Saturday, April 17, 2021

I'm Back. Sort Of.

At least she got a helicopter ride out of the deal...

About that family medical emergency: My wife was in the hospital, the neurological intensive care unit. She's home now. She suffered a stroke. The good news is, so far speech, motor skills, and vision appear unaffected and the prognosis is hopeful. 

She was outside pulling dandelions from the yard, and when she came in she suddenly was slammed with a headache she equated with a hammer blow, followed by excruciating pain. We went to the nearby Cleveland Clinic hospital. A CAT scan showed some bleeding and they airlifted her to the main campus where they have more specialists. 

An MRI and angiogram, and several days of tests, concluded it was a benign perimesencephalic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Say that five times real fast. They determined there is no active bleeding, and she was told it is unlikely to recur. I guess if you're going to have a stroke, she says, that's the kind to have.

What this means for me is, with her being on ordered taking-it-easy for a while, I get to confirm exactly how much she does around this place by assuming those duties myself. 

The result, at least for the interim, is that when I do find time for internet stuff, I'll need to focus exclusively on my articles. That means this blog is going to have to be limited to my article promotions and announcements. I'm just not going to be able to respond to email or social media inquiries and newslink tips, at least for the time being. So please, hold off while I figure out how much time I'll have for the necessary things and how to best apportion it.

I would like to thank those of you who, reacting to Monday's post, sent prayers, best wishes, and offers of help. It's gratifying to think that what I do resonates with a handful of my contemporaries. As you can imagine, it has been an intense past few days that included no small amount of frustration at being powerless to help her and fearing the worst. 

For what it's worth, I don't blame the dandelions and will not be demanding any laws.