Back in Houston – I think….

Boy I tell you what, when I don’t update this blog I get all kinds of heat from all of you in bloggerville. “When are you going to update your blog!?!” Hey, I don’t get paid to do this! Seriously, things have been crazy lately, read on for the details.

After close to 12 days at home, I jumped on yet another 6:30AM flight out of Raleigh last Monday (Oct. 16) en route to Houston. I was packed for a full 3 week trip this time; that is, until my wife informed me that I was returning to NC that Thursday. “Why?” I asked. “Don’t ask, just go” was the response. Okay, something was up, obviously a surprise, so I decided to go along with it. My guess was something was going on with my oldest daughter, maybe a school event? I really had no clue. So after 2 short days in Houston I went to the airport to fly back to NC. Not so fast. There were severe thunderstorms in Houston last Wednesday. It’s funny to watch the reactions on everyone’s faces when their flight is delayed or cancelled. You would think their mother was shot by a bank robber. I kept thinking to myself “these folks need to take a trip to the cancer center and see the anguish on the faces of so many people that are fighting for their life”. A flight delay is really no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

As luck would have it, I made it on an earlier flight and got into Greensboro just before midnight. Kimberly told me my “date” would be picking me up at 7:30AM so be ready. Sure enough, right on time, is one of my golfing buddies and he isn’t dressed for a school event. Okay, now I have a little clue on what’s happening. We pick up another golfing buddy and head south on I-85 toward Charlotte. After an hour and a half of driving, we pull into the parking lot of a golf course and that’s when I realized what was going on. There was my dad, my father-in-law, friends from my hometown, customers, fellow co-workers – these guys had planned a benefit golf tournament for me. I was blown away! A total of 45 folks showed up for the first annual Brian Stoll Invitational Golf Tournament. I cannot begin to tell you how surprised I was, but more importantly how thankful I was. This was simply incredible. People taking time out of their busy schedules to play a round of golf for me. I thank you all for your time, your generosity, and the great time we had last Thursday. I sincerely appreciate it.

So Friday morning I’m on another 7AM flight back to Houston. I did some quick math yesterday, and I’ve traveled close to 4,500 miles via plane and car in the last 8 days. I am WORN OUT! But it was all well worth it.

I’m in Houston until Halloween, back home for about a week, then back in Houston on and off for another 2 weeks. I had a PET scan yesterday, my CT scan is scheduled for November 8. I get the results back on November 15. This will determine what the future holds for me, whether I stay on trial or go off trial. I’ll keep you posted.

Till next time, B….