Well-With two readers I guess I’ll carry on. Today was a really fun day. God has provided people everyday to come to our house to help me and kids and allow Jeremy to go back to work. I was up more today than usual and it felt really good. At one point there were eight kids here all playing. Sprinkler, water balloons, hide and seek, trains, and lunch. My friend Melissa, Kim, and Betsy came over. An unexpected friend showed up on her bike ride. Josie. She’s such a great girl. Food is daily being provided which relieves tons of stress. THe kids are happier than ever having friends to play with but being at home connected to mom! Levi seems to be back to his old self. Silly and sweet. Spunky and screamy. Although Jere and I hardly cross paths this week, it’s amazing the JOY I have to still feel so connected to him. I’m so thankful for our time in France to rebuild us. Jere’s office is now in our closet which is quite cozy (and hot today)

We are so excited to have our friends the Mills family moved in this week. It’s an exciting part of a new journey for both of our families. Tomorrow we await more new friends to come over. I’m growing stronger each day. We hope that within two weeks I’ll be able to care for the kids on my own. THe lifting will be the key.

As many friends are struggling in their lives around me I am reminded how thankful I am to be able to get up in the morning, be with my children, walk, and so much more. It is a gift to pray for others as it takes the focus off myself. I am so blessed with the amazing people around me. Today was a great day!

1. steroids stink
2. so do diapers in the heat
3. friends moving in this week
4. pain
5. progress
6. my dad asking for back advice from me-his back went out
7. giving, throwing, organizing like crazy
8. God is good
9. over the vomits
10. No one knows I’m writing again and I’m not sure why I’m still blogging.

Well-I thought my blogging time woud be over once we got home. Well-Many of you have asked (in some cases demanded!) that I keep blogging about my experience.

Well, It’s been about 2 weeks since my surgery. My time in France after the sugery was more painful than imagined. I expected that I would be pretty ready to get back to life (no pun intended) and start things up again. This was not what happeend. I came home very weak and in rough shape. As I shared before, my surgeon in France had expressed that the surgery was a success. When we made it home and couldn’t move the next morning it was hard again to feel like a success story. We had planned that Jere would be back to work after being out for three weeks. That wasn’t possible. As he said, he got really sick…Days later as he gained strength to care for us my anxiety level was high. I knew I was the reason he couldn’t go back to work. I was the reason that I could help less now than before we left for France. A lot less. I began to pray. In pain and frustration. I prayed. SOmetimes when it hurts so much, in so many ways, all I can do is repeat Jeus Jesus Jesus over and over again. Another phrase that I speak is “I will praise you Anyways” This is still such a source of peace. Through it all, a couple dear people came forward and said..”You are not doing this alone..This process is not over…We will keep working through this together.”

In a past blog I wrote that I wanted to come home well for many reasons, but one of them to be well for everyone else. I didn’t want to ask for any more help. No more phone calls. No more requests of others. Well I didn’t need to ask for help because loved ones came forward to do it for me. There has been no expectation from anyone that I be any certain way right now and that is a real gift. My friend Erin has served me as if she were washing my feet. Calls everyday-what do you need, who can I call, do you need to eat, whom shall I call to come over for the kids…” I’m not used to that kind of consistency in serving. And not just from her but all of you. WHat in the world? WHat’s with you people? So much undeserved love and compassion for such a long time. I am so thankful for you – My community of friends and family who continue to amaze me!

Well…today I am stronger than yesterday. I made breakfast and lunch for the kids today. It was a great accomplishment for me. Each day this week someone has been able to come over for a half day so Jere cane go back to work while I recover. Others are bringing meals. Thank you!!

Tomorrow is a new day and a new friend arrives. It’s so great to have Jamie back from Guatemala. It’s really quite fun to have such great people com and visit each day. The boys love it too!

Medically speaking – My doctor here was also very reassuring that the surgery was a great success and he would stick with me to work in the process till we get there. I will be starting pool therapy soon depending on when they can get me in.

