A couple years ago I flew to Utah to accompany Greg for a needle biopsy.  Knowing this would be a quick procedure we planned to eat breakfast together at Serving Time, one of his favorite diners.  Located at the door of a correctional institute, it is run by inmates and is very affordable.  What a surprise when our biopsy was not only longer than anticipated, they kept us another six hour for observation.  We left the hospital in time for dinner!

Therefore we were pleasantly surprised this morning to be only 1.5 hours at the hospital and therefore able to enjoy a nice breakfast together at Serving Time.  (If you live nearby – a full breakfast with sausage, eggs, hash browns and toast was only $5.99.  They are open until 3:00.)

Before I tell our doctor news I will give a quick review of our crazy weekend.  Mark flew home from Atlanta Thursday afternoon.  We surprised him with a quick trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  He had time to unpack and repack his suitcase and we headed out the door for our six hour drive to Greg’s home.  He helps manage rental cars at the JacksonHole airport (tough duty) and lives about 45 minutes north – right through Teton National Park.  What a gorgeous drive!!!  Our job was to take him to and from work twice a day.  During our almost four hours of daily driving we saw all sorts of wildlife and weather. (Sorry my cool buffalo-running-beside-the-car-on-the-highway video won’t upload.)  I was thrilled to see snow up to the top of the fenceposts because this is what I know from growing up in Colorado.  I loved every minute of it!!  Of course Mark did all of the driving for us through several blizzards and this was great also.  The highlight for all of us was our final trip on Sunday night – thick snow blowing all around us but as we returned to his house the skies were perfectly clear.  Only those who have been far, far, far from civilization know what it means to see stars in the night sky.  Simply amazing and such a treat!  Of course lack of clouds also means 10 degrees… so…. But it also meant that the next morning we were finally able to see the Teton Range in all its glory.  Fabulous!!

Back to Greg.  He has continued to be pain-free.  Not only is his bone artificial, we also realized that the muscle protecting it came from his abdomen and is also lacking nerves. So this helps explain the lack of pain.  Because we have no answers we have continued to make plans.  Last time it took quite awhile to manufacture the prosthetic so we supposed we would go on with life and plan on surgery in a month or so.  Kimberly and I would fly out of town tomorrow and Mark would drive Greg back to Wyoming where he was making arrangements to live in town and carpool.  We were keeping March open and secretly hoping to have to go to Oregon for surgery so we could visit with old friends.  As we drove today Greg and I thought of what it would be like to undergo amputation (if the bone connections were messed up)…

So here is our pleasant surprise.  Our doctor (which we had not yet met) who is actually monitoring something growing on a different child.   I was so glad when he walked in the room!  He is very comfortable with the prosthetic and knows exactly what to do – though no one knows why this happened.  We hadn’t noticed on the X-ray but there is a screw that seems to have worked loose.  It lost structural integrity and popped out of place. (Greg’s friend recommends that he bring some  LOCTITE [hardware multipurpose adhesive] for the surgeon. )  Then came a series of surprises.  He surprised us by saying that surgery was tomorrow!  We surprised him by not knowing anything about this.  He surprised us by saying Greg would be able to walk and drive in just a couple days.  We surprised him by showing him the picture of the “leg cake.”  So I guess we are friends?  That was fun.  Question of the day – should Kimberly and I go on our trip tomorrow?  We’ve been planning this for months but have also come to terms with calling it off.  I have never missed a surgery – but Mark says he can handle it and Greg says, “Go!”  I think we will go…

Seriously – he is planning to drive himself to Jackson by the weekend!   We couldn’t be more surprised and pleased!  Thus the Serving Time breakfast celebration.

I hope that everyone who has been concerned will find time to celebrate in Greg’s honor!  Bon Appetit!

Notes on the photos – If you go to Jackson try the huckleberry ice cream at Moo’s!  Greg at his airport, the obligatory Jackson arch photo,  a ferret outside our bedroom window, our doctor had access to the MRI of the original bone tumor so we finally have a photo and the menu at Serving Time.