An Interesting First Week

Well it has been an interesting first week – in more ways than one.

Football reported last Thursday for its first day of practice. We also took their publicity pictures that day and I was able to finish up the media guide and send it to the printer. Feeling, I was really actually ahead of where I needed to be in preparation for the season. I was pretty far ahead in the soccer and volleyball media guides so I decided to get out of Abilene for the weekend.

The family and I went for a great relaxing weekend on the river and at the Zetsch Ranch in Mason (thanks Jimmie and Susan). Apparently the rain moved in early Saturday and has played havoc ever since with practice schedules and the like.

I was all refreshed and ready for the onslaught of Monday. Then in the middle of the night my wife and I got what we thought was some sort of bug. I missed out on work on Monday and went in on Tuesday but still did not feel great. My wife had kicked her virus and was back to work.

I got the new rosters on the web for soccer and volleyball and was catching up some other items and decided I was going to stop by the clinic for a shot just to get to feeling better. When I went in he sent me straight to the emergency room with a dangerously low oxygen saturation level. He suspected pneumonia, but wanted me to go to the ER.

The ER tested me for several things and they admitted me at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. They did more tests on Wednesday and finally ruled out anything cardiac. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon they diagnosed me with bilateral pneumonia.
I am on the mend, but they will probably keep me around through the weekend (much to my shagrin). I actually feel great now, and am tired of sitting around in the hospital, but they want to make sure my oxygen levels get back to normal and the IV antibiotics work faster than the oral ones.

I guess the fall sport teams are still progressing in their process toward the seasons. The volleyball team is on the new Mabee Gym floor and the soccer teams are finally getting some nicer weather. The cross country teams are running in the mornings. Here are some photo galleries from soccer, volleyball and football. Look for more galleries coming up. They are located on the front page of the new web site under the Multimedia tab.

Hopefully I am back to work next week. I really do miss not being around for this time of the year.

I would be remiss if I didn’t think a few people. My new graduate R.C. Waters has done a great job this week, running the office with little direct training. Those of you that know R.C., know that he is going to do his best to get the job done and with his addition to the office this year we are going to be able to kick out even more content than ever before.

I have mentioned this several times before on this blog, but I work with the best coaches and staff in America. Almost all of them have called, e-mailed or been by the hospital. I thank everyone for all of their gifts, prayers and communication.

Good friends John Neese and Jeff Smith have been by a couple of times and I appreciate that. Not everyone can work under parameters that their boss is also a good friend, but as much time as John and I spend together we better like each other. I really do have one of most unique situations in all of college sports, because not only is he my boss, but he has also been an SID and knows the time commitment and knows what is important for the department (i.e. the commitment to a new web site, a new digital camera, a graduate assistant for the first time, etc.).

Oh well, I guess if this had to happen it is better this week than next, or the week after that, because we are going to have a great fall and I am looking forward to it.