Brain Surgery

Two weeks in ICU.  A few more days in the regular part of the hospital.  And some time at home trying to recuperate and get back to quasi-functional.

Brain aneurysm decided to bleed.  I'm still trying to piece together the stories I heard.  Ambulance trip to the local hospital.  Transferred to the big teaching hospital. 

Everybody was there with me for Mother's Day.  That's pretty cool.

Pastors who come to visit in the hospital are wonderful.  Especially when they talk like pastors, and pray psalms and sing hymns and bring God's word to bear on the situation!

Thank God for a resident who went home one night and studied and read and studied some more.  She figured out the weirdo side effect I was experiencing and helped figure out the root causes of the debilitating, excruciating pain.  Not that the pain is gone yet, but it's certainly improving.

Head is shaved.  Didn't know what else to do with the bald patch from the surgery.  Everybody tells me it's growing so fast.  Alia and I still think it looks like boy-hair.

Spent today catching up on paying bills and then sorting through other paperwork.  In those piles, I found oh-so-many cards and notes from loved ones.  Presumably I saw all of these earlier, but many of them were completely new to me.  (There was a lot of stuff people told me during the hospital stay that is completely lost.)  It was heart-warming to read through all those messages, cards, and notes this afternoon!

Still puzzling about my job.  They're willing to hold my spot open.  But I don't know how long it will be before I'm capable, and I keep wondering if it would be better to tell them to replace me and then rehire me at some unspecified time "later."  Then there's also the problem of how long it will be before I'm allowed to drive again.  It's hard to have a job when you can't get yourself there. 

Still pondering how to respond to those who tell me I was so lucky that the collapse happened when I was in a place to be caught immediately, about a block from the fire station (where the ambulances live).  I don't think that going to be with Jesus would've been that bad a thing.  However, if it had happened to Gary or the kids, I'd certainly be thankful if they had pulled through a normally-fatal medical emergency.

Overwhelmed by the dinners brought to us, the flowers, the cheery balloons, the cards. The assistance with mowing the yard.  The garden-tending.  The housecleaning. 

Going back to church is the best!

Tomorrow I begin outpatient therapy.

Probably more to tell.  But I had no nap today, and thus it's bedtime.