Pneumonia

I know it's not a fun word.   Especially if the word is a description of your husband's health at the present moment.  Two weeks ago Will came down with a cold that turned into lots of grumpiness.  Will is a pretty even tempered guy so when he was supposedly over his cold but continued to be easily irritated I should have suspected something was up but instead -- wife (that's me)  was not happy with him.  Finally after a night of  Will coughing, I swallowed my pride and thought maybe he should see a doctor. A few hours later I get the call-  Will had cancelled his volunteering at the Maliheh Clinic and Temple for that day and told me he was coming home to sleep. After an Xray the doctor confirmed that Will had Pneumonia. I am eight months pregnant so I immediately called my doctor to see how concerned I should be for our baby's health. He thought since I did not already have it-- I would probably not get it. So luckily I did not have to ban myself to another place to stay for this past week.

I know that I have covered a wide range of healing that happens through the stroke process. Today I want to cover a different type of healing--- I will call it "continuous hope healing."  Just when it feels like we're going to get a break --something happens.  The nuero pysch test that we were sure would come back with flying colors of Will's progress (because this is what I have observed)  still pointed towards some bumps in the road to Will becoming a doctor.  At this point I could go into justification for why the test was wrong and why Will is farther ahead than stated in the test, or even that in the last two and a half years he has yet to be given a real life opportunity (a job or schooling) that could bring him "all the way" back up to speed so of course he can't be "all the way" better.  But instead of hopping on that soap box I want to say- It's hard. It is hard to keep up hope, we are running up against so many walls. In a perfect world someone would have championed Will's cause and given him every possible opportunity to succeed instead of fail-- allowing him to make the necessary mistakes to regain all of his pre-stroke capacities. This is the brain here. It is very elastic and very capable of the healing -  but without opportunities to grow progress is slower!

Through tears I can't tell you how many times I have thought "This is not fair!"  Will deserves so much more. He is capable of so much. So if dealing with Will's stroke rehabilitation  and pneumonia wasn't enough-- I have been presented with my own challenges, personal attacks, financial stresses, and  a feeling of total inadequacy that in less than six weeks -- broken hearted and afraid-- I am going to bring a child into this world.   I know my story is one of millions. O the heartbreak so many have felt. The fear and the despair. But this can't be the end all be all. I don't think we are here on this earth to suffer and then suffer more. I know we  are not. For out of our greatest trials come our greatest blessings-- my marriage to Will was only possible because he had a stroke. Another trial has been sacrificing my job, my condo (which is rented out currently), and other things worldly comforts to have and raise this child at home-- I don't think I will ever regret these trials (experiences). If I can get to any point in this blog entry it would be that Gratitude is the source of "continuous hope healing" if we lose hope, we lose everything. I am learning to be grateful for what we do have and not look back at what we have lost.

If you've made it to the end of this blog entry AKA novel -- you've accomplished much. As usual we are grateful for your support and thank you for your continued prayers and readership.  May you find much to be grateful for today-- that is my prayer :)

Sincerely,

Summer

ps I've posted a picture of my wonderful hubby and I and another picture of my big ole belly that I am carrying around lately ;)  Wilson's health is great!  We are down to six weeks and I am starting to see the doctor every week.

pps I wanted to plug my new blog www.SummerImage.com and website  (I'm a stay at home photographer and writer) and also my sister-in-law's wonderful blog on raising children and exercise.

ppps  Sorry I am terrible at every day details-- Will is looking for jobs, applying for residency and recently signed up  for a class on Radiology Technology -- to get a limited liscense certificate to be able to do Xrays come December.

Caring for kids

This past week Dale, Summer's oldest brother, went on a trip with his wife to Austria. He went there to play with the symphony he is part of. He left four children behind and strict instructions to take care of them while he was absent. His children include Jessica, who is the eldest, followed by Shalice, then Braden, the only boy, and last of all Rachel who is still quite little and hasn't learned how to talk yet. We had the privilege of taking the first watch with the children.

This began Sunday afternoon. I remember I was kind of tired and so, after I had taken Dale and Amy to the airport I went to sleep for a while. Well I wanted to. I couldn't though, and that was probably fine.

On Monday one of the cool things we did was that Braden and I went on a bike ride to Braden's elementary school. It actually wasn't too far away, nor was it a very difficult ride, but it was nice to see that he knew how to get there, and that he knew how to ride his bike. In the evening we had a nice FHE where we talked about some of the stuff in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet provided to us by Jessica.

On Tuesday I was gone at the Maliheh clinic for most of the day. Fortunately nothing drastic happened while I was away. In the evening we played Skip-bo among other things.

On Wednesday we packed up the kids and drove them up to Grandma's and Grandpa's. Summer and I then made a quick trip over to the hospital for a checkup on Wilson (who is doing very well). When we got back we found that Grandma and Grandpa had stolen the kids, but fortunately they were returned safe and sound later that day.

Now on another note. I'm doing well. I'm working towards residency, and much of the other time these days is spent pursing an interim career of some sort for me. I'm looking for a job that involves my medical training, hopefully I will be able to find something like that soon.

Another thing that I have done recently was put in a new microwave above our stove including adding a new outlet in the cupboards above. I also got those bathroom cabinets in. I think we talked about them a few weeks ago when I mentioned the leak I created, but I don't know if I have included a picture.