FATHER TROY's PRE TRANSPLANT JOURNAL...LIVE ! FROM PHOENIX.........#1

EUREKA !!!!!!!!!, We have arrived in Phoenix, uneventfully, right on time and are ensconced in our Hampton Inn Suites on North Scottsdale Road. The 5 of us, (Jeremy will be down circa Sept. 11) are going out for Mexican food at Carlos O'Brien's.........What a first night in Scottsdale, beginning with the truly fantastic suites, the best I've ever stayed in ...Our dinner at Carlos O'Briens right across the street from our hotel is said to be, "The Best in the Valley", and now we know why.  My sister Alice and I celebrated with a frozen margarita and Victor a gin and orange juice, as we toasted finally getting here for transplant.  Then it was off to Fry's supermarket to buy provisions for the days ahead.  Our hotel shuttle driver, Rodney, was celebrating his birthday on Sunday, so I did what my mother would have done, bought him an ice cream cake.  In this case, a Carvel Ice Cream Cake, which I first heard Larry King talk about on Mutual Radio, more than 30 years ago...Then we recessed back to the suites for a nightcap of a special drink the Herrera's and I enjoy, a Watermelon Cooler.  That's all the libations I will have until well into my convalescence and recovery.  As I can drink as much asI like with dinner before 7 p.m. Monday night, but no alcohol allowed.  I will gladly celebrate being able to drink more than 48 ounces of fluids a day again.  Tomorrow, Monday is an early start, with a 6:40 a.m. shuttle to the Hospital for pre-op tests and prep.  I meet up with my beloved friend Curtis Richards, who will meet me there and come back with me to the Hampton Inn Suites to join us for dinner.  Curtis has rearranged his work schedule in Washington, D.C., to be here Monday-Thursday, and will be helping me, in part by assisting my sisters in calling my contacts list with a first post transplant progress report on Tuesday.........More LIVE From Phoenix/Scottsdale pre-transplant for the last time tomorrow night.  Love, Peace, + Prayers,  Fr. Troy