Lots of Activity -- mass email update

Hi there family and friends! 
This week was more eventful than was expected. 
My headache has been strong, even with the special migraine medications. 
Last Saturday was a tough and beautiful day. I was able to go shopping in the morning, attend a beautiful wedding ceremony with Catherine and Cecilia, and then Alex and I were able to attend part of the reception. I was ecstatic to be able to share in this joyous event and to celebrate with such wonderful friends. It was hard to make the call to leave early as my headache became severe... we paid our wonderful babysitter as if she was there until 10pm as originally planned, although we were home at 8:30pm... 
Sunday brought sickness in our girls so we stayed home and cuddled them and helped them through the yuckiness, and I was able to rest a lot and try to recover from Saturday and prepare for the week on my own.
On Monday I called the CHAMP nurses at Foothills Hospital and did a phone consult about the ineffectiveness of the medicine. After the nurse met with the doctor, we had a discussion and they have prescribed two additional pills: Amitriptyline (10mg - to be increased to 50mg) and Chlorpromazine (25mg). So far those meds have helped me to be calmer and sleep more, which was why they were prescribed -- I had been only sleeping five hours a night because of the pain, and now I have been able to get up to eight hours last night. :)  ... We also called our good friend who contacted her 12yr old niece to come and stay with me and "nanny" the girls with me for the week. She is such a great help!
On Tuesday, a close friend came visit for the majority of the day, and it was nice to have our "nanny" watch the kids as we visited and crafted. Also, the CHAMP scheduling nurse called to confirm my CSF Flow appointment: Wednesday August 1. I have to be at the Foothills Special Services Building - Nuclear Medicine at 9:30am. The test starts at ten and is scheduled to last between two to six hours (after which I get to go home -- although I may need to go back after 24hrs and maybe 48hrs, depending on what they see and need to see). I will be receiving a spinal tap and then dye will be injected and then xrays will be taken to document the progress of the dye through my spinal fluid. Thankfully it is not a nuclear dye so I do not need to be put in isolation, and it is an outpatient procedure so I will be able to sleep in my own bed. I am concerned about the procedure itself, the dangers of a spinal tap, the possibility of an ER visit (and bloodpatch?) from the consequent headache, and all of the unknowns. Mom will fly in next Tuesday so she can take care of the girls while Alex is at the hospital with me. 
On Wednesday Grandpa had a stroke. It was a minor stroke but all health issues for a person over 80 can be major. I hadn't seen Grandpa in almost a year and my heart ached to hug him... so Alex flew me here to Vancouver Island on Wednesday night (my cousin Melissa travelled with me and pushed my wheelchair in the airports and through the hospital). Flying was a horrendous ordeal for my headache, but my heart was happy to be able to see Grandpa in the Duncan emergency room and to hug and kiss him and tell him that I love him. (And we said goodbye for now to our "nanny".)
Grandpa has still not been released although each day they keep saying it will happen tomorrow. Thursday morning I waited for him here at Mom and Dad's in the morning (and went for a nice forest stroll with Dad), and then visited with him in the late afternoon in his hospital room. 
Today we went to Walmart in the morning to get some treats for Grandpa's house while we waited to hear the conclusions of the echocardiogram that they performed on Grandpa in Victoria. And this afternoon I rested while waiting for the announcement of his discharge... we are still waiting... it is 6pm and we are about to have dinner and cake to celebrate my brother's birthday. I wish Grandpa was here... we'll have to sneak him some ice cream cake tonight if he is kept in the hospital again. :D
My headache has been horrible. I am not sure if it is the new elevation, or the new medication side effects, or the traveling, or stress, or a new normal... Today I started at 6/10 and have been steadily increasing - I am sitting at a 8/10 right now, with a dull aching helmet and a searing hot pain across the crown of my head and a throbbing in my brow and eyes... 
So that is the low-down, up-close-and-personal story of my week. 
Thank you for letting me share my heart and life with you. I am sorry about the impersonal-ness of this mass email, but it is easier to share with all of you I care about at the same time. 
Thank you for your love and support -- we appreciate your messages, hugs and prayers. 
:)