Monday +53 (10:15 PM) Mickey's World

Well, as this process seems to go...today was one of those bad days for Jackie. I'm not certain why, especially when the last two days went so well. She was nauseated much of the day. She had three separate instances of vomiting today. Her back pain was intense for most of the day. All-in-all she spent most of the day in bed.

She had a neck and back MRI study done this afternoon. We will visit the doctors in the morning to see if there are any results. Nobody expects any surprises, it is mostly a precautionary set of tests.

Her counts are lower today; especially her WBC count. This might indicate some other problem that hasn't presented yet. Her RBC (Hgl) count is 9.3 down from 9.7 yesterday. her WBC count is 1.9 down from 2.8 yesterday. Her platelet count is 148 down from yesterday's above-normal 160.

Her CMV count is also still positive. It is down a little from last week at 3000. I don't know if they will make a change to her meds to try and eliminate the CMV or if they will continue with the Ganicyclovir. I will probably know more tomorrow.

I've included a couple of videos tonight. The first one is another piece of the video that was sent from home. I've been including a little bit every day so others can see what we received. I've included the "ending" tonight. This requires a little explanation...

Mickey Martin, our OK sales rep, is the last segment you see. In the video you will see him "moon" us with a Halloween-costume fake derriere. Why does he do this? Well, it is a bit of a long story so here goes...

When I first began flying helicopters the insurance company required that I only fly by myself until I obtained a certain level of experience. Mickey and his wife live on a 1000 acre ranch that lies on a direct line from our house to Tulsa. For a couple of months as I built experience in the helicopter I would often fly from the hanger at the house to Tulsa. I would usually buzz Mickey's house and sometimes circle and wave at Mickey and his wife Kelly.

One nice day shortly after I passed the experience level necessary for me to begin carrying 1 additional passenger Jackie was flying with me. As usual, we were coming back from Tulsa when we flew over Mickey's house. As I circled I could see him ride up to the house on his 4-wheeler. I asked Jackie if she would like to land in his yard for a visit. She said, "Yes". Now...Mickey knew that I could only fly alone due to insurance requirements. He didn't know I had passed the requirement and could carry one additional passenger.

I set up an approach pattern that would allow me to make a landing right at his front door. I would be less than 50 feet from the house. At about 100 feet up and on final approach Mickey turned around and dropped his pants to moon me. He continued this until touchdown. Naturally Jackie and I were laughing so hard I almost had to abort the approach.

I think sometime around touchdown the thought occurred to Mickey that MAYBE I might not be alone. He slowly turned around and staring out the helicopter bubble window were TWO people. He immediately recognized Jackie. He pulled up his pants and ran into the house. I don't think he wanted to come back outside! When he did he said with all sincerity, "I'm so sorry Sis!" Since that day it has always been a big joke! We've all had fun teasing one another back and forth.

So it was appropriate that Mickey provide the "ending" for the Get Well Video. It is also appropriate I provide a response. Here they are....



Here is the response video. I call it Brokeback Martin



Until Later....


Bruce and Jackie
From Rochester, MN