It started like all Thursdays start; the alarm clock goes off at 6:55am, I walk into the kitchen and turn on the coffee maker, use the bathroom (while checkout out the latest bike racing info on the iPhone), get dressed, go into the garage and air up the tires on my bike, drink my coffee while eating some sort of energy bar (whatever’s available, only requirement being that it can’t contain raisins), make a bottle of drink mix (which I rarely drink any of on my morning rides), grab my lights and computer that charged overnight, one last quick stop in the bathroom and then head out to ride.

Except that normally I’d be getting Kevin going too, instead of trying to figure out when to visit him at the hospital while he’s somewhere in the middle of a 4-week process involving planting 80 electrodes into his brain, inducing seizures so they can study what happens, removing the electrodes, coming home for a week, then going back in to have a fancy miniature computer installed into that same brain. Yeah, doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me either, but I do miss riding with him. 🙂

It was an easier ride than most mornings, and not sure why. Karl, Karen, JR, Scotty… I think that’s everyone.

After the ride, another ride, to the shop, to help more people… ride. I think there’s a theme here. After work, another short ride to the hospital to check up on Kevin, then finally, at about 9:30pm, back home again. Tomorrow (Friday) morning, it’s back to the hospital again, this time to drop my wife (Karen) off to have a “port” installed for her upcoming chemo treatments, and while there, check up on Kevin who will be, about the same time, having a procedure to remove the electrodes from his brain. After that, back to the shop, help more people with bikes… rinse, wash, repeat.

It doesn’t seem all that unusual; it’s my new normal. Is there going to be an empty feeling once Kevin’s procedures are done and Karen’s once-monthly chemo treatment just becomes part of a routine? I’m kinda looking forward to finding out. 🙂