Nose

I’ve never liked my nose. Especially since fifth grade. In fifth grade, two boys were determined to make me hate my trunk. Yes, of course I remember their names, but I can’t give them the satisfaction of mentioning them on my blog. The worldwide accolades… Not really. They did go through a phase during which they called me “Long Nose”. They also told me not to look at them, lest my schnoz poke them in the eyes. That was a tough year for little me. My family moved, and I wound up with a haircut reminiscent of a mushroom. I remember specifically requesting chin-length. As I was traipsing around southern Missouri with a fungus-like haircut, I wore an empire-waist top. One day on the playground, I was asked if I was pregnant. Bullying is for real. I guess what I’m trying to say is fifth grade was hard.

For the year or so after my stroke, I avoided cameras almost entirely. Almost. I couldn’t even put on my own makeup. I still can’t. But have you noticed my nearly yearlong absence from the Internet? It was not an accident. But it is not my job to look cute and adventuresome. It is, however, my job to get better. And the parents of my nephews know about the “you break it, you buy it” nose clause.

Empyema

This is Chris. I just wanted to let all of you know that Alison's been in the hospital for the last two and a half weeks. She had something called an empyema. It's kind of like pneumonia, but on the outside of the lung instead of inside. There was fluid in the pleural space between the lung and the chest cavity wall. That fluid eventually loculated, or became less fluid - kinda like a honeycomb gel. This mass, if you will, caused pressure on her right lung and caused it to collapse partially. The empyema was also infected, and since it was in the pleural space and non-liquid, it was difficult for antibiotics to penetrate. They ended up having to put two chest tubes in to break up the mass and drain it out. It was an extremely slow process, but the other option was a throracotomy - which is an extremely invasive and painful surgery - same one used in open heart surgeries. And given her limited mobility, it would have been extremely difficult for her to recover from. So we opted against that and went with the chest tubes instead. Fortunately, that was the right decision, and the chest tubes worked extremely well. As of yesterday, the painful chest tubes were removed (after two weeks) and she was instantly much more comfortable. And this morning, they gave us the green light to come home today! We weren't expecting it to happen quite this quickly, but we're sure glad it did! So this afternoon we'll get her back home and blogging again! Thanks for all of your continued support!