Friday, August 27, 2010

Sometimes I come on here to write and I can't think of a title so I don't write a post at all.
I can't think of a title but I guess I can still update this page...

Dad's making progress. Today was a big milestone: day 15 after the initial bleed. They say the biggest risk for re-bleeds, strokes, and seizures is during the first 14 days after the initial event.
He was doing great after the initial bleed but then the stroke occurred 6 days later. That's what he's in the intense rehab program for - the stroke. His left side is weaker than his right but they're working on that in PT. His fine motor skills have been affected so he's also working on that. His balance is getting better the more he walks and does all of the exercises. He has a great PT; dad loves a challenge and he feels like every exercise his PT has him do is challenging him. His OT is going well, too. Yesterday he had a pasty for lunch and he thoroughly enjoyed it! Said it was the best food he'd had the whole time he's been at the hospital. We brought him one today too.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by for a visit, called, texted, sent cards, and posted messages on the care page. The outpouring of support has been tremendous and so comforting during these difficult weeks.


I can hardly believe it but school's about to start again. WHERE did this summer go? I'll be spending most of next week in my classroom getting it (and my lessons!) ready for students on September 7th. Also we have teacher inservices so those are always busy days.
On the last day of school in June the students said "This is your last day as Miss H! Next year you'll be Mrs. K!" That's about to be a reality; I'm now a Mrs.

I have so many ideas running through my head for things I want to do. When I think about it, I get excited for the new year; there are so many fun things to do with my students! Whenever I get excited, though, I think about all of the work ahead. We switched to block schedules and trimesters so I have to reorganize all of my lessons.

I'm up late waiting for company to get here. David, Greta, and Katz came to town today. They along with Peter are at the hospital or on their way here.

Have a great weekend!

Friday, August 20, 2010

tough

Stroke. Aneurysm. Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. NICU. Visospasm. Angiogram.

Some of these I'd heard of, some not until this week. Now they're all words we use in every other sentence, in every conversation, in every thought.

He was doing so well. He knew he wasn't out of the woods, but he was feeling good! They scheduled another angiogram to make sure they didn't miss the aneurysm the first time through last Friday.
Things were going well all morning, they brought him down, prepped him... then something went wrong. He knew something was wrong.

Yesterday turned into the worst day of his life.

He had a stroke.
A small one
but still a stroke.

He said it was worse than even the original episode that brought him down here to the hospital in the first place (bleeding in his brain).

The prognosis is good but there's a lot he has to get through to start feeling better.

Thank you for your support, love, and prayers; we really appreciate it!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

More updates

Click

HERE

for more updates on my dad and all of us here.

Thanks :)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Emotional Weekend

It's been a rollercoaster of a weekend to say the least.

Thursday was as close as you can imagine to a perfect day. Family, free time, company, beautiful weather, beautiful place, enough activity to feel energized, boating, water skiing, tubing, delicious food, sauna and swimming.... and an amazing fireworks show to top it off. We were together with Greta's family, celebrating and anticipating (brother) David and Greta's upcoming wedding (Saturday!).
Many times that day I looked over at (my husband) Dave and asked if life really was that good, if it could get any better.

It didn't last.

Friday morning my dad and brothers went to the golf course and a little while later I got a phone call that they brought my dad to the Emergency Room and there would be more details later. We went to the hospital to see him and found out some of what was going on... more people showed up... results came in... plans were made to fly him to the best neurology center in the state ASAP... lots of hugs, tears, prayers, phone calls to family members.... more visitors... and then goodbye to my dad and mom. An ambulance picked them up to bring them to the airport.

Meanwhile, David and Greta's wedding festivities. Rehearsal went great, dinner was lots of fun, followed by lots of laughs at her party. I hear his party was lots of fun too. In the midst of this we were glued to our cellphones to make sure we didn't miss out on an update.

Saturday morning and no new news but at that point it was good news.

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful and fun! Much of it was bittersweet because I kept looking for my mom and dad. I know it was really really tough for them to not be there. Everyone there was so supportive; we all really felt the love and support from our family and friends there.
Dave (my husband) video-taped the wedding. That was my dad's one request as he was being brought to the ambulance.

Most of us drove to see mom and dad today. He's looking great! It's a subarachnoid hemorrhage and he'll be here for at least fourteen days. The first 14 days after this have high risks so they have to monitor him very closely. They're doing everything they can to help him so we are hoping and praying for a full recovery within the next few weeks.

Thank you to everyone for your support, love, and prayers. Continue to keep us in your prayers.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Changing modes already?

The past two nights I've had dreams about school. The kind where class is starting and I'm not ready and it takes half of the hour to figure out what's going on and the kids are getting loud, etc. That has never happened in real life but that's pretty much what kind of bad dreams I have. I still have four weeks until school starts so I'm not quite ready for my mind to be switching from vacation mode to school mode. Ahh!

Going up north tomorrow! David and Greta are getting married on Saturday and it should be lots of fun! I'm really looking forward to seeing all of my family. When everyone was up for my wedding I didn't get to see them a whole lot because I was so busy with wedding stuff.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Fb, reunion, new hobby




I uploaded a whole big photo album of wedding pictures to facebook so if you want to see some, check it out on there...

In other news, we were home last weekend for Dave's family reunion and oh, was it fun! We got there on Thursday and stayed in town until Tuesday - what a great weekend! Lots of family fun outside, camping, visiting, bonfires, a very successful auction, volleyball, visiting, baseball, swimming, sauna & swimming, boating, water skiing, visiting, the best lake in the world :)
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I may have picked up a new hobby. Dave's working long days in Canada (again) so I decided to come up with something new to do. I walked around Michaels for about an hour, checking out some of my options and left the store with a set of oil pastels and a sketch pad. I was in art class in high school and really enjoyed it but I'm not an artist so I haven't done anything like it since then. I have tons of free time right now so we'll see what comes of it.

Have a great weekend!