Go BIG or go home.

Dawn to Dusk 16 is tomorrow and I am really excitied about spending the day with great friends and great riders.

Sounds like we have a big group, around 17 or so.  The record is 19, so we're close.
You never know if anyone will be a last-minute dropout or addition.  We'll see tomorrow at 6:00am.

Dennis has gratiously offered to be our SAG driver, so we are both heading out of town around 4:00am to get to Lakeville with plenty of time to get things packed in the Suburban.

The weather sounds great, mid 80s for temp and winds from the ESE around 8 mph.

I think I'm physically ready (even though I don't have a record number of miles on).

For those who don't know D to D, it is a one day, 200 mile bicycle ride.
We start in Lakeville, then hit the following towns: Northfield, Pine Island, Mazeppa, Lake City, Wabasha, Nelson, Stockton, Maiden Rock, Bay City, Red Wing, Cannon Falls, Farmington, and back to Lakeville.

Having a SAG vehicle will be a big help with this many guys. 
Thanks Dennis, for hanging out with us all day.

I hope I can get some sleep tonight...

Finally, some good news.

Lil Ben started to wiggle his toes on his right side the other day!!!

So, either the treatment is working or he is starting to fight off the virus on his own.

With no other symptoms they let Bill and Cathy take Ben home yesterday.

He is such a good boy, the staff at St. Mary's were sad to see him go, but sleeping in his own bed will definately be better than the hospital (for Ben, Mom, and Dad).

They (the Doctors) never did determine what virus it was, they threw out names like polio, polio-like, West Nile, and others of that nature.  But the tests they ran didn't indicate any of them.  CDC was involved right away and did some follow up with their daycare.  There is one test that takes several weeks to determine the answer for West Nile that they are waiting on, but either way Ben seems to be on the upswing.

While in the hospital, they gave him 5 treatments of IVIG (intervenious immune globulin), which is basically the antibodies of thousands of heathly people all mixed together and given to people with low immune systems, on a side note, the Research lab where I used to work was involved in a study where they were giving the same treatment (IVIG) to people with early symptoms of Alzheimers Disease.

Anyway, there is much more hope and several Doctors even told Bill and Cathy that "there is no reason he (Ben) will not make a complete recovery", so we continue to keep the little guy in our thoughts and prayers. 

I think about Ben and Kathy so much, that is hard to really care about much else...

Pile it on...

With everything that is going on, I don't think we need any more...

But the other day, Bill and Cathy noticed that Lil Ben wasn't putting his weight on his right leg or kicking it like he normally did.

They took him into the doctor and they immediately transferred him to Mayo Rochester.

So Bill, Cathy, and Ben are at St. Mary's hospital here in Rochester undergoing a number of tests.

They have ruled out blood clots and there is nothing broken, so now they are planning an MRI and to run some tests on some spinal fluid.

They have mentioned a virus, but have not gotten very specific about any one thing.

Poor little guy, he doesn't deserve any of this (nor does his parents).

Get Excited...

Jens says YES to 2013!

Lil Ben

Ben came over and stayed Friday night, as his mom and dad went out for supper and a concert for their anniversary.

My mom (Great Grandma) and Aunt Marie came over and helped watch the little guy.

He was very hungry and went through most of the milk, so we had to thaw some of the frozen milk.

He played and fussed, until about 7:30 or so, then it was jammy time and one last bottle.  Aunt Marie had the magic touch, and soon it was all quiet.

He slept until about 11:00, then another bottle and it was lights out.

Bill and Cathy got home around midnight, so Mommy had everything taken care of from then on.

What a great little grandson!!!

Been awhile.

What can I say, it has been a busy couple of weeks.

With Kathy's surgery, then the recovery time, and then there is the drain care.  So riding has been whenever I can get out.  Mostly short rides late in the day.

But today, I did get to Chatfield.  Unfortunately, they were having their summer celebration, so the town was packed.  I was glad to get through without any problems.

Kathy had 2 of the 5 drain tubes removed last Wednesday, but the others will have to be next week.
It will great to be done with all of this...

D to D is fast approaching, so I hope I will be ready.