A New Year

There is something strange about writing a blog about someone's journey through an illness.   It's backwards...

You write a ton when there is a lot going on.  And there is a lot going on when things are not happy.

There for a while,  I could write every single day and most of it was unpleasant to write about.

Nowadays, there isn't a lot to write about because things have mellowed out.

And things are happy (relatively speaking).

Kori had a seizure, her first and hopefully her last on November 29th

It was a Sunday Night and Russ was taking a nap and Grant found her and he did all the right things and they got her to the hospital really quick.

Of course, they ran every test including an MRI which provided us with very good news...

The "lesion" is much smaller

The edema is reduced

The swelling is reduced/gone.

Additionally, they could find "no reason" for the seizure.... 

Other than the fact that she technically had a severe brain injury and so why would her brain not go a little spazzy from time to time.  I suppose it's entitled to.

The truth is the doctors are actually shocked that she hasn't had a seizure before now. 

~Christmas~

Russ and Kori were invited to the Cardiac Rehab Christmas Party. 

And it turned out that the party wasn't so much a Christmas Party as it was a Kori Party.

Former patients were there, cardiac surgeons came as well as other hospital workers.  

It was a wonderful event.

They had wanted to have a Fun Run in her honor but as the planning started to happen, there were too many "hoops" to jump through and so instead they just collected large amounts of money in the forms of more than generous donations.  

We don't really know what the final amount was....  it's not for us to know.

What we do know is the amount of love and support shown to them is unbelievable.

Kori and Russ' ward still bring a meal to their family every night Monday through Friday.

This blows my mind.

I volunteered to bring a meal to a family in our ward a month ago and let me tell you...  It was a feat and very nearly killed me.

It's hard enough for me to feed my own family (mostly because I am domestically impaired and so making a simple meal overwhelms me) and I think of the families that do this for them day after day.  And I think of the amazing sister/sisters that are coordinating all of these meals and I could cry.  

I think of the expense....  I think of the time it takes to not only shop for food but to prepare it and the hardest part (in my opinion)...  putting it in bowls and pans and transporting it over to their house. 

There have been NUMEROUS acts of kindness and service given to the Hyde Family but one I really must mention.  A lady in their ward, Ruth, comes EVERY WEEK and cleans their THREE bathrooms!!! Talk about an act of service.  One of those bathrooms belongs to the Hyde Boys...just think about it...or maybe, don't. 

We are beyond grateful.

Our family celebrated Christmas as we always have.

Kori and Russ spent Christmas Eve with Russ' family for dinner and then joined our family for dessert.  We each pick a name and give an exchange gift.

This year Kami chose Kori's name and she gave her an "easy to put on" sweatshirt.

It is more difficult than one would imagine to put clothes on Kori's unruly left arm, so I'm told.

 The holidays really boosted her spirits.

Maybe because she was able to get out and socialize. 

Another event was our annual New Year's Day Luncheon.

We go to Sakura (which is Japanese Hibachi)

It could have been stimulus overload very easily, but she did really well.

She even tried to catch the tossed shrimp.

Okay...  so I am going to hear from my mom and Kami about posting these pictures.

But, I tried to edit them 3 times on my Mac and I experienced 3 episodes of failure making me question my intelligence, so I gave up and chose to move on.

Kami and Brent turn 40 one week apart.  

Savanna threw a "surprise" birthday party for them at the Pizza Pie Cafe.

Here are some of my observations of the event.

1.  I thoroughly enjoyed sitting by Kori.  She was so funny and cracked me up several times.  Some of the time she meant to....  but a couple of the times, she wasn't trying to be funny, but she just was.  I love that her personality is back.   And that she has a sense of humor. 

2.  She told me that her taste buds have changed.  She doesn't like sweets anymore and for sure NOT chocolate.  It burns her throat.  She likes chips and salty foods, especially nuts.  And "strawberry sprites with lime" make her mouth water every time she thinks of them.  She sends Garrett to Arctic Circle every day.  Kori and Soda...  never thought it would happen.

3.  We (Kori and I) didn't know 90% of the party guests.  Which made us feel weird... like we were outsiders.  We're NOT!!!

4.  Kori looks really cute in this picture.

 This is Ryker (Kori's nephew and my son).  He is 4.  He came up to Kori and said

"you're cute, I'll sit by you."

It was so funny.

I bet she was so glad too..  he spilled his drink 3 times,  he probably kicked her 100 times,  he bumped into her chair and NON STOP talked about random nonsense for over an hour.

Sorry, Kori.  Try not to be so cute next time and he'll sit somewhere else.

And finally,  Kori got a little trim to the new do today.

Cicely cuts her hair and I personally love it.  

Especially when it is spiked.

Her hair is so dark, almost black and I'm jealous of how very little grey she has.

It seems to be growing in nicely and she should have no problem growing it out fast when the time comes.  The right side of her head isn't growing in as quickly.  

Her scar is healing up very nicely.  It looks really good.

Kori is on a "maintenance" chemo program...5 days on, 23 off.  We like the "off" days best but the "on" days seem to be getting better each month.  She just finished her 5 days "on" and she pretty much sailed through them.  Sunday was a little rough and on Monday she was wiped out but she never complains and is a very good patient.  She returned to rehab today (Tuesday) and worked as hard as ever.  

Thank you to everyone who continues to read our blog and support our family with overwhelming acts of kindness, service and generosity. 

And Love.

P.S.  Kori really enjoys reading the comments (we do too).  Please leave a little comment and let her know you were here.  We appreciate your support.