Apologies

I apologize for my sudden disappearance... here I am, leading you on with promises of wedding updates and weekly recipes, and then I just stop posting altogether. Things have been a wee bit stressful around here, and after the past two weeks, I am quite content to leave 2008 in the past.

Two weeks ago, I received a phone call that my grandmother had a stroke. The bleed was too deep in the brain for the neurosurgeons to attempt anything, so we just had to wait and see what happened over time. In a follow up CT scan, an unexpected pattern of shading was found, and after two subsequent MRIs, it was discovered that the bleed was surrounding a 5cm tumor (for those who do not deal with tumors on a regular basis, 5cm in the brain is enormous -- larger than a golf ball). The neurologist was astounded that my grandmother has been able to function with no problems up to this point -- only because the tumor has been extremely slow growing (slow enough that it has started to calcify) and her brain has been able to adapt to the giant mass.

Needless to say, between dealing with doctors and visiting and not knowing what the outcome will be, the 5 days I spent out of the lab were far from relaxing and enjoyable. We returned to D.C. on Monday, and I've slowly been easing my way back into the lab -- I need a vacation after my vacation.

Here's to hoping everyone has a happy, and healthy, 2009. I, for one, am ringing in the new year in the lab, fighting with my proteins -- brand new year, same old shit.