Reddick Family Web

Nobility, Humility, Loyalty

Favorable “path”

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The pathology report confirmed that the tumor was malignant melanoma and that it had reached the outer layer of the eye. However, it had not broken through the outer layer. Dr. Gombos voiced a few concerns in his “limited concern, hedge-your-bet” voice, but said he is not recommending radiation for me.

Those words, of course colored all subsequent perceptions, and I’m not too sure what all else he said.

Except that there is still some edema, and some other healing to do in the eye socket. Things look “good” (not perfect), and he wants to see me in three months. I think he was talking about six month intervals after that for a couple years, assuming everything goes well.

Dr. Gombos said we can cut back the ointment in the eye to once a day (hooray) and that my Lubbock ophthalmologist will have to be alerted to a couple of tissue issues and other concerns. He gave a qualified go-ahead to start the ocularist associations.

We are working on some short term follow-up stuff now and will be free to go home this weekend. I have some local testing and diagnoses to follow-up on Friday, and blood to give and a CT scan in Lubbock later this month.

We don’t have a complete sign-off on this phase yet, but the scariest part is over.

Prayers of thanksgiving in order.

Tech vs. UT – a sociological delight

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Football IS the official state religion of Texas, but I’ve never seen anything to equal the religious fervor we’ve had in Lubbock this week over this Saturday’s game. 

Yes it’s a battle of unbeatens. No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns against No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock. 

Yes, it’s two of the highest scoring teams in College football. Yes, it’s Sports Illustrated’s Game of the Week. However …

Red Raider fans whoop it up
Red Raider fans whoop it up

Students started standing in line at Jones Stadium MONDAY for Pete’s Sake, to get the best seats (student seating is not reserved). They pitched tents. Some had generators. Tuesday there were a couple hundred who had taken up residence at “Raiderville.” They even have a mayor and a police department. By Wednesday there were 700 residents. Thursday another 1,000 moved in. Friday classes across campus were noticeably  devoid of students. If it were Harbor High in the early sixties, I’d swear 17th Street was breaking over head with a 15-knot offshore and water temps in the 70s. 

His Eminence Mike Leach, Master of the Spread Offense, Pirate Potentate (“once in awhile a pirate can beat a soldier“) and Pigskin Plenipotentiary of the South Plains paid a surprise visit to the student throngs surrounding the stadium Thursday afternoon. He fed the multitudes while preaching love and (school) spirit to them. One eyewitness report worth reading was written by one of my former students. 
Tech football team in black
Tech football team in black

All that is interesting enough, but somebody else started moving onto campus Tuesday. ESPN. ESPN is doing their College Game Day thing on the Tech campus. So they started moving in Tuesday. They plunked down their trailers, their trucks, their cameras, their satellite dishes, furniture, fencing and all right in the middle of campus. They took over the Tech Engineering Key with all their munitions. And it’s clear they agree with Sports Illustrated. This is ESPN’s “Saturday Showdown.” 

It doesn’t stop there, folks. All flights out of Lubbock for Sunday were sold weeks ago. There’s not a hotel room left in town for the weekend. And some enterprising soul has all the local media, students, and even people not ordinarily conscious of Raider football involved in a city-wide “blackout.” Tech’s colors are crimson and black. And the call this week has been for everyone to wear black on Friday (Black Friday?) and to the game on Saturday. 
As a sociological phenomenon, this is about as good as it gets. 
You might want to tune in at 7 p.m. (Central) Saturday, and keep your
Guns UP!!!!!

Bumps in the road

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The Road to Recovery is interrupted by speed bumps.

We had come back from Houston. I had taken almost a week where the only time I was on campus was early in the morning or late afternoon-evening. I took naps during the day. Then on Oct. 13 I conducted the news budget meeting in Multi-Platform News. We were off and running. I was feeling much better, and on Oct. 15 I arranged individual time with each of my students (I usually do that twice in the semester).

