HOMECOMING!

DAVID IS HOME!!

For the first time in 4 weeks he once again LIVES in our house. Looking back, the time away seems both long and short. In talking with a friend last night, when I said David had been gone 4 weeks he said, "Has it been 4 weeks?! It seemed like about 2." Yet I know David is probably aware of exactly how many HOURS it has been! For me and the boys it has been both, because it's been hard to have Dad gone, which made it long, but it's also been WAY busier than usual, which has made time fly.

What the near future holds in store is continued physical therapy for David especially involving work on his fine motor skills, adjustment to home life, and a visit from David's brother Dan who will be flying in on Sunday and staying until Friday. We are so grateful that Dan is going to do this. He'll be flying in from Baltimore and then flying back for just a couple of days before moving to Singapore! We're so glad he has this space of time in which he is willing and able to be with us. His presence here will be very helpful to us in making the adjustment to David being home (and while the boys and I are yet finishing out our semesters).

In the somewhat more distant future there will be some sort of medical intervention to repair the defect(s?) in his heart. We understand that that will not happen for 2 to 4 months, because he needs to be fully recovered from his stroke before surgery. The Coumadin should keep him from having another stroke in the meantime. In one sense it is a good thing we have time before that is going to happen, because we continue to get conflicting reports from doctors. The cardiologist left a phone message yesterday that was different from what he had told us in the office 3 days ago which was different from what he told us in the hospital, all of which was different from what the neurologist told us. Now that David is no longer an inpatient at English Oaks we are free to make an appointment with his primary care physician in order to get some of this interpreted and clarified for us. We will also be making a call to UCSF to do some further exploration on our own.

We still have a journey ahead, but stage one of the journey is complete, and we wish to thank all of you for prayers, well-wishes, cards, visits, and help during David's hospitalization. All of these things have been so very helpful to David and to our whole family.

THANK YOU!