So Long, Ras Al Khaimah, hello CAT Scan Results

Today was my last day teaching the Crown Prince of RAK's kids (not all of them, just FYI, but Shaikha Ahmnah [GMAT]and Shaikh Ahmed [SAT/Math II]).  Both of them have been wonderful, if somewhat slightly disconnected from a world wherein one doesn't have a father who is a world leader.  Sort of.  Specifically, these are the 2 richest kids I've ever taught, and the only negative thing I can say about them (and normally I have a bunch of negative things to say) is that they are unrealistic.  They are both smart, humble, wonderful, wonderful people.  Shaikha Ahmnah has a wonderful sense of humor, as well as a ravenous desire to be something other than the sister of her brothers; Shaikh Ahmed is very worried that he will never "experience" anything because of his title and his name.  Because of this, he let me drive his "Lambo" back to Dubai today, apparently so I would think that he was "good people."  This is kind of what it looked like (I chose the yellow one--and yes, there was more than one--, because yellow is my Mom's favorite color):

Luckily, I'm very familiar with manual transmissions, so it only took me a couple of minutes to figure out the ratio between the gas/clutch/holy mother of god we're all going to die.  I felt badly for Shaikh Ahmed's driver (Metro), because he was cramped in the back seat...waiting until I either crashed or I got home.  He rode with us because...he's the driver, and someone had to take the Shaikh back.

After an exhilarating drive back to Dubai (approximately 120km/60 miles), I had to relinquish the wheel to Metro.  I had missed most of the beautiful scenery between RAK and Dubai because Metro kept on shouting "RADAR" (there are RADAR cameras on Emirates Road...which is the road between RAK and Dubai) and "Flash lights, Sir...make them move over."

Best, fastest, and least comfortable car I've ever driven.

This is a CAT scan:

What does a CAT scan do, you may ask.
It doesn't do this:

mainly because if you have to get a CAT scan, you aren't shooting fireworks off in celebration.  Anyway, CAT is an acronym for Computerized Axial Tomography.  What that means is:  holy cow, this is really scary and I'd rather not do it.. How does is a CAT work?  It's basically an X-RAY camera (read...weird sci-fi technology) which rotates around a prone patient, and the images are compiled, indexed and sorted by a computer (thus the "C") so doctors can visualize what is happening inside the body.

 

I'm waiting for the results of my mother's CAT scan, which will reveal if her cancer is spreading or not.  I guess I shouldn't say that I'm "waiting" for these results, because I already know what they will say.  I'm waiting for confirmation of what I have known, but what my family can't believe.

But today, while driving--did I mention that I was driving a sweet car?-- I remembered a sign/photo/something I had seen at some point in my life:  Don't Cry Because It's Over; Smile Because It Happened.  So, while I'm still waiting for the bad news, I'm smiling because of all the good things my mom has done.