The Longest Week (2/8/21)

 Early Sunday morning, Sir Walter Scott had a stroke.

Our lives have been rather different this week. (How's that for understatement?)

Because no visitors were allowed at the hospital, I had to go home after dropping him off at the ER.  What a blessing it was that the kids at home could watch church services streaming live!  What a blessing it was that I had dinner in the crock pot!  What a blessing it was that I have older kids to take care of the younger ones!  What a blessing it was that our bishop kindly led us in a "prayer of faith" in lieu of a priesthood blessing because no visitors could go to the hospital to administer to Sir Walter Scott!  What a blessing it was that the nurses followed through on their calls to me, and I was able to talk to my sweetheart once he was in a room!  What a blessing it was that I could keep people apprised of what was happening by text and calls!  What a blessing it was that family and friends have offered support from the very first minutes!

And what a blessing it was that we had committed to babysitting for a friend, so the kids had friends over to play with, and I had a baby to snuggle all of the long afternoon.

The greatest blessing of all has been the tender mercy of peace in my heart that all will be well.

 

Docs have focused on his heart as the possible cause of the stroke, but every single test they've done (and they've done a lot!) has come back with normal, healthy results.  Sir Walter Scott uses a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, and he recently recovered from covid--both of these conditions are on the stroke-risk list.  

 

Just another reason to not love covid!

I miss my sweetheart like crazy . . . to my very core.  It's a different sort of missing than when he is gone for a long series of days at work or on a trip.  This missing is tangible and achy.

But we are receiving miracle upon miracle, and Sir Walter Scott is already in rehab, and I'm allowed to visit him for a couple of hours each afternoon, and he's walking and talking and using his hands.  The prognosis is for full recovery, and even though his sight and balance are the most affected by this stroke, his treatment plan includes occupation-focused therapies to get him back on the nursing floor as soon as possible . . . even if that is months away.

Cards for Daddy

 

There are little hints that his stint with in-patient rehab might be shorter than originally anticipated, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up falsely. 

In the mean-time, we're adjusting at home to a new normal.

But as it hasn't been normal for very long, this week's report is mostly about how we've let go of our old normal and have done our best to cope with having our world rocked.

We're part of the midwest arctic freeze going on.  Temperatures have been in the single digits with wind-chills in the negative teens.  Perfect for freezing bubbles!

And Nature Angel has been working on her photography skills by taking pictures of frost and snowflakes.

We've had long afternoons with Legos and Playdough.

We've had video calls with Daddy.

We've worked on Valentine's Day cards for our traditional family exchange--minus Rose Red, Pixie, and Daddy.

 

(I'm not really fond of this shrinking-family stage!)

 

Nature Angel and Little Princess have been invaluable assistants every day in everything from meal preparation to childcare to cleaning!

 

 

They are truly remarkable young people!

I am now gone for 2 1/2 hours every afternoon, and these two have stepped up to fill my place with good attitudes, creativity, and astonishing skills.

The rehab unit

The sun finally came out one day, so we bundled everyone up for a short walk around the block--just for some fresh air and sunshine.  

We didn't even get all the way around when we realized we needed to get the babies back inside, so Nature Angel and Little Princess took them home while the rest of the kids walked and ran with me.  It was cold enough that it hurt to breathe, but even those few minutes outside were such a treat!!!

We've had some truly terrible behaviors from our behaviorally fragile kids--I've fended off many bites, hits, and kicks this week.  But everyone is doing their best, and I'm seeing improvement already.

We had Morning Meeting, ABA therapy, and Individual School time each day.  One day we read about the Taj Mahal; another day we watched a documentary about India; most afternoons we let go of academic goals and coped with big feelings.

We are well.

Sir Walter Scott is healing.

We are so very blessed!!!