Thursday, March 15, 2001

March Madness

Hello from March Madness City!

It is that special time of year. The basketball gods have blessed us with a great upcoming tournament and at the same time the midterms gods have laughed at it straight in the face. I have midterms this coming Monday and Tuesday. When am I going to study when there is so much basketball on TV? Plus, St. Patrick's Day is Saturday!

On a serious note, my sister, Tobi, went back into Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga on Monday to have surgery to remove the rods from her back. It is hard to believe it will be three years this April.

You may remember last April the doctors had to take a part of one of the rods out of her back. The portion of the rod that was taken out had a staph infection on it, and the doctors thought it had been on the rod when it was placed in her back.

Well, the doctor, Dr. Pierce, who put in the rods in 1998 was the one to take them out. I am glad he was the one because he knew how he put them in. One wrong move could cut a nerve.
When the rods came out on Monday, the doctors discovered the rods were completely covered in staph infection.


For those who do not know, staph infections are caused by bacteria that grow in grape-like clusters and cause skin infections and serious internal disorders. Staph bacteria are usually harmlessly present on the skin of people, but when trapped in a sweat or sebaceous gland it causes a skin infection.

So here we go again. Last year, Tobi had antibacterial therapy with an IV to feed her antibiotics to rid any strain of infection.

We found out yesterday after she met with the infectious disease control doctors that she will not have to have a central line put in and will not be fed antibiotics with an IV. She will be able to take pills. What a relief for her and us.

It looks as though she will be released from the hospital today, Thursday. She will go back to her apartment in Atlanta with my mom and her fiancé in tow.

Yes, by the way, Tobi is engaged to a bright young chap named Corey Weldon. He will most definitely make a nice addition to our crazy family.

So, back to the NCAAs, the Chattanooga Lady Mocs are a No. 12 seed and play Clemson on Friday night at 6:00p.m. (TotalCast on gomocs.com).

The AWESOME thing about this game is that it is being played at Xavier's Cintas Center. The first and second round games are played at campus sites. HOW COOL? My alma mater playing at my graduate school. If I can't go to the Lady Mocs, the Lady Mocs will come to me!

I went to the airport last night and met the team as they arrived. It was great to see the team. I know they are so excited. Stacy and I will be there Friday night, then watch the Xavier women play Louisville, and then take in some TV viewing of the Xavier men playing Notre Dame at 10:20 p.m.

Well, I better stop here. I hope you made it down this far in my ramblings. Stacy and I are doing well and wait for the spring. The temperatures have been anywhere from 30 to 60 in the past couple weeks.

Hope you all are doing well. Take care.
Happy St. Patty's Day!