All these friendly voices whispered things like “take it easy” and “go slow.” I thought I was. Thursday, Oct. 16, I hit the first speed bump. I had overdone things so much on Wednesday, that when I came onto campus Thursday, I not only was feeling “out of gas,” I also felt mildly nauseous and somewhat light-headed. I had to beg off a meeting with one student, and Nancy came and got me about noon. I think I slept most of the afternoon. 

Friday was better. Saturday was so good that I went to my grandson’s party at the roller rink about the time the Tech game was ending. Most of the swelling had left the eye, and the eyelids were wanting to open on their own. Eye patches are not glasses friendly, so we hit upon a plan to have a local discount glasses place put a dark plastic lens on the dark side of the face. That’s another story, but we got the glasses back – done correctly – on Monday.

Monday. Another speed bump. I awakened Monday morning with swelling in the right eye worse than it has been since the bandages were removed. I had an afternoon appointment with Dr. Allison, and he postulated a couple theories; but he said I did not have an infection. He sent me home with instructions to put an ice pack over the eye. We went through a couple packs in the afternoon and evening, and things were much improved. 

So we think we are getting the speed bump message. We don’t like it, but we are starting to figure out that progress can be made even at a slower pace.

Riley breaks a leg – really!

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Riley Daly Lane, 3, broke her right femur (thigh bone) Thursday, Oct. 16, at her home in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Riley, her sister Jenna, mother Heather and dad David rushed to an emergency facility in Moncks Corner for X-rays and triage before being taken by ambulance to the MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston where Riley and Heather spent the night.

Riley poses for Grandma Nancy in the park near her home.
Riley poses for Grandma Nancy in the park near her home.

Doctors were studying Friday morning whether it would be necessary to pin  the bone back together or whether a cast would be adequate to stabilize the bone. Either way, prognosis is that Riley will be immobile for about eight weeks and have to be carried everywhere she goes.

Heather said the girls were watching The Invincibles on television and got into the spirit of the video. They had stripped down to their “My Little Pony” underwear and were pretending to be superheroes. In that company, they were jumping off various parts of the sofa in the den onto pillows on the floor while mother worked in the adjoining kitchen.

Mom said she heard a “slap” and at first thought one sister had slapped the other. However, she quickly realized that slapping was out of character for these two sisters, and she said the “slap”  didn’t sound exactly like flesh on flesh. “When I heard the screams that followed, I knew something was wrong.”

Riley whooshes down a slide in the park.

The family did a last minute reassignment to get David relieved of duty on base, and then they raced to the Monck’s Corner emergency room attached to Trident Hospital. Preliminary reports indicated the fracture was complete, and that raised fears an operation and pinning would be necessary.

Friday, Dr. Hooker, whom Heather compares to her own sister Laura (soft spoken, sweet), placed a half-body cast on Riley. On her left side it extends from ankle to waist. Then it goes down to the knee on the left side.

Grandpa Randy was pondering Friday morning whether this is an example of media effects, uses and gratifications or some other mass communication theory.

Rehabilitation I

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Note to self: Before you essay to drive an automobile, master the art of shaving the right side of your face and neck without slitting your throat.

The day after bandages were removed
The day after bandages were removed

We returned to Lubbock Wednesday night, and Thursday was pretty much devoted to doctor visits / phone calls and dealing with an apparent reaction to medicine. Medicine changed, we were able to enjoy the weekend, including taking two grandchildren to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I even got into the office for a couple hours on Saturday.

As a result of the weekend “exercises,” I am beginning to understand more thoroughly the vision adjustment issues. In this regard, the movie was physiologically painful. I’ve had more than a few depth perception issues, but most disorienting is the brain’s persistence in and insistence upon superimposing the image from the right eye (blank) over the image from the left eye. This is especially disconcerting when moving from a brightly lighted setting to a dim one.

Dr. Allison said it takes “about two months” to fully adjust, and likened the phenomenon to the phantom pain amputees feel from a severed limb. The good news is that the phantom images do go away. So I am trying to be patient, and continue to be humbled by expressions of care, prayer and compassion from many quarters.

Ten days after the bandages were removed.
Ten days after the bandages were removed.