3.19.08

"do not expect to see significant improvement until spring" they said.

well, tomorrow spring (technically) arrives. though the days are grey and rainy and the temp is still hovering around the 40's...i do not care. i am waking up tomorrow and anticipating the best.

this week has been pretty good for john. pretty close to very good actually, though i am always nervous to say that. but things do seem to be existing less in the crisis realm and more in the world of stable. stable is wonderful, ...and yet still i find myself looking up, waiting for the other shoe to drop. in the meantime, his blood thinner levels have evened out. his glucose has evened out to the point that he has made it three full days without needing an insulin shot. his mood has leveled out, his humor is back, and his energy level is up a little. his swelling is down quite a bit (except in his face due to the steroids). his vasculitis spots are mostly gone (except on the site of the blood clot). he has gone out to get groceries with a relative (albeit in a scooter b/c he still can't really walk any distance at all). he has dropped off the kids at school and picked them up (albeit he didn't get out of the car). he is sleeping at night and up during the day. he's begun helping a bit with things around the house again and with the kids. he has begun to re-enter the land of the living. amen.

...of course, he's also sitting next to me with tissues shoved up his nose b/c he has another nose bleed, his leg is elevated b/c he's been on it too much today and it's swelling again, his muscles have begun to atrophy due to excessive weight loss and being non-ambulatory for so long, and he also just informed me that he's found some new spots on his clot-free leg ...but hey, we're not expecting perfection; just improvement! =)

still needed are prayers that the blood clot dissolves without incident and also that once they take him off the meds he does not relapse with the vasculitis (we are both pretty scared about that actually). and of course that the meds don't cause cancer. i know, i know; one day at a time.

the kids and i are also needing some prayers please. mary ended up back at the doc with an ear infection. noah back to the doc with throat issues. knock on wood, ...isaiah is still holding strong. and i am, well, i'm doing ok. without getting into too much detail, it's fair to say that i am in need of a wave of prayers for strength and fortitude. there's little wind in my sails right now. i think we are all just exhausted from living on ten weeks of stress and adrenalin. so, that would be appreciated.
thanks and love,
k