I woke up at my usual time this morning since we had to make it to Little Rock by 6:45 to check Summer into the Carti Surgery Center. It was immediately clear where the money was going, because it nearly felt like walking into a space station. The chaplain found and greeted us just after we found a seat, and we spoke briefly just to say that we really hoped we wouldn’t need him yet. It wasn’t long before we were called back to register, and a little longer before they called us back to get her prepped.
Dr. Fant said the whole procedure would only take about half an hour, and I was eventually taken back to the lobby as they wheeled Summer off to the back. From start to finish, I barely had time for two cups of coffee. I was taken back for a consult when she was done, and Dr. Fant said everything went really well, and reiterated that it seemed to be erring on the side of caution, but we should know definitively by the end of the week.
From there, I waited a bit longer for Summer to wake up, and then I was taken back to get her ready to go. We loaded up and started toward home, but stopped at Los 3 Potrillos in Conway for lunch. She had her camarones a la crema, and I tried their “Tex-Mex fajitas” which featured the cheapest tasting slices of hot dogs I could imagine. I ate it, but I wasn’t happy about it.
We made it home and I got a text from Dad that cousin Stephen had passed suddenly overnight. We didn’t know anything more than that. Summer was still in a lot of pain, so she went to bed. I combatted a swarm of flies that found their way into the kitchen, and then Eaddie wanted to start Daredevil: Born Again. The first episode seemed very inferior to the original Netflix series in every way. Eaddie actually fell asleep before the first episode was over. Then I took Muad’Dib to Walgreens to pick up Summer’s medicine. On the way home, we rolled by a family running a lemonade stand at the end of their driveway, so we stopped for a premium-priced glass after a 300% tip.
I checked in, and then we continued our run to my parents’ house. Rick passed me on the way home, so I stopped at the end of his driveway to say, “hello.” Tasha and her family were actually on their front porch, so we waved at them too. Then we made it to my parents’ house where Dad had aired up the boat trailer tires to see if we could make it to the lake. Ernie messaged me with the same news, but didn’t have any more to share than what little we already knew.
I stayed for dinner and had some bún bò Huế with Mom while Dad ate something else. Then we made it home where Eli had come over and found Eaddie with bed-head on the couch. They left and I laid down with Summer for a bit after getting her some more medicine. It was a quiet night from that point on. Eaddie left with Eli for a bit, and I fought a bunch more flies. Tomorrow we’ll do some more digging under the house to see if we can find where something might have perished.
NOT AN EXIT