Here's a picture of Tegs posing by the Harley near the car rental counter in Avoca Airport while we we waited for Mark's plane to arrive:
 |
| Tegs and the Harley at Avoca Airport - looks like it was made for her! |
Once Mark arrived, we all drove together over to the Hilton Garden Inn on Highland Park Blvd. Since it was really late in the evening, we ended up driving to a Taco Bell to get some food and then went to bed so that we could be ready for our early morning.
We got up very early the next morning so that we could be at the Geiseinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center at 5:50 AM to meet my sister and her husband Blake downstairs so that we could all go up to the surgical waiting room together. I hadn't seen my sister or brother since my daughter Nicole's wedding in July 2011. It's a shame that we had to wait for such a serious matter to get together again! When Kate and Blake arrived she looked very thin, shaken and frightened. We gave her big hugs and then went upstairs to wait for the medical staff to call her. Her surgery was scheduled for 8:00 AM, but there was prep work to be done beforehand.
They called us back to see her about 15 minutes before they put her under for surgery. She was so scared that they were going to find that the cancer had spread elsewhere in her body. While she cried, her lower lip pouted out exactly the same way that it did when she was a little child! It really broke my heart to see all of this! The nurse attending to her was named Mary and had a great sense of humor, which did seem to help Kate somewhat. After they gave Kate her shot, we walked with her a few feet out in the hall on her way to the Operating Room and then went in to the Waiting Room to keep a vigil going for her.
Here is a picture of Blake, Aunt Mary Jeanne and Mark keeping vigil in the waiting room:
 |
| Blake, Aunt Mary Jeanne and Mark keeping vigil in the Waiting Room |
Since they planned to also perform the breast reconstructive surgery at the same time, the surgery was supposed to last until 2:00 PM. However, the surgeon called Blake at around 11:00 AM to inform him that Kate was too thin and frail to be able to withstand the reconstruction and that it would need to be done at a later date. However, she did get through the surgery just fine and the surgeon said that a look at the lymph node tissues provided a confidence level of 95% that the cancer did not travel anywhere outside the affected breast! Although further pathological examination would need to be performed to give an all clear, this was wonderful news!
We waited for a few hours for Kate to get out of the Recovery Room and then went to see her in her room. She was awake and knew us, but was very sleepy from the pain medication. Both her and all of us were very relieved that the surgery went well and that she had a good prognosis.
After we saw Kate, we headed to Avoca Airport to drop Mark off so that he could pick up his rental car, with plans to meet him for Dinner later that night. Once we dropped Mark off, we headed up the mountain to Tobyhanna, the place that I called home from the time I was 4 up until I joined the Air Force at 18 years old.
Our first stop in Tobyhanna was the house that my parents had built and we moved into when I was 9 years old. It is on Prospect Street, which is also Route 423:
 |
| My Childhood Home on Prospect Street |
It doesn't look any different from when I lived there, except there were two beautiful lilac bushes that used to grace the front of the property that are no longer there.
Next stop was St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church on the corner of Main Street. My family and I spent a lot of time in this church during my upbringing and it is where I received my 1st Holy Communion and Confirmation. Many of my family members received the sacraments and attended Mass there and my father, mother and brother's funerals were all held there as well. Here is a picture of me standing on the front steps of the church:
 |
| Mae on the front steps of St. Ann's Church |
Here's a picture of Tegs standing on the steps:
 |
| Tegs on the front steps of St. Ann's Church |
There are two beautiful statues out in the front of the church that bring back many memories: one of St. Ann and one of Christ. The statue of Christ is very significant in that I have a picture of my brother John standing by it right after he received his 1st Holy Communion. Sadly, John passed away in 2009 of heart failure, so this is one of the reasons why the statue holds such sentimental value. Here is a picture of me standing by the statue:
 |
| Mae standing by the Christ Statue |
 |
| Tegs standing by the Christ Statue |
 |
| John after his 1st Holy Communion circa 1964 |
Lord, please bless John and let him be at peace with you in heaven!
Not much has changed at St. Ann's except there are not enough priests to run just one parish any more, so the local priest runs 3 parishes.
I wanted to show Tegs inside the church as the stained glass windows, marbled altars and murals are so beautiful. Unfortunately, the church was locked up tight due to the fact that there are too many vandals around nowadays.
After our stop at St. Ann's, we headed up to the Tobyhanna State Park, which is where we used to swim during the Summer when we were kids. My mother didn't drive and dad was always working so we didn't get to go to the park very often, so when we did go it was a huge deal!
Here is the sign at the entrance to the park:
 |
| Tobyhanna State Park Entrance Sign |
Here is Tegs standing by the Park office with bathrooms:
 |
| Tegs standing at the entrance near the Park Office |
Here is where we used to swim and make sand castles:
 |
| Swimming area at the park |
Here is where we used to have picnics while at the Park:
 |
| Picnic area at the Park |
After our visit to the Park, we headed to Tobyhanna Army Depot (TAD). No visit to Tobyhanna would be complete without going to TAD! Here is TAD's Vision that I got on their website: "From handheld radios to satellite communications, Tobyhanna Army Depot utilizes advanced technologies to ensure the readiness of our Armed Forces. The depot, a major element of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, is a full-service repair, overhaul and fabrication facility. For over 50 years, Tobyhanna personnel have built a tradition of unparalleled customer satisfaction through the delivery of timely, cost-effective, and high-quality products and services".
