From Good to Bad to Hopefully Good Again in Las Vegas?

Last week was a great time as my two daughters, who originally were supposed to visit at Christmas (flight canceled for weather), then rescheduled for January (I had COVID), and finally were able to visit Saturday through Wednesday. The visit went well, although my wife and I have not been able to persuade any of our kids to move to Arizona. After they left, things started to go wrong. 

I was walking our dogs when one of them lurched at some small animal. The particular part of the road we were on had some gravel on it. I slipped on the gravel and face planted. Well, to be more precise, I stuck out my right arm and the heel of my right hand slammed into some gravel, causing a few wounds and drawing some blood. However, I landed on my left side and surprisingly felt okay. Until the next day. I woke up the next morning and felt like a truck had slammed into me. I was sore all over. Most of the soreness went away, but then my ribcage started hurting. I had cracked a rib once before and had also once had separated cartilage there, so I knew that feeling. Getting out of bed in the morning is particularly challenging. I had a Las Vegas trip scheduled February 13-17, so I thought that I would just see how I felt after a few more days. 

On Friday early evening, I decided to get in a poker session at Talking Stick Resort and also see the huge carnival that was set up outside as one of the celebrity attractions for the Super Bowl weekend, which was happening on town. As I headed toward the Stick on "the 101," a highway that loops the greater Phoenix area, I was going about 75 mph on the crowded road when I saw a huge piece of wood coming toward me. It looked like a door to some type of cabinet. I had no time to react, which was probably for the best. The wood bounded right toward me, hit my car's front bumper, then bounced away. The wood could have easily hit the windshield and possible hit me or caused me to lose control of the car. I am sooooo thankful. I will need a new bumper, but at least the same old me was okay. At least my session at the Stick was successful. 

Unfortunately, I woke up Sunday morning with increased pain in my ribs. I tried to get into a convenient care place with x-ray capability Sunday afternoon, but was not successful. I just figured that I would see my personal care physician at an open appointment time Monday around noon. I thought that I would wait until seeing him before making a decision on the Las Vegas trip I was scheduled to be starting on Monday. I was driving to Las Vegas, so it would have been possible for me to leave Monday afternoon. 

My doctor wasn't keen on my getting my cheast x-rayed since it would likely not make a difference. He said I either had a very small crack or some minor ligament/cartilage/bone trauma or bruising. Surprisingly, I had no external bruise. I still didn't feel great and decided to cancel my trip Monday afternoon. I was looking at rescheduling later in February or in March, around planned visits from family and friends. 

On Tuesday, the anti-inflammatory medicine I was taking made me feel much better. I had no plans for the next several days since I was goingto be away from home, and then looked into modifying my trip to Wednesday - Sunday of this week instead. I decided that I would gauge how I felt Wednesday morning and decide. I woke up very early Wednesday morning and felt pretty good, so I packed my things, took care of some business at home, made a new reservation and headed out on the road. It was a good decision. I still have soreness, but hey -- I'm in Las Vegas! 

Last night I picked up Tony Bigcharles and drove up to South Point to play some poker. I decided to go with the $1/2 NL game, which has usually been very good to me. The first hand I played, I called an early raise with 4-4. The flop: K-4-rag! I bet and a woman at the table pushed all in. It turns out she had some crap hand, so I almost doubled up the first hand I played. Poker is EZ sometimes! I switched to Tony's table since two people at my table were flapping their gums non-stop for 45 minutes. I captured some more chips there, and Tony and I both cashed out with nice wins. 

I then drove up to Sahara. Tony got in Chris Murray's deep stack game, but I was tiring and not willing to be the tired fish in their game. A shout out to James "Pman" Urbanic, who I finally met at Sahara. I played some slots, took Tony home, and called it a night. I am divulging for the first time that I have a secret bat cave in Las Vegas. I must keep the location secret, but here is the elevator I take to get there - no sliding down a bat pole for me.

Tonight (Thursday), I am taking one of my nephews who is in town out for an early dinner, but otherwise have no set plans beside some poker this afternoon and this evening. So far now, all is well in the world. Hit me up if you want to get together while I am in town. 

Thanks for reading!