Just a quick update

 

Greg, the kids, and I have been able to keep the last several days quiet.  Everett and Amara have gotten a little cold, but so far Greg and I have been able to stay healthy.  Greg’s dizziness and also the sensation on his right side has gotten a little worse, this is making him a little more unsteady on his feet so he has made the decision to stay at home.  I know that Greg felt the need to work and provide as long as he could, but I am happy that he was able to recognize his physical limits.  Everett has been off on fall break, so we have had lots of low key family time.  The kids have had fun dressing up and doing crafts.  We have also taken them to the pool and to the park a couple of times.  We have been trying to teach the kids different card and board games.  The game spoons is still a little hard they caught on to the game Sorry pretty fast and show no mercy when they draw those dreaded Sorry cards.  After I saw how they acted with the little bit of power with those Sorry cards I have decided to keep Monopoly on the top shelf.  Monopoly can be plain evil in the wrong hands.   

Some people have been asking what exactly Greg’s symptoms are so I thought that I would keep everyone up to speed on that.  He says this is how he imagines it would feel like to have a stroke.  His whole right side is numb and at times it has a painful pins and needles sensation.  The muscles on his right side are very tight and achy; this makes getting to sleep and staying asleep difficult.  He continues to be pretty dizzy and also seems to have a constant nagging headache.  He has a continual ringing sound in his right ear and he complains that he can’t hear very well out of it.  Being in loud environments makes his headache worse.  He continues to feel pretty stressed as he looks into our future.  I recognize that it is of course still a scary situation, but I try to remind him about what we originally thought we were dealing with. 

My dad came into town last night after the kids had already gone to bed.  This made for quite the surprise this morning.  True to form Everett was up a little after 5am and then ran back to wake up Amara.  Being the good daughter that I am I left my dad to fend for himself and got a couple more hours of sleep.  I did however make a doughnut run this morning to make up for my dad’s early start. 

Greg has his pre-op appointment tomorrow morning and then the surgery is scheduled for early Friday morning. We are hoping that we have some more answers tomorrow.  From what we understand now is that Greg will be in the ICU for three or four days.  After that it is all pretty much up in the air; we have no idea what life after Friday will look like so we are doing our best to just deal with each day as it comes.  I will be staying at the hospital with Greg.  I am sure that I will be that pain in the butt family member that everyone dreads seeing, but I am determined to make sure that Greg has the best shot at recovery.

   Both Greg and I are starting to get a little nervous now that we are so close to the surgery date.  Greg is worried that the progression of his symptoms might mean that they will be permanent. As you can imagine these things weigh pretty hard on a man’s heart.  He wants to know how long before he can start working again and of course there is no way of knowing that.  Please continue to pray for the surgery and also for Greg’s recovery. 

Right now I think the most helpful things are either meals or gift cards to be able to get groceries or have meals delivered.  Also anything that keeps the kids occupied during the recovery time.  Since we don’t know how long the road to recovery will be anything that makes life easier on us would be great.  I want to make sure that my main focus is being available for Greg and the kids and I am just trying to push all of the other things to the side for right now.  Please continue to pray for our family again that the surgery goes smoothly and that the recovery is quick and that somehow all of the other details work out.