The Latest News from Hurricane World, Texas

First of all, news from Angie: They have returned from Durham. The Angel Flights went well. On the return flight the pilot had to make a stop in W.Va. and while there, they had the opportunity to meet an Apache pilot. He was so moved by Myles's situation that he wanted them to come on board his chopper. So Myles got to get in an Apache (and Nanny's soooo envious!), and the airman tore a patch off his uniform and gave it to Myles. While he doesn't really understand the significance, or that this man was so touched by him and his condition, Angie and Justin knew.

So Myles had some immune function tests run at Duke. Monday he will have some more tests done at Riley (Indy) to see if the tumors are growing again or if they are still at the same size. If they are growing again they will resume chemo. If not, they will schedule the next bone marrow transplant in the next couple weeks. Dr. Buckley (at Duke) thinks it possible that in addition to the SCID and cancer, Myles could have an autoimmune disease, which would be causing him to feel so lousy. The mouth sores could be part of that too. If he does have an autoimmune disease then the next successful transplant will take care of that. Time will tell. Meanwhile, Angie continues to amaze me. She has been under tremendous stress for over three years now. She is one incredible woman.

I'm glad Angie and Myles are safe and sound back in Indy. Missy and her family are in Dallas. She's doing fine. I was able to get a cell call through to her this afternoon (Thursday). Cells aren't working all the time, but every once in awhile we can get through. It took them about 7 or 8 hours to get from New Caney (north of Houston) to Dallas on the back roads, but they had the good sense NOT to get on I-45! Good job, Missy and Steven! Otherwise, they'd still be sitting there!

Rusty, Lynna, Kelli, and I left Liberty around 10:00 this morning and arrived in Livingston, 60 miles away, at 6:30 pm. Hey, we got here. Took over 8 hours, but we got here. Not sure yet where Rita's landfall will be, but chances are, we'll still get some pretty heavy storm activity here at the lake house. It was crazy out there on the road today. People were running out of gas and all the gas stations were out of gas too. TX-DOT and the military were bringing tanker trucks to rest stops and along I-45 and I-10 to get gas to people. Most of the traffic was just at a standstill for hours. BUT - let me say this: I am really proud of all levels of government in how they are handling this. This evacuation is unprecedented and if anyone complains, well, they shouldn't! From what I saw, most people have been really well behaved. I hope it stays that way. (Of course, if there's any misbehaving, it will OBVIOUSLY be by NON-TEXANS!) ;)

Rita should hit early Saturday morning. If it comes up through Liberty I don't expect the house to still be standing when we return. I'll update on Friday if I can. Yall take care.