Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Three years

Hi everyone:

Thursday of this week (November 8) represents the three-year anniversary of Patty's heart attack. You may recall that she had the attack on the first day of the new term, before she had a chance to greet a single student. Needless to say, even the passage of time has not greatly diminished the freshness of those memories. In many ways, though, we've moved forward, particularly with Patty doing so well of late. Although the sound of a siren still fills me with dread, I'm learning to resist the urge to call the school each time I hear the sound in the distance. For her part, Patty has promised not to finish any photocopying if she has similar symptoms in the future. The kids are doing just fine; even Connor, our resident worrywort, rarely has problems settling at night.

Yesterday, Patty started a new term, and I was of course nervous, even though logic would suggest I had no good reason to worry more about yesterday than about any other day. She returned home in one piece, and in pretty good spirits, although the start of a new term almost always has its associated frustrations.

We are still amazed at this gradual but steady transformation within Patty--from a person who could barely walk a block without gasping for air to a more-or-less normal person again. Based on what we've read, heart failure patients sometimes stabilize; they don't typically improve, and certainly not so dramatically. I'm not complaining...just knocking on wood a tremendous amount.

Love,
Brian