Many Thanks -- mass email update

Hello again Family and Friend Family!

I have much to be thankful for this week.

1)      I came home to my family after a good visit with extended family.

2)      Grandpa is out of the hospital again – after multiple infections and complications. He is resting and adapting in the comfort of his own home, with the comfort of my parents’ proximity (upstairs).

3)      The CSF Flow Study procedure on Wednesday went well.  

    a)      Mom was able to come back into town to care for the girls, before returning home on Thursday.

    b)      The procedure was not as menacing as we originally anticipated. The freezing for the spinal tap injection was the most painful, although laying stick still for so long was arduous. For two hours I had to lay still as they took pictures every 15 minutes – I was very thankful for the mp3 book I had downloaded onto my iPod. Then, after a pee break, I had to lay still for 40 minutes for the 3D image that concluded in a CT scan.

    c)       Even the return visit Wednesday night to the ER at Foothills Hospital was a blessing...eventually. I was able to try a new medication (Sumatriptan) that seemed to help a little, and we got the verbal results of the Flow Study:

        i)        No leak

        ii)       No infection

    d)      We are able to check this off as done and no longer a concern.

4)      My massage therapist Kendra is able to reach parts of my headache – and possibly alleviate some of it... still adjusting to see what is the necessary pain to achieve the gain... I was blessed to be able to see her twice this week as I missed my appointment last week with my changing plans.

5)      We are enjoying a wonderful long weekend. We have not ventured from home, except when Alex ran out to the grocery store twice. Our girls were excited to have their bath in our outside turtle pool last night, and they delighted in our backyard picnic all day today – pool fun, hot dogs in the shade from a sheet, more pool fun, family nap in our beds, even more pool fun, freezies, hamburger dinner... We were able to have some special time without the stress of leaving home, as even a walk to the park is still a journey for me. It has been a splendid day.  

6)      Loving family and friends that are now family. Thank you for your prayers and support!

I am humbled to have so many big details to be thankful for, as there are innumerable small blessings that I need to remember to note.

Next on my headache journey? Keep on keepin’ on. I am waiting to hear back from the CHAMP nurses as to how to possibly work in the new medication, but their office won’t reopen until Tuesday). I will be making a follow-up appointment with my GP to go over the written results of the CSF Flow Study – and wait for my November follow-up with CHAMP.  I continue to keep my headache journal and life details so that information is at hand if and when needed. ... I will take advantage of the summer and hire one of two nanny teenagers that our girls love to help out on work days. Praying for and about September. ...

:)