No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on December 31, 2012

As stated yesterday on his web log, Peter had a stroke. So we are at the beginning of what is going to be a long road. We have a diagnosis, which is a small stroke in the Pons section of his brain. Now we have to figure out where we go from here and how we get Peter back to what he was before the stroke. We know that a total recovery is slim because damage to the brain doesn’t go away but the brain can be trained to work around the damage and give Peter back what he has lost.

I am dealing with a lot of woulda, coulda, and shoulda issues right now. But we are where we are and we are working out a plan of recovery.

What happened was that we were in Disney Hollywood Studios having just had lunch at the Prime Time Café. We were walking to the front gate because we were off to Animal Kingdom to see a friend of ours perform in the Finding Nemo Show. Peter had been tired and also not sleeping well the past week or so. He had been taking naps in the afternoon to catch up on the sleep that was eluding him at night. He told me that he had blurry vision in his right eye. The way he described it to me sounded like an ocular migraine so we took him back to the Hotel and went onto Animal Kingdom. We got back and he was working on his next novel. We decided to go to dinner but he was still having a slight vision problem so I drove.

While at dinner I thought his speech was a bit slurred. He put it down to fatigue and his face always looked like that. That morning he couldn’t get his right leg to move correctly. He told us later that he had gotten up because he couldn’t sleep and tried to type and couldn’t get his hand to work correctly but he didn’t want to wake me up and alarm me. I called my mom with the laundry list of things. My mother said get him to a hospital NOW. We loaded him into the car and took him to Celebration Hospital at the recommendation of some friends.

Celebration Hospital did a great job of getting him in and starting treatment. His blood pressure was scary scary high so their first job was to get it back to closer to normal. They did some tests and a CAT scan to check for a stroke. The CAT scan didn’t show anything but they were going with their observations and the evidence that his blood work was not good and getting worse. The decision was made to transfer him down to Florida Hospital in downtown Orlando where they could do an MRI and some other tests Also Florida hospital has the best cardiac unit and they were worried that he had a heart attack or a cardiac episode (having told Peter that he might be having a cardiac episode, he put on his best comic guy voice and said, ”Worst Episode Ever.” So Ariel got to take “ride in an ambulance” off her bucket list as she went down to the hospital with Peter while I dealt with getting us out of our hotel room.

So I am betting that in this point of the narrative you, if you know our family, are asking where is Caroline while this is all going on. She was and is in Jacksonville with her sister and Peter’s eldest daughter, Shana. Currently we haven’t told her what is going on but that is going to change in the next couple of days. So she is having fun with big sister and her playmates in Jacksonville. Shana has been a rock in all this and a champ about taking care of her little sister while all this has been going on. I have been able to concentrate on Peter right now.

He went into the Florida Hospital in the Cardiac Care Unit as they try to ascertain what exactly happened. They did an MRI about midnight along with some other tests. They came to the conclusion that it was not a heart attack but a stroke and moved him to the neurology unit where he is now.

As he stated, he has lost most of the use of his right arm, his right leg is incredibly weak, the vision in his right eye is blurry, and the right side of his face is drooping slightly. But the brain is there with all its quips and quick retorts. He has had the nurses laughing a lot.

Today we figure out what the next step is and where it is going to happen. Tonight the New Year Begins and for us it is a very different beginning than we thought we were going to be having.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes, prayers and kind words. They do help. And BIG thank you to our Orlando buddies who have taken us into their houses and helped us deal with what is going on.

Continue to think good thoughts for Peter. This is not going to be easy for him or us but we will get through this together.

I am grateful that my husband is still alive.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 25, 2012

I woke up on my own about 6:30 and went to check on Caroline who was awake and ready to get up. We snuck quietly downstairs to check out the tree. Ariel joined us shortly thereafter.

Last night we performed the rituals that I have done since I can remember.

This morning we open presents, eat eggs benedict, and enjoy being in each other’s company.

Later we are going to go see Les Miserables with my sister Sheila. Or at least that is the current plan.

This evening I will be visiting with friends and catching up on people’s lives that I see only a few times a year and they don’t blog or use social media much.

Tomorrow I am going to see my brother and his family and then we are off to Florida to see Shana and a few other folks as well.

There is a comfort in knowing what the next couple of days are going to be and what will be happening. There will be adventure and surprises along the way with not knowing how things are going to play out but that is part of life.

