Five months ago Ben got sick. Well, he was sick before that but not visibly so; it was five months ago that he wound up in the hospital with non-stop vomiting. Since then it has been multiple hospital stays, three endoscopic procedures, and months of waiting. Today we leave for Birmingham, Alabama to see a specialist. Friday Ben will have major abdominal surgery to remove part or all of his pancreas, and to transplant the islets into his liver.

on top of that, there was a major winter storm last night, and the news stories out of Birmingham are not encouraging. I have no idea what to expect when we get there. Or even whether we might be prevented from getting there. Isn't stress fun?

If you want real-time updates, follow me on Twitter or Facebook (links at the bottom of the page). I'll post here when I can. All of your kind thoughts are appreciated. Ben needs all the support he can get.