April 3, 2014 6:44pm: I woke up sometime around this time based on my text to Mike. “Just woke up. I feel pretty good. Still a little groggy from the Xanax.”. This is slightly amusing because I wasn’t under the influence of Xanax. I was under the influence of Valium. This is also a spotty time of my story. I was high on valium and still exhausted. I went back to sleep. Mike’s response indicated he had just turned onto I-59. I knew I had some time to rest.  I laid my head back down and came in and out of consciousness for a while longer…I think. I got up just before Mike arrived. I knew I needed to take another antibiotic. Mike walks in the back door like he has so many times before. He is quiet like a mouse…but I’m awake-ish and I “light-up” as much as I can so as to present myself in the best light possible. I spring into action to grab my meds from the kitchen. Mike asked me if he could get me anything and I remember looking around for the medicine as I declared myself to be “fine” as I shuffle through the kitchen cabinets.

It’s around 9 o’clock. Michelle and Mike and the kids catch up about this and that. I don’t really remember how the rest of the night went. I think we went to bed around midnight. Again, I slipped away into a very deep sleep. Tomorrow we leave for Pensacola.

Morning April 4, 2014: We get up kinda early and I make my rounds around the house and my car to grab the things I need for the trip. Since my bags are packed for one night with little to nothing I collect “stuff”. The last few items are in my car. Including my sunglasses, my “tub-o-gum, my penicillin…My what? At that moment I remember specifically getting up to take my meds….I never took them. I yell to Mike, “…I never took my antibiotic last night!”. He exclaims, ” I know, I was trying to tell you that…”. I was clearly “out of it”. I roll my eyes, pop a pill and jump in the car.

 Here we go. We drive about four and a half hours down to Pensacola to the Naval Air Station, Whiting Field and play at a “Change of Command” party for some very dear family friends of Mike’s family. They are like cousins to the Frazier Family. Great folks. I have had the pleasure to be included in some landmark events with the Brown family.  Mike and I played at Hank’s graduation from Annapolis and again at Annapolis for his retirement in 2013. Hank is the brother-in-law of the guest of honor. This gig is important because of the who, not the why.

We arrive a little early and set up the public address system or the PA. The ΦA is the sound system including speakers microphones, cables and all the electronics that make it sound as good as we try to make it sound. This requires a bit of heavy lifting which I have been instructed not to partake in…doctor’s orders. Mike wouldn’t let me lift anything…It was great. I had finally achieved “rockstar” status. I have  “ROADIE”. We set up pretty fast and take off to Margaritaville to catch up with my old friend Doug Ayers.  We enjoy a fresh grouper sandwich and a celebratory beach beer. The weather is a little cruddy, but at least it isn’t raining and at least it’s not hot. The gig goes great. Other than having to go to the bathroom every forty-five minutes we had a great response from the intimate crowd and play pretty well all things considered. The handful of Advil has minimized my discomfort and we had a ball. This night did not disappoint. To make things a little bit better, the guests help us carry to entire PA down to the first floor and load it back into Mike’s car. We followed the party out for a nightcap.

Morning April 5, 2014: We wake up hang with the Brown’s for a little bit and hit the road. We are in Pensacola for less than 24 hours. This will be our first back to back gigs in probably twenty years. Can our voices make it through two gigs in a row? This uncertainty adds a little to the strain of my weekend. My fingers are sore. I haven’t played in weeks. Tonight’s show is at a local restaurant in Cahaba Heights called Blackwell’s. Before the gig and after we set up we have a baseball game to attend.

The closer we get to Birmingham the worse I feel. I start to worry about infection..after all I missed a dose of medicine. I guess maybe the stress is taking its toll on me. I feel awful. We have to change strings on the guitars and set up the equipment and go to Parker’s game. I just want to lay down and I have no time. I’m anxious. I can’t sit still. But I need to…but I can’t. We quickly tune up our newly strung acoustic axes and make our way to the bar. We unload and Mike mostly sets it up while I sit and try to figure out how I can get out of this.

6;45-ish: We have spent all day driving and talking and for me, feeling kind crappy. I am wondering, “how I can pull this off?”. “Can I make it through the gig?”. I have over scheduled and I am feeling defeated. I know I need to suck it up and get over it and decide to have fun. “Suck it up Surber!”. I decide going to Parker’s game and enjoying some fresh air will take my mind off of this quandary. The ball field is only five minutes from the gig and the night air is damp and a little chilly. It is perfect. It worked. Although Parker’s team lost they played pretty well and I realize as I leave the field that I am okay. We played and we killed it! The show was even better to me because there were a few times in the day when I was trying to figure out how best to cancel it. I felt great.

It was a great weekend to have a biopsy scheduled. I didn’t have time to think about what was going on in regard to my little situation. It was a whirlwind in slow motion in the  middle of a blackout. Still, No one really knows what’s going on with me. Sunday will be my day of rest and real recovery. I can get some sleep and I don’t have anything to do. Sunday comes and goes.

I made it. I wouldn’t change a thing. The results from my biopsy will be available Wednesday. That’s only three days to get the good news…right?