This is What We're Up to Now

Cathy is still doing great!
She's doing some more walking, and moaning much, much less.
She spends her days recovering, reading, and watching movies while taking pills that make everything OK.

Lucy doesn't seem to know if she is visiting our house and living with the Jones' or vice-versa.
Fortunately, for her, I don't think she really cares either way.

Hannah is determined to make me teach her how to play Chess, which is great except that she couldn't have picked a worse teacher, except maybe...nope. Not gonna do it.
I have never beaten anybody, even a weak computer set on "idiot," in a game of Chess.

Jude has taken on a much more "older brother" attitude towards Will, and I regularly hear Jude explaining things to Will very logically and clearly, and over-and-over again. I fear that Jude has a mind similar to mine, which is ok, but clearly is not intended for regular, prolonged use. It apparently has a useful life of about 39 years. I'm on borrowed time.

Will always wants to be the anti-hero of every movie we see.
He wants to be Sauran and Vader.
I'm afraid to let him watch WWII movies for fear he will be goose-stepping down Mockingbird Lane.

I'm happy to still be hanging on to the handlebars at this point.

Here are some things I've learned:
1. The biggest project at work will need most of your attention right when you have it most diverted elsewhere.
2. One of my most important tasks in life is teaching Lucy (2) that her "No!" means NOTHING TO ME!
3. If you don't start reading The Brothers Karamazov, you'll never finish reading The Brothers Karamazov.
4. People are far more generous than I have given them credit for.
5. Let people help.
6. I don't know at what point in Cathy's recovery it will be safe for me to return to my old, self-righteous, opinionated, selfish, worrisome self. Maybe never.
7. It's all about these little souls that wait for me at the end of a long day, and the beginning what have turned into not short nights.
8. This is more fun, and more work than I expected.

And yes, Cathy is still doing great!

Thanks to everyone for everything so far!

I'm Pretty Sure I'm Going to Hell...

Would it be wrong of me to get Cathy a Medic Alert Bracelet indicating her heart valve, and call it "jewelry" for her birthday present?

Yeah, I thought so too...I was JUST KIDDING!

But I'm afraid I'm going to Hell anyway just for thinking it was funny in the first place.

Miserere!

What's next?

First of all, many, many thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, words of encouragement, food, movies, etc.

Cathy is mostly mobile now in the sense that she's vertical about 30% of the time, and can move around freely (except for the searing pain of her sternum fusing back together.)


A lot of people are asking how they can help. Our friend and neighbor Tricia Dusseault is going to be starting a schedule for friends (and friendly strangers) to visit maybe once a day for a few weeks while Cathy slowly returns to the surreal world that is our home.

The older kids will be in school from 8-3, and the two younger ones will be spending morning and afternoons (when not at Decatur Presbyterian) with the Blessed Jones Family until I fetch them each night after work.

The details on how this visiting with Cathy will work aren't completely set, but as soon as there is a mechanism for signing up, I'll let everyone know how to do it.

I see these visits mostly happening mid-late morning, and maybe involve carrying something for her or some simple household task that I am too clueless to notice needs doing (you really have to wash blue jeans more than a few times a year???)

So, Cathy should start getting some quiet time to continue healing soon. You can call her anytime, or email her at cathyharveymom@bellsouth.net

Amazing Grace, and The Wretch she saved...

Cathy's sister, Grace left late yesterday afternoon after spending a week running our household.
She sacrificed Thanksgiving with her family (she has twin ten year-old boys) to be with ours.

I imagine she had several thoughts running through her head as she sped north back to Greenville:
1. Do those people just grow laundry everynight?
2. Chris sure does make that shhhhing sounds a lot...
3. I knew exactly what I was doing looking at him askance that first day he mistook me for Cathy. I didn't know it at the time, but he seemed a bit odd, and now, after a week under the same roof, my earliest instincts about him have finally been justified.

Grace deserves a lot of credit for putting up with all of us so charitably.
I can be a little idiosyncratic and rigid, which, when combined with my mania for consistency, and my need for control when stressed can make me a combination of Himmler and Sam Kinison on a caffeine high after having spilled coffee in my lap.

Grace has earned several more stars in her crown.

Cathy took her first outside walk with us yesterday. We walked to the Westchester playground and sat in the cilly wind while the kids played on the playground. It's a mostly level walk, but the way back was slightly uphill.
Slightly uphill is my characterization.
Have you ever seen video of people near the top of Mount Everest where they take a step, pause, breathe about three breaths and then take another step?
It wasn't quite that bad, and Cathy made it all the way back like a champ.
She getting better and stronger every day in every way.

Oops...

I didn't realize that when I sent out most of the invitations for people to share the blog, I was using my Bellsouth email account.
I just checked that account (which I usually do not use in favor of my .Mac account,) but I checked it after my aunt said she had emailed me something, and I hadn't gotten it, and saw that I had about 60 messages waiting for me from as far back as two or three weeks ago.
I haven't even had a chance to read them yet, so I am posting my public apology for any apparent lack of response to any of your emails.
On the bright side, I now have a bunch of new messages from people I haven't read yet, and as I scanned the senders, I saw some of my favorite names.

For the record, my primary email account is wcharvey@mac.com but I will now be more diligent about checking wcharvey@bellsouth.net

Thankful? You Betcha!

This is us on top of Stone Mountain in April of this year. How Cathy was able to climb to the top with a leaking ticker is beyond me, except that maybe since we didn't know that the situation was as bad as it turned out to be.
It's not exactly the top of the world
But it's close
For us
Today.

What we're thankful for:
Dr. Robert Guyton and the entire staff at Emory Hospital for taking such good care of Cathy;
The love, prayers, and support of all of our families;
The blessings of our four little souls to nourish, raise, and love;
The material gifts God has blessed us with;
The gift of a new day, and the opportunity to enjoy everything above for another day;
The hope that we will be observant, obedient, and humble enough to repeat this litany every day forward.

Pax

She's Truckin'

Cathy keeps getting stronger (incrementally) every day.
Today, when I got home from work, she was walking around upstairs.
She also had her first visit to get her Cuamadin level of her blood checked, and she's right on track with that too.

I'm looking forward to a few days off, and by "off" I mean simply not shaving, but not doing any less work!