The Army arrived at Tobyhanna in 1912 in the presence of Maj. Charles P. Summerall, who had been given the assignment to find an appropriate east coast location for an artillery training camp. Summerall was the commander of the 3rd Field Artillery at Fort Myer, Va. In its early years, it would have several names, including Camp Summerall, Camp Tobyhanna and the Tobyhanna Artillery Target Range. In the summers of 1912 and 1913, Summerall had established an Army presence that, with one break, continues until today.
TAD held a huge role in my upbringing. We used to go to the Dispensary there when ill and always shopped at the Commissary and Exchange and swam at the pool there during the Summer. Tegs really enjoyed seeing TAD as it brought back her days as a Major in the US Army. As such, we got her a Major coin at the Exchange!
 |
| Major Tegan Marie Smith with her coin |
Here is a picture of Tegs in front of The Landing, which is a restaurant and bar on base:
 |
| Tegs standing in from of The Landing at TAD |
After our visit to TAD, we headed back towards downtown Tobyhanna and stopped at the Tobyhanna Train Station, which was built in 1907 and restored a few years ago. It now serves as a museum of railroad artifacts and model trains. Here I am standing in front of the Station:
 |
| Mae in front of Tobyhanna Train Station |
 |
| Tegs standing in front of the Station |
A great deal of my childhood memories involve the sound of trains coming through the town, mostly at night. To this day I find that sound very comforting! Many of my ancestors worked on the railroad there back in the early 1900s. I see the rays of sunlight in both pictures as a sign that they were welcoming us back to Tobyhanna!
After this, we headed back to Wilkes-Barre and had dinner with Mark at the Cracker Barrel near the hotel. Despite the stress of the day at the hospital, Dinner was quite pleasant! After Dinner we headed back to the hotel to relax for a while before retiring for the evening. Unfortunately, there was a major toilet malfunction, which ended up with the bathroom floor being flooded. Fortunately it was a handicapped fitted room with a drain in the middle of the floor! Since there were no maintenance personnel on hand that late in the evening, we ended up having to squat to pee in the shower, which really sucked! Since the shower head was detachable, we were able to rinse out the shower pretty well when we were finished, but it still was pretty inconvenient! The hotel ended up giving us complimentary breakfast for the two remaining mornings to make up for our inconvenience. We had to wait to switch rooms until to the next day as the hotel was fully booked that evening!
We woke up the next morning and had a nice breakfast and then headed over to the Medical Center to see Kate. When we got there she was wide awake and fully cognizant of what was going on. We had a very nice visit with her and ended up meeting Blake's sister Pat and her husband. Towards the end of the afternoon, Kate was released to go home, so we saw her and Blake off and then returned to the hotel to rest for a while.
After a short rest, we headed over to the Payless Shoes Store right next to the hotel, where Tegs ended up buying around 8 pairs of shoes! I bought some cute silver gypsy earrings and cubic zirconium stud earrings to wear while working out and in my casual clothes at home.
After we left Payless Shoes, we headed a few doors over to Starbucks. Tegs ordered her customary hot Caramel Macchiado with extra caramel and I got my Non-Fat Chai Latte with Raspberry. We both got a slice of their delicious lemon pound cake to go with our drinks. We found a nice corner with comfortable chairs to sit and chat. Not long after we sat down, the sky opened up and it poured rain for about 2 hours. We just sat and talked and had our drinks during the storm. It was a great afternoon!
Here is a picture of Tegs sitting in the corner that we commandeered:
 |
| Tegs in our corner at Starbucks |
Tegs was extremely pleased with her Payless Shoes purchases and promptly put on what we both agreed to be the cutest pair of shoes of the bunch. Here is a picture of her modeling them at Starbucks:
 |
| Tegs' new black and white polka dotted wedges |
Once the rain let up, we headed next door to Logan's Roadhouse to eat Dinner and then went back to the hotel to settle in for the night.
The next morning we got up and joined Mark for breakfast. We had a nice visit and then he headed out to the airport. Here is a picture of Mark and I by the fireplace at the hotel before he left for the airport:
 |
| Mae and Mark by the fireplace at the hotel |
After Mark left, Tegs and I drank some more coffee, finished packing our things and then headed to the airport to go back to Dallas. We dropped off the rental car and then boarded the plane and flew to our layover in Newark. Once in Newark, we stopped in the Garden State Diner to have some Dinner. Here is Tegs having Dinner there:
 |
| Tegs at Dinner in Newark Airport |
We finished our Dinner and then boarded the plane to Dallas. I dozed during the flight and wasn't looking forward to our arrival in Dallas for reasons that I won't go into here. We landed at DFW around 10:45 PM and got our luggage and the car. I dropped off Tegs and then headed home.
I'm so glad that Kate did so well during her surgery and is healing well! Results from the pathology exam on her breast tissues revealed that none of the cancer spread outside her breast! She has an appointment with the doctor next week to follow up and find out if she needs chemotherapy, which I hope isn't necessary. I pray that she has a long, productive and happy life!