Right now I am watching my daughter read her new Monster High book and, occasionally, share passages with me that she find very funny. She is curled up on the couch like I use to do with my new book(s) as Christmas enjoying herself. And the circle continues.

I wish you all a good holiday and a pleasant day.

I am grateful for my mother’s Eggs Benedict. It is really really good.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 22, 2012

My personal philosophy about the end of the world (which I really want to turn into a short story) is that the world will end on a day when no one thinks the world is going to end. There is always someone somewhere that believes that the world is going to end at any given time on any given day.

We saw the Cirque Du Soleil 3-D Worlds Away yesterday. The camera work is amazing and the structure of the story is fine. The 3-D is some of the best I have ever seen for live action. The one problem with it is that it seems to be a travel brochure for their Vegas shows since that is where they filmed all the sections in the various shows they have going in Vegas. If one is never going to go to Vegas and see the shows, this is a good look at what they looked like. Also it is cheaper than a ticket to the Cirque itself and the movie is playing in places that Cirque has never gone. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot.

Today is all about the next couple of days. I have to finish cleaning the house, laundry, wrapping, packing and cat care. Tomorrow is packing and driving. Then we are into Christmas Eve and Christmas. It will go fast but I have a lot to do before we get to Monday.

Caroline spent the last of her Birthday Money on a Monster High High School playset which Peter put together last night and she has been playing with since. The nice thing is that it folds up into a manageable case.

OK going to start with finishing up the laundry and onto the cat boxes! Wish me luck.

If I don’t get back here for a bit, Merry Christmas Y’all.

I am grateful for slightly flexible schedules so there is no panic.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 21, 2012

Happy Solstice to all who celebrate.

This was suppose to be the last day on Earth according to some translations of the Mayan Calendar but it was bad “science” that led to this being the date. The weather right now is windy and very nasty. Caroline almost got knocked over by the wind at the bus stop. As it is, the weather outside is frightful. (Great now I got that song stuck in my head)

Last night was an interesting one for me. Caroline’s girl scout troop was singing at a retirement home and giving the residences Christmas and Holiday Cards they had made. As I was sitting in the lobby waiting for her to return my mind when back to when I was a Junior Girl Scout and we went to sing at Wesley Woods which was a retirement home. There is a circle of life thing there somewhere. She has so much fun with her Girl Scout Troop and that is so great to see.

With all this wind, I guess I will see if the damaged tree is going to hold up. Either way I think we are going to have to get it taken down which is a shame since it is a really old Oak and keeps my office/studio cool in the summer.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the serious portion of our Holiday Season. I have to get ready for travel and get our house ready for the cat sitter. Treat is doing fine. We have to cone him at night to keep him from licking his stitches. He doesn’t do it around us but left alone he is being a naughty kitty. The other cats are being a little clingy. I think Stalin sees the signals that we are leaving for a bit and has decided to make sure we know that we will be missed.

OK we just went from Sun back to Rain in under 2 minutes. That was strange. Strange weather is strange.

Safe Travels everyone.

I am grateful for people who help to make the holidays happen.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 19, 2012

Because next Tuesday is Christmas and I don’t know how much Internet I am going to be playing with.

This year has been educational in many areas. I will admit it has not been as productive as other years. I kind of slid by on my past work quite a bit.

Looking to next year, I think more new dolls than I did last year, which would be none for shows. I did do a couple in swaps and the like.

I did more human puppets for various reasons this year. I did an Under The Sea set that now belongs to Shana, which I am quite proud of them. I had to redo the Doctor Who puppets for their performance at DragonCon.

I got two puppets to actors that I wanted to get puppets of their characters to. The first was Paul McGann. The Doctor Who TV movie is the impetus for the first set of Doctor Who puppets which lead to a lot of interesting places since. Mr. McGann really liked his puppet. The second puppet was one of the few Doctor Companions I have done. John Barrowman loved his Captain Jack puppet. I have a couple of nice pictures to remember that encounter.

I did do a couple of costumes this past year for Caroline. The most recent being her angel robe for the nativity play. She is now drawing out what she wants me to create. She is chomping at the bit to be able to do it herself.

The next year could be interesting for several reasons. Not much I can say now but more on that next year.

I am grateful that I did get to do as many creative things as I did.

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