Just a quick post:
When Dave had his stroke, this was hot on the radio. Every time I had to drive from one hospital to another, or the few times I went home to take a shower, I heard it on the radio. It really summed up my feelings at the time. Made me cry back then every time I heard it, and looking back, I should have pulled over to the side of the road every time I heard it.
Shoot, it still makes me cry when I hear it.
The song is called Broken, by a band called Seether, and the version on the radio featured Amy Lee from Evanescence. I have read that the song was originally written by the lead singer of Seether about his wife and daughter when he had to leave them. To me, it expressed everything I felt about wanting to protect Dave through those troubling times. The first version is the video with Amy Lee, the second is just Seether. Both are links to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKGpZuadMsA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4XQfDd0iMc&feature=related
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Update on the Family
I must admit, Dave is handling everything very well right now.
While we were down in Florida, he spent very little time on the Internet and watching TV. The exact opposite of what he did up here, where he spent the first 2-2.5 years post-stroke watching TV cartoon shows under the pretense that he was "doing homework". While in Florida, his speech skills skyrocketed in a way that I never would have dreamed of, this long post-stroke. All I can figure is that he was forced to interact more directly with the world, and that this new stimulation to his brain jump-started some neural pathways.
Don't get me wrong. He still has lots of issues, and still flubs majorly while under stress or when tired. I still don't see him going back to work, dealing with clients and contracts. But, especially when I am tired from the pregnancy, it is nice to be able to communicate more easily with my own husband.
Now, with me being pregnant, he is still spending much less time on the computer and TV, and actually doing work around the house. YEAH! In my mind, this is helping him as much as me, just based off the Florida experience. I have stopped fretting about Dave trying to sleep in until 2PM, and I spend more time thanking him for washing the dishes, watching our daughter, and making certain that I always have something to drink.
Maybe this sounds kinda selfish. However, a few weeks ago, the babies took a turn for the worse. I went in for one of my "routine" sonograms, to find out that they are in stage two of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. If you look up TTTS on google, you can find all you ever wanted to know about it. But, in brief, one baby was hogging a good portion of the blood flow from the placenta, and because of this, another baby wasn't getting enough. At the time, I had 6-7 weeks to go until the babies were viable. Left untreated, all three babies were likely to die in utero, or if they made it to 26 weeks, they would be born with major heart and brain problems and have to be cared for for the rest of their lives.
So, I underwent an orthoscopic laser surgery to correct the problem. I came through the surgery just fine, and the babies seem to be doing well so far. Dave and my parents took turns staying with me in the hospital. That is saying a lot for Dave - he hates hospitals. Between his own stroke and his parent's illnesses, he has only seen pain and suffering at hospitals, and prefers not to go at all. But he was there for me.
Now I am two weeks post-surgery, and back at home on bedrest. Dave has been an angel, keeping house, rubbing my feet, making certain I eat, test my blood sugar, making certain I take my medications, driving me to and from the doctor appointments.... Every now and then we joke that I spent the second half of my last pregnancy taking care of Dave, that it was all about Dave, and now it is Dave's turn to take care of me. Or that he is fobidden to have another stroke (his three-year anniversary is July 4). Or that it sucks that I have gestational diabetes, and can't send him out for Ben and Jerry's at 3AM just on principle.
I am feeling very lucky right now, that Dave is able to help so much. He better not have another stroke.
(Oh, and since I don't think I have mentioned it yet - the docs have decided we are having identical triplet boys. Dave wants to name them Thor, Zeus, and Mars. I'm not certain if he really wants those names, or if he is just saying that to get my dander up! Never a dull moment around here....)
While we were down in Florida, he spent very little time on the Internet and watching TV. The exact opposite of what he did up here, where he spent the first 2-2.5 years post-stroke watching TV cartoon shows under the pretense that he was "doing homework". While in Florida, his speech skills skyrocketed in a way that I never would have dreamed of, this long post-stroke. All I can figure is that he was forced to interact more directly with the world, and that this new stimulation to his brain jump-started some neural pathways.
Don't get me wrong. He still has lots of issues, and still flubs majorly while under stress or when tired. I still don't see him going back to work, dealing with clients and contracts. But, especially when I am tired from the pregnancy, it is nice to be able to communicate more easily with my own husband.
Now, with me being pregnant, he is still spending much less time on the computer and TV, and actually doing work around the house. YEAH! In my mind, this is helping him as much as me, just based off the Florida experience. I have stopped fretting about Dave trying to sleep in until 2PM, and I spend more time thanking him for washing the dishes, watching our daughter, and making certain that I always have something to drink.
Maybe this sounds kinda selfish. However, a few weeks ago, the babies took a turn for the worse. I went in for one of my "routine" sonograms, to find out that they are in stage two of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. If you look up TTTS on google, you can find all you ever wanted to know about it. But, in brief, one baby was hogging a good portion of the blood flow from the placenta, and because of this, another baby wasn't getting enough. At the time, I had 6-7 weeks to go until the babies were viable. Left untreated, all three babies were likely to die in utero, or if they made it to 26 weeks, they would be born with major heart and brain problems and have to be cared for for the rest of their lives.
So, I underwent an orthoscopic laser surgery to correct the problem. I came through the surgery just fine, and the babies seem to be doing well so far. Dave and my parents took turns staying with me in the hospital. That is saying a lot for Dave - he hates hospitals. Between his own stroke and his parent's illnesses, he has only seen pain and suffering at hospitals, and prefers not to go at all. But he was there for me.
Now I am two weeks post-surgery, and back at home on bedrest. Dave has been an angel, keeping house, rubbing my feet, making certain I eat, test my blood sugar, making certain I take my medications, driving me to and from the doctor appointments.... Every now and then we joke that I spent the second half of my last pregnancy taking care of Dave, that it was all about Dave, and now it is Dave's turn to take care of me. Or that he is fobidden to have another stroke (his three-year anniversary is July 4). Or that it sucks that I have gestational diabetes, and can't send him out for Ben and Jerry's at 3AM just on principle.
I am feeling very lucky right now, that Dave is able to help so much. He better not have another stroke.
(Oh, and since I don't think I have mentioned it yet - the docs have decided we are having identical triplet boys. Dave wants to name them Thor, Zeus, and Mars. I'm not certain if he really wants those names, or if he is just saying that to get my dander up! Never a dull moment around here....)
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