Just one more day until surgery....

Hi all-

I'm sorry that I've not been as faithful thus far in May to keep you all posted as to our happenings as I was in April. It's been a fairly busy month in so many ways and an uneventful one in so many others. So I'll hit the highlights right off and then go into more detail about the things that need more detail. :)

* Yesterday, our niece called to let us know that she has exceeded the expected requirements in every subject on the CRCT. We are both SO proud of her! She was worried she wouldn't even pass them so she studied extra hard and it paid off. She aced each and everyone of these subject tests!

* We attempted to transplant two elm trees into other sections of our yard, but were unsuccessful.

They needed more care and water than we could provide. And honestly, the I don't think we got all of the roots up so they were destined to die anyway. However, ALL of the other flowers and plants are doing spectacularly well. I may ask my wonderful husband to take some new pictures for me this next week and email them to me so that I can share them all with you.

*We've attended two amazingly spectacular picnic's lately.

The first one was at the Arts Center. There were activities for children, musical entertainment for everyone present and the food provided was spectacular. From what I heard and saw there was even an opportunity to go to see a play, after the picnic called "School House Rock," but we opted out of it. We'd had an amazing time with some good friends and their children, but my back was acting up and I'd done all I could handle for the day.

The second picnic was hosted by St. Margaret's at one of the member's homes. It was also phenomenal, and yes there was wine. After all, as most of know the old joke when you have four or more Episcopalians together there's always a "fifth."

*I've purchased reserve seats to the Mercy Me concert as a gift to my husband!

Josh and I are both looking forward to this concert and I truly wanted to do something really nice for him since he does really spectacular things for me all the time, so I've reserved some good seats (no lawn chairs required this time) to the same concert venue where we recently saw Reba. I look forward to telling you all about this one later in June!

*My husband has to be the best husband in the world.

Not only has he taken care of me these past three months, without complaint, but just thinking back on what we've already endured together during these last seven months I find myself being overwhelmed. The loss of our expected baby, the loss of our yellow lab, and destruction of our washing machine, the many repair adventures and now my back problems. But one of the things that makes my husband the best is that he never fails to amaze me with his kindness and generosity. Nor does he fail to amaze me by surprising me in the most phenomenal ways. So when he left a dozen red roses for me on the bathroom counter a few days before Mother's day and I went to thank him, he told me they were for "Future Mother's Day" for a future mother. Wow! Isn't he awesome!

*Our church has received the delightful gift of a brand new church organ and we are all basing in the glow of the new music.

In fact, if you are in our dear little town in the near future, or more specifically on May 16th, I highly recommend that you drop in. They are hosting an organ concert and I have no doubt it will be phenomenal!

*We've had a wonderful visit with Josh's grandparents and extended family on Mother's Day.

We were invited to visit with them over lunch, but the church picnic was already scheduled so we simply decided to go to the family gathering afterwards and I'm so happy that we did. It was a lot of fun.

*Yesterday was my last day of school for this school year.

No , our school system isn't way ahead of the others in Georgia...it's not getting out early, but I am. I'm having surgery on Thursday at 8AM and the plan is for us to be heading home by noon. Who would have thought that we live in such a time that a person can have a major operation and still be home for supper? ha ha... But seriously, and thankfully the doctors in Atlanta have recommended a less invasive surgery than was suggested by the ones in our hometown, and the success rate and recovery time seem more positive with the Atlanta doctor's recommendations.

I'm sure you are wondering what they recommended so let me explain. TheDoctors believe that our best course of action will be to have another discectomy. They will go through my already existing incision (meaning that scar tissue will cause fewer problems) and remove the portion of the disc that has ruptured. Then they will simply sew me back up...put me in the recovery room and once I can tolerate the pain without morphine (in other words move on to oral painkillers) I'll be allowed to go home. I'm sure that I'll have to prove that I can walk and such too...and do a few other things, but nonetheless....we anticipate I'll have surgery in the morning and be at my parent's home by the afternoon.

It will take about two weeks before I'll begin to function more normally, but as each day passes things should improve. So I'm nervous, but quite excited. I don't have to wait much longer to have my back repaired again.

The other good news is that I only have a 10% chance of ever having another rupture and I'm clinging to this claim. But if I do...then he's trained in fusion and artificial disc...so I'm confident I'm dealing with the right surgeon.

As far as my school year ending early, obviously I had to take the time off to recover, but I will still be grading papers and recording grades and such. However, it seems so odd to be on Summer Vacation already. And seeing all of my dear 10th graders yesterday for the last time (as 10th graders) was tough. Thankfully though I will probably be teaching 11th grade next year so I have some of them again as students. And I have to admit it was really moving talking to students yesterday and hearing about how much I meant to them and such. Conversations such as these are definitely one of the most prized benefits of teaching.

As I come closer to ending this entry I have to brag about my dear husband again. He has been so wonderful through this whole experience. He's helped me move around, prop up my legs and has truly been my strength through enduring this whole "ruptured disc" experience again. I'm going to miss him horribly as I recover, since I'll be staying with my parents until I am more fully able to function after surgery. Why might I be doing this, I'm sure you're wondering. Well, honestly for a couple of reasons. First and foremost because I couldn't manage the trip back to our town immediately following surgery or honestly for a couple of weeks. Secondly, because my wonderful husband is in the midst of his busiest season of the work year and so it just makes sense to stay with my parents.

But let me also say this, as we begin to pack for this two week adventure, I found myself once again falling over from the compassion, love and caring that my husband always shows me. Not only did he personally place everything into the car, but he told me to pull movies out of his private collection so that I would have stuff to keep myself entertained. He programmed my laptop so that I could use it at my parents (online) as well. And he continued to be my rock through this all. I truly don't know and can't even imagine how I spent so many years without this wonderful man in my life. I do know, that I sincerely hope I will never spend another one without him...

*With that in mind, last but not least, we finally got our wedding photos back. Momma and I are going to work on putting the album together and I can hardly wait. Simply sharing these photos with everyone has been wonderful, and yes it's so refreshing even during this scary and difficult time to have this tangible symbol springing forth to remind us how our lives are bound together.

Finally, let me say, thank your to all of you who have offered me your prayers, support and encouragement as I've struggled to carry on a normal life these past three months. I can't begin to tell you what it means to me. I also can't begin to imagine how much I'm going to enjoy spending two wonderful weeks with my niece and nephews while I recover. And I'm looking forward to a spectacular summer. I can hardly wait to share it all with you as the details unfold. So let's all hang on tight, keep the prayers alive and enjoy this fantabulous ride. After all...it's summer vacation y'all!