The shock of the slower recovery is over and I’m dealing with things day by day. Which now it actually feels like it’s moving faster. When ever I surrender whatever it is I’m fearing or angry about the healing or hope has a place to move in faster than I’d expect. I’ve learned it a billion times and wonder why I don’t just do the surrendering right away!!!!! Well, this whole precess is teaching me that ten-fold. I hope as I heal and move back into “regular” life that I’m not quick to forget how I’ve learned to access peace more quickly and let go of my flippin’ FEAR!!!

My typical day now is being up for an hour, resting for an hour, more resting. I try to take a short walk around the block each day. I like walking with Elliot because he knows he’s helping me get a stronger back. He is so gentle with me on our walks!

We had the chance to meet with Dr. Richard Salib on Thursday. He’s a surgeon at the Institute for Low Back and Neck Care in Minneapolis that Sarah has seen for years. He was one of the original designers of the Maverick Disc that Sarah has now.

He checked out the scans of the prosthetic placement and took some time to discuss the different pains and sensations that Sarah is experiencing.

He thinks the surgery went very well.

He affirmed the French Doctor’s assessment of her pain stemming from the extreme stretching of the spine that she had to go through to fit the disc in place. He encouraged her to be patient through the healing process. Everyone heals at their own pace.

She’ll start taking steroids to reduce the swelling in her facet joints and if the pain isn’t really improved in a week, then she’ll get a facet joint steroid injection to speed things up. With all those roids, I hope she doesn’t grow hair in strange places!

Right now she’s really sick with the same sickness I had at the beginning of the week. It makes her feel crazy. stuck in bed, not able to get outside and not able to move much.

Next week she’ll start pool therapy at Courage Center. She’s very much looking forward to that.

Overall, it’s felt a bit crazy for me. We have another family moving in with us tomorrow. 4 Schellers + 4 Mills in 5 Bedrooms = Tight Squeeze. I’ve been working overtime to convert our bedroom closet into 1/2 closet, 1/2 office as well as purge tons of our stuff and figure out new storage options for the rest. The house has been in shambles for days. I’ve also been a full-time dad, and part-time nurse and have gone back to work as well. Needless to say, things have been a bit wild for me this week.

Hopefully, Sarah will be up for writing something tomorrow to let you know how she’s doing in her own words…

We made it home ok. One flight delay, but we’re here.

We’ve been totally jetlagged, and then i’ve been completely vomittously sick for 3 days. Sorry we’re not in touch with people. We’ll probably start making some phone calls tomorrow.

-J

Sarah had a slight fall trying to step out of the shower/tub this morning. She caught herself, but not before tweaking some things a bit. She’s doing ok, and overall, continues to be encouraged about gaining mobility.

Today we had a way overpriced meal. It was average food, but we feel we got gouged by the price. We’re comfortably resting back at the hotel now. It’s our last night here.

A little while ago, I thought I might lose some weight on this trip. After all, I was walking like 10 miles a day there for a while when I was using the public transportation back and forth to the hospital. But then I met two characters that changed everything. Brothers, I think. Well, they share the same last name.

Breakfast Buffet and Dinner Buffet. Well rounded. Cultured and Flavorful. We’ve been hanging out the last few days as we’ve been bound to the hotel quite a bit. I love the Buffets. Some times we’ll share a meal over many plates and many courses. The Buffets have endless things to offer, and we enjoy each other’s company.

I’m getting well rounded myself. Starting Saturday, we’re back on the lifestyle learned from Michael Pollan. Off the HFCS and back to good real food, made in my kitchen, with my hands, and purchased from a place that I know and trust.

We absolutely can not wait to see our boys. We talked to each of them today. Levi just smiled and grunted. Elliot was excited we’re back tomorrow. People say Elliot gets a little sad at night before bed when he misses us most, and Levi is just kind of all done with this whole ‘where’s my mommy and daddy” thing.

When we get home tomorrow, Elliot will meet us at the airport and Levi will already be in bed at home; but we have no plans to let him sleep. We’re going to get him up squeeze him. Can’t wait. Can’t wait. Can’t wait.

Sarah is feeling sick to her stomach from all the pain medication. Pray for us to figure out the right combination for less pain, and fewer side effects.

many thanks,

I got up at 5:30 this morning and feverishly packed the remains of things. This time, I was packing for “less bags” as opposed to “lighter bags.” I knew I would be lugging things through train stations and cab rides and wanted few bags that I could rest on the wheels of our two suitcases.

