An uneventful adventure!

Ruthie and I made our trip to Tampa and back excitement free! The drives were easy; involving no cops and with only a few drivers wanting to share our lane while we were still in it. On the flight down, security in Atlanta was a breeze, a semi-nice lady traded seats with me so that Ruthie could sit with me. She said with a smirk that she "really didn't like the middle seat!" But, as Ruthie said, perhaps it makes her an exceptionally nice person, since she traded anyway. The most disturbing events occurred at the Budget rental car office where a lady with what looked to be about a 6 month old baby and 9-10 year old boy was trying to procure her car. Ear hustling as we were (since we were waiting interminably for our car with 'service' from a lady who didn't make herself very clear and kept leaving us, without explanation, to confer with others) we found that Budget had sent her an email, unceremoniously canceling her reservation. Then, it seemed as though that problem was resolved by the Budget attendant who was working with her, only for her to run into the same problem we had faced on our first trip together. Her brother had made the reservation, so it was in his name rather that hers. (Brent made mine and Ruthie's first car rental like that and the mean lady out in the garage kiosk gave us to understand that that was terrible and would only fix it for us this one time and then, it was only because I happened to have the exact same credit card Brent had used when he made the reservation.) Well, the poor girl we were watching had no such luck. Of course she didn't have her brother's credit card. The attendant was very flip and said that her brother would just have to come down there and pick up the car. She was very upset and said that there was no way he could do that since he was in rehab. So, the poor thing wasn't even down there to have fun, but to visit her brother. When she tried to rent a car herself right then, the attendant said that they were out of cars, and offered that all the other agencies whose reps were lined up there (Avis, Hertz, etc.) were too! Then he just left her and said, "Next!" The poor girl was about to cry and struggling to get her bags and children out of the line. Ruthie went over to talk to her to see if we could drop her anywhere or something....as we were hopefully, about to get our car. But she declined our offer, saying she needed to be somewhere that was an hour and a half away. We probably should have taken her anyway. And what happened to the car that her brother had reserved? Did it just evaporate?! The attendant didn't try to help...offer her the number of a taxi or any other services or anything. I don't know how some people sleep at night. As it was, Ruth and I worried about her the whole time! I HATE BUDGET! We had already decided that we would never use them again after this trip because they have been difficult and uncooperative in every way on every trip....and this example of their service certainly capped it!

But, I digress. My appointments didn't start until after 9, so we were able to avoid going down to breakfast looking like homeless people. Got to the hospital just fine. Did encounter a bit of trouble with my IV start, got to do that 3 times! Missed our nurse Jackie....just because she is fun and gets our sense of humor. Some weirdness with trying to set up the appointment with Weber on the week of the leukophoresis. Brent had already spoken with the original coordinator, Kim, who has been a bit sketchy in the past and she had told him it was all set, giving him times and everything. Then, a different coordinator....also named Kim, just for fun...told us that it was not set up at all. After some back and forth with her, she said that the phoresis part was set and that she would arrange for an appointment with the NP as well. Hmmmmm! Given her prior inability to explain ANYTHING, I knew that would NOT fly with Brent Morris down there wanting info on the scans, etc! I tried to be diplomatic, but told 'Kim' this and she just said that Weber was so busy they were looking for a new doctor to help him with his load....blah, blah, blah. I told her that I was sorry and didn't mean to make things complicated, but if she gave us an appt with that particular NP, my husband would sit there until the cows came home demanding to talk to Weber anyway, which would mess up that day's schedule even more! She said she would fix things, but when we left none of it was actually scheduled, so that will be another thing to take care of...again...on Monday! After that, got through the medication and shots just fine. The nurse was really skilled at giving them and Ruthie kept me entertained with great stories that she and Shane think up for the occasion!

The return trip was fine. Got to the airport a bit before 3 for our 6:45 flight. Asked the same dude at the Air Tran counter if there was any flight in the next hour or so that we could have instead. Ruthie was a bit nervous, fearing that he would recognize me as the crazy lady throwing the 'B' word about from last time. But he didn't give any signs of alarm or recognition, but did give us seats on an earlier flight. We had plenty of time to make it through security without stress even though they were X-raying EVERYONE! Even a little old lady in a wheelchair who could hardly stand, much less put her arms over her head! People were very confused since the workers were offering no explanation for this. I requested a pat down in order to try to avoid some amount of cancer causing rays, so I was cordoned off in a little box until the lady came to do it. It was of no value to them....as obvious hiding places for contraband were NOT checked. Craziness! But we got our flight, with seats together, just fine. Got to have pizza with Rosie in her dorm. Thanks, Roo! And Ruthie is back home safe and sound!

Much love to all of you who so willingly play my games with me! C