The Day After The Day After
Well Pratt said I'd be eating crow. So, I'll be honest and say I am munching on a few feathers. My birthday wasn't quite the dismal event that I thought it would be. This is in part, to the birthday wishes of all of YOU! I gotta say, bloggers really do rock. At least the bloggers who visit this site do. It's too bad it had to be a virtual party otherwise I would have offered you all a slice of cake.
Thanks to a friend of mine at work, I got to feel a little special in my "real life" as well. She surprised me by making me a banner for my classroom door along with giving me a balloon, flowers and a card. She put the banner on my door and had a few kids from my class deliver the goodies to me. Then she took me out on Friday night. We saw a cover band called Saturday Night Fever that made my night worthwhile by playing "Jessi's Girl" as their last song. And to think, they didn't even know of my obsession with all things Rick Springfield.
My actual birthday was much more low key. I got a few more cards and my share of phone calls. I then went out to dinner with the rents. There are a few people I didn't hear from that surprised me, especially since I got a call from my friend whose husband is still in the hospital from his stroke. We always talk on our birthdays, but given the circumstances, I didn't expect her to have the chance to call. Actually, this is a perfect segue for a quick update on his condition. As it turns out, the stroke was caused by an AVM in the brain. Basically it works like this. If you think of the brain like a huge mass of wires, the AVM is like when you get a knot in some of those wires. The knot was always there, but like a time bomb, no one ever knows when (and if) it will ever go off.
I did some research on the condition online and read a lot of narratives on the subject. The prognosis is not promising, though it's still too early to tell the status of my friend's husband's condition. He did have surgery but that was only to cauterize to stop the bleeding. The AVM, along with several blood clots, still remain. Whether or not they can be removed, his best option, still remains to be seen. If it is embedded, he could never have a problem again or have several bleeds for the rest of his life.
As a related side effect, he also has pneumonia in one lung and has to have a tube down his throat to help with suction. They tried removing it a few days ago, but found he wasn't really ready for that yet, and had to put it back in indefinitely.
The good news is he seems to very alert for someone under heavy sedation and through something like he's been through. The bad news is he seems to very alert for someone under heavy sedation and through something like he's been through. He is able to move his arms (not sure about his legs) and can even write some things. But he still doesn't know what happened to him and the doctor thinks it's wise to wait a bit to tell him considering he is still in ICU.
I went to the hospital the other night to see my friend and she asked if I wanted to see him. I'm not squeamish about hosptials or his condition, but I was still a bit apprehensive to go in. I felt this way because I NEVER see him normally. Put yourself in his shoes for just a minute. He knows something is wrong but he doesn't know exactly what. Meanwhile everyone HE HAS EVER MET is coming to see him and he can't ask any questions about why. You would assume the worst too, right? Still, I wanted to support her, so I didn't let on that I felt this way.
I think my feelings on my birthday AND my friend's situation can best be expressed by the classic Gloria Loring/Alan Thicke penned lyric: You take the good, you the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life.
Thanks to a friend of mine at work, I got to feel a little special in my "real life" as well. She surprised me by making me a banner for my classroom door along with giving me a balloon, flowers and a card. She put the banner on my door and had a few kids from my class deliver the goodies to me. Then she took me out on Friday night. We saw a cover band called Saturday Night Fever that made my night worthwhile by playing "Jessi's Girl" as their last song. And to think, they didn't even know of my obsession with all things Rick Springfield.
My actual birthday was much more low key. I got a few more cards and my share of phone calls. I then went out to dinner with the rents. There are a few people I didn't hear from that surprised me, especially since I got a call from my friend whose husband is still in the hospital from his stroke. We always talk on our birthdays, but given the circumstances, I didn't expect her to have the chance to call. Actually, this is a perfect segue for a quick update on his condition. As it turns out, the stroke was caused by an AVM in the brain. Basically it works like this. If you think of the brain like a huge mass of wires, the AVM is like when you get a knot in some of those wires. The knot was always there, but like a time bomb, no one ever knows when (and if) it will ever go off.
I did some research on the condition online and read a lot of narratives on the subject. The prognosis is not promising, though it's still too early to tell the status of my friend's husband's condition. He did have surgery but that was only to cauterize to stop the bleeding. The AVM, along with several blood clots, still remain. Whether or not they can be removed, his best option, still remains to be seen. If it is embedded, he could never have a problem again or have several bleeds for the rest of his life.
As a related side effect, he also has pneumonia in one lung and has to have a tube down his throat to help with suction. They tried removing it a few days ago, but found he wasn't really ready for that yet, and had to put it back in indefinitely.
The good news is he seems to very alert for someone under heavy sedation and through something like he's been through. The bad news is he seems to very alert for someone under heavy sedation and through something like he's been through. He is able to move his arms (not sure about his legs) and can even write some things. But he still doesn't know what happened to him and the doctor thinks it's wise to wait a bit to tell him considering he is still in ICU.
I went to the hospital the other night to see my friend and she asked if I wanted to see him. I'm not squeamish about hosptials or his condition, but I was still a bit apprehensive to go in. I felt this way because I NEVER see him normally. Put yourself in his shoes for just a minute. He knows something is wrong but he doesn't know exactly what. Meanwhile everyone HE HAS EVER MET is coming to see him and he can't ask any questions about why. You would assume the worst too, right? Still, I wanted to support her, so I didn't let on that I felt this way.
I think my feelings on my birthday AND my friend's situation can best be expressed by the classic Gloria Loring/Alan Thicke penned lyric: You take the good, you the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life.
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