it feels that way, although we are not searching for any mythical weapons of mass destruction. We are trying to get the home (and for me my work) in order so that we can leave things in a relatively organized manner. The theory behind this is it will make it easier for those who are covering our jobs while we are gone, and things should be more organized when we return, although I have no evidence that this is actually what will happen.

It just so happens that many - I can't really keep track of exactly who - of my children have developed colds. Therefore, they are not allowed to love on Meredith or get too close to her, which is the exact opposite of what they want to do. Stephanie and I have both developed a heightened level of freaking out and are greatly anticipating our trip and all that will go with it. We leave on Saturday morning, and will be staying in a hotel (thanks to my Dad) until we can get in at the Ronald McDonald House. I am not sure exactly where I am going to find web access to post updates, but I will find it somewhere.

As you await the next post with anticipation.....OK I was going to suggest something here but I am quite tired and I was unable to put a coherent thought together. Peace.

-Chip

Making a Donation

Many people have inquired as to the cost of us traveling half way across the country for Meredith to have a complicated heart surgery with a protracted hospital stay. Although we have insurance, it will not cover many of our expenses. We would be grateful to anyone that desired to make a donation to help us defray these extra costs.

If you would like to make a donation to help us cover Meredith's medical expenses we will accept your donation through the mail, or we are accepting donations through PayPal.

I just found out that my PayPal link is not working for some reason. I will try and fix this, but in the meantime you can send your donations through your PayPal account to jackroyal@gmail.com.

-Chip

Things are moving fast now!!!

We found out yesterday that Meredith's surgeon, Dr Mee, is retiring and is only doing a few more surgeries. Since he had already agreed to do Meredith's surgery he said he would do it before he retired. After looking at her echo and other information he stated that he was concerned about the size of the PA band - that it had not really tightened as expected - and that he thinks we should do the surgery now. So we have scheduled it for November 1, 2005. If you would have asked me 3 days ago when her surgery was going to be I would have said next spring, and I would have been wrong.

-Chip