Getting Ready For Game Day

Dean + Pablo walking down Sunset Boulevard this afternoon

After a day of robbing and looting and Kidrocking and shooting, Pablo wanted to sleep in Papa's Lazy Boy chair. We had a full day around here. Jo Ann's mom Patricia arrived from Houston. We went to the Kidrockers show at the Echo and saw Eulogies and The One AM Radio blow the minds of a ton of kids. The cutest, best use of rock + roll we'll see all year. So many of our friends were there with their kids. Everyone was freaking out at how cool the show was. Pablo was overwhelmed and left halfway through. He is very good at putting his hand up and saying when he's had enough. A lesson I still need to learn.

Uncle Dean continued to be a source of physical and emotional strength, lifting me in and out of chairs and cars. Last night at the Silvas' house, he helped me in/out of four different chairs until we found one that worked. Today, Dean's gentle strength helped finish our outdoor living room on the deck outside Grady's bedroom. Jo Ann and our dear friend + interior designer Arianna bought the furniture and materials for this space weeks ago but haven't finished due to the constant pull of Pablo's treatment. We were all so excited to see the space come together that we hung out there in the late morning sun and talked. Pablo and Polly ran around in the back yard. It was awesome. The perfect, idyllic prelude to tomorrow—the single most important day in our journey. Relaxing in the sun felt great and we'll look back fondly on that hour in the coming week.

When everyone else went inside, Dean and I meditated together. Powerful stuff. With emotions running in the red all week, we both felt the need to release some unwanted old skool energy. Usually you need a federal permit to release into the atmosphere so much toxic waste from the 1980s. It wasn't ours anyway—the stuff we expelled belonged to other people in a galaxy far, far away known as the south side of Milwaukee. We let it go with compassion—we hold no grudge against anyone who hurt us back then. Our only goal is to be free. Our only goal is to be in the here and now. But, still, sometimes 1985 comes knocking. And sometimes 1985 needs go get knocked the F out! The theme in our house today was to get with the here + now and surround Pablo with warm, protective light. We have been good at this since the day of his birth. Now, we have to be nothing short of perfect at protecting Pablo.

After Kidrockers, my acupuncturist came over. She is my new favorite person in the world. Her name is Allison King. She is a warm, soft spoken woman who makes me forget my fear of needles and brings a soothing sensation to me just by talking and listening to me. Today, we talked about bike racing and communicating with our spouses. Pablo came in and counted the needles in my back, hands, shoulders and scalp. I heard him count to 15 and tried not to freak out. What would the point have been anyway? The needles were already in and the damage was already being undone.

A few minutes after Allison left, my back felt 100% better. I can now stand and sit without help. I can almost get in and out of a car without aid. I sat in a meeting for 65 minutes this evening. Miraculous. And just in time for game time tomorrow at CHLA. I keep getting evidence that I'm the luckiest guy in the world. And the only reason I need luck is to help my boy + my family. Without them, luck is useless. I felt so good physically that I took Dean + P to 31 Flavors for ice cream.

We're off to bed. P has to eat brek at 7 a.m. and can drink only clear liquids until 11 a.m. Dr Stein, his surgeon, called Jo Ann this evening to explain the details of the procedure. We're clear on what's gonna happen with the arthroscopic procedure (I got it wrong the other day, calling it laproscopic) , and after all the times Pablo has gone under Dr Stein's knife, we have complete faith in him. Like Dr M, he has become family to us. We will check in at 2:15 p.m. tomorrow. Pablo's surgery will start sometime between 5—7 p.m. Pablo will recover in CHLA for at least two days. We are not sure when the pathology results will be available. We will update the blog and Twitter constantly tomorrow as things update and progress.