Reddick Family Web

Nobility, Humility, Loyalty

First announcement to family

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The second eye doctor today wasted little time in diagnosing the problem with my right eye: Choroidal melanoma. He did some confirmatory tests, and then did an immediate — real time — referral to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He then got hold of my primary doctor and discussed the “work-up” that needs to be done before I go to Houston.

I start Thursday morning on the first phases of the work-up that will include brain scan, MRI and a raft of blood tests. All this will be done in Lubbock.

If I understand correctly, he is expecting to send us down to Houston some time about 2-3 weeks from now. I don’t know a lot right now.

I went into the doctor’s office at 2 p.m. By 2:45 my eyes were wide open.  By 3:15 he had completed the first exam of both eyes. His first words were, “I’m afraid it’s not good,” and then he used the “m” word. He was very blunt. He said sometimes they can do radiation, “you may lose the eye,” and he suggested, “or worse,” depending on what they find.

The preliminary work-up is designed in part to find evidence of metastasis / other cancer.

I called Nancy in Phoenix almost as soon as I knew, and then I fulfilled my regular Wednesday night temple assignment. At the temple I received a wonderful blessing from President Hendricks and Scott Wells after the 8 p.m. session.

Now you know as much as I do.

Diagnosis melanoma

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I had been having some trouble focusing my eyes on reading since May, so I made it a point in my annual checkup visits to ask for a referral to my ophthalmologist. I had mentioned to Nancy that there was something going on in my right eye, but that’s about all. Dr. Boothe saw me on July 31, and said he wanted a retina specialist to see me — Kevin Allison. The referral diagnosis was “retinal edema.”

Scheduling issues prevented me from seeing him until Aug. 20. Because I have a church assignment on Wednesdays, I was watching the clock as the afternoon appointment drew on. I left the doctor’s office some time after 4, headed for home with several conversations going on in my head at once. I thought I had understood Dr. Allison to suggest I would likely lose my eye, and that that might only be the beginning. Do I call Nancy in Phoenix and tell her, or do I wait until she returns? Do I have time to eat dinner? Should I stay home tonight? What does all this mean?

I finally decided that there was no better place to be at such a time than the House of the Lord, and that I needed to call Nancy now. So I grabbed my headset and called her as I left the house for the temple. I was concerned about her response — she was understandably distressed. I think she agreed that there was no better place for me to be than the temple, and she asked that I call when I got home.

I did. And then I composed an e-mail to family, which I sent out late Wednesday.

Aurora Borealis shining down in Dallas

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Sunrise June 18The Muppet Movie had a number of great lines, great songs, and great lines in great songs — if you enjoy playing with words. This morning we had a glorious natural sunrise phenomenon that inspired Nancy to quote a song from the movie.

We had some thunderstorms roll through the South Plains last night, and around 8:30 our power went out for about three hours. So when we got up in the morning, we went through the ritual of re-setting the clocks and radios and anything else with real-time timers and checking other appliances for signs of life. 

There were still some lingering storms as the sun began to rise. For just a few minutes, as the rising sun peeked over the horizon but under the clouds there was a grand and glorious glow. I motioned Nancy to come outside, and her immediate response was “Aurora Borealis shining down in Dallas…” to which the only response could be “can you picture that?” Picture that?

Picture! It was a transient phenomenon, so I ran back into the house to snag a camera and did manage to get a couple of quick shots before it entirely disappeared.

Some family history

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Dianne and Linda have come and gone now. It was a wonderful three-day visit full of exhausting, but rewarding work. Nancy and I began preparations a couple weeks ago, pulling out documents, letters, photos that had been collected during more than thirty years of on and off research. By the time we had it all out, we were stunned. More than 500 photos going back more than a century. But that was not the best part.

Among the typescripts (hundreds of pages) that I have just begun to scan, were transcriptions of letters home from “boys” written in the fall of 1861 through most of 1862 bearing return addresses of places like “Paw Paw Tunnel, Virginia” and “Fort Murray” and “Huttonville” and “Phillippi” in Virginia. Yes, Civil War. Letters home. More2cum.