last day

This is the last day of a challenging year.

And, I think that I said something close to the above statement about a year ago.

The past few years have been action packed and had great moments of joy (30th anniversary! trip with adult children!) and achievement (earned my PhD! Taught some awesome classes!).

The past few years have also had an astonishing number of challenges- health challenges and decisions to those close to me, some of my own. Some of these are private; I'm just saying, they happened/are happening.

And there were some losses. Some big losses.

My mom was doing major care-giving for her partner Doc P and for her aunt, my great-aunt, Ree. Ree died in 2006. Doc died in 2008.

In 2007 we learned that my dear friend R had colon cancer. I made soup and then made soup and felt helpless while our friend, his wife K battled that long year with him. He died in 2008.

In 2009, I was able to tell my mother-in-law that I had successfully defended my dissertation. She wasn't able to respond, because she had a massive stroke months before and she died a few weeks after that dissertation defense.

In March of 2010, a few weeks after celebrating 5 years of being cancer free, my mom had a heart attack and almost died- reacting to the dye in the catheterization process.

In October of 2010, my daughter survived a terrible car accident. This is a GOOD thing- the surviving. The accident- life-changing, major stress for all of us.

In March of 2011, my mom had spinal fusion surgery on 4 of her vertebrae in her lower back. The surgeon didn't accomplish all he wanted to, so another surgery in May on the same vertebrae, this time coming in through the abdomen. Then in July, Mom landed back in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. Apparently this was fortuitous, as she met again Dr. C, for whom she had once worked, and he was randomly assigned as her internist at the hospital. He discovered she had a blood disorder which makes her prone to clotting.

And the REALLY good news is that she followed up with him about the tingling in her fingers which progressed to dropping everything and suddenly losing the ability to walk without falling. Dr. C was like Sherlock Holmes, determined to find out what was going on- AND listened to her when she said something was wrong, and after an initial prediction of MS, he had an MRI done then rushed her to the hospital because it wasn't MS, but stenosis on the cervical spine which would have likely led to paralysis if my mom had fallen ONE MORE TIME.

So in September, Mom had neurosurgery AGAIN on her cervical spine- 4 of the 7 vertebrae in her neck were fused and stabilized. The recovery has been/is long- but it *is* a recovery.

I was mourning the loss of my teaching at university job- but it turns out that I was needed to care for my mom, full time, 24/7 essentially all of September and October. Her recovery continues- and now I have accepted offers to teach two classes this upcoming semester!

SO perhaps things are turning around. Let's hope so.

I'm ready for some really good years!