We got to station at Gare St. Jean at 7:10 thinking we had plenty of time to make our 7:50 train to the Paris Charles DeGaulle Airport. As luck would have it, another strike hit. When we arrived, our train was listed on the big flip-board schedule. Moments later, it disappeared and mild panic ensued. I made my way through the line to the ticket counter, where I was told, “That train is on strike.”

Huh? (I’m pretty sure we don’t do that kind of thing stateside.)

“I will make you new billettes (tickets) and you have 8 minutes to catch the train to central Paris.

Ok, well, we made it on to the train, but our overstuffed luggage proved to be much to contend with. Everybody was analyzing me, wondering why I’m sweating so much and why do their suitcases look so big?

I managed to sweat through the process of finding a place for our bags and then proceeded to sweat through the first half hour of the train ride.

We’re riding the train from Bordeaux to France. It’s about 3.5 hours.

Sarah is experiencing a lot of pain, but she’s still in good spirits. She often spends time listening to worship music to draw the attention away from her back.

The French country-side is beautiful and I like looking at the landscape spotted with rustic houses and the occasional palatial chateau.

Travel has been mostly smooth. Many thanks to my brother and sister in law for taking the time to get us here on the planes and trains. We’re also thankful that we bumped up this train venture to Paris, not knowing that your train can actually “go on strike.” It’s good to know we’ll be there ahead of time to make our flights back home on Friday.

Late afternoon, to our surprise, we received a call from Dr. Le Huec. He wanted us to come in tomorrow, but we’ll be on a train, so we arranged to go in tonight.

Sarah was feeling a little unsure about this whole surgery thing, even as we’re preparing to head back to the states. The unexpected final visit with Dr. Le Huec was a welcome surprise. We had the chance to look at the xrays to see the disc perfectly centered in Sarah’s spine, and more importantly, we were able to get some questions answered.

Questions like:

Why am I in so much pain?
Is this typical?
When is it going to get better or
What can we do about it?

Turns out, most people have this surgery before their disc is completely destroyed like Sarah’s. The doctor’s report said that her disc was more than 70% deteriorated. That’s why she’s in so much pain. When they cut the disc out, they took a small space and had to stretch it to make room for the prosthetic implant. Most people don’t need to do that.

He said about 20% of people experience this type of pain because of this stretching of the spine. It will go away, but it will take some time, and likely a steroid injection in her facet joint in her spine to make the swelling go down…

In the meantime, we need to be geared up for traveling, so a few extra narcotics and we we’re on our way.

In another surprise, when we got back to the hotel, we found out they were throwing a party for us. OK, not for us, but there is a new manager, so there is a big shindig with live music, free food, drinks and desserts downstairs. Saved us the inevitable question, “What are we going to eat tonight?”

Oh, and one last thing: Dr. Le Huec showed us the video from the Channel Six news report here in France that had a quick clip of Sarah trying to get out of bed, and a little clip of her talking with an interpreter speaking over it. Crazy. Soon as we can get it on the blog we will…

We managed to finagle our train tickets to get moved up two days. We thought it would be tough to do the train trip from here to Paris, then plane from Paris to Chicago and plane from Chicago to Mpls all in one day…

So we’re checking out of the good ole Hotel Novotel tomorrow morning and taking the train back to Paris. We got a hotel right by the airport, not in the city, so we’ll likely be held up in the hotel for the next few days. The Novotel has been good to us. I wish we would have had a kitchenette (I miss cooking my own food) and a softer bed would have been good. However, the restaurant at the hotel has really great food. Since Sarah’s been out of the hospital, it’s been our primary eating spot since she can’t get too far walking as of yet.

We’re both overwhelmingly excited to see our boys. After the first week, we never thought we could do it. Especially when Levi was so sick; he puked for a straight week. By last Friday, when Sarah got out of the hospital, and there was only a week left, we felt like we could manage. They have been well taken care of and have had a lot of fun now that everyone is healthy.

We’ll be home this Friday night, then Sarah will soon began some physical therapy at the Courage Center pool and began to get moving more and more. She’s been doing better the last two days with less pain, and a little more mobility, so we’re encouraged.