On December 19th my world came to a spinning hault. My husband had been suffering from a horrible headache for 11 days. He came home from taking my son to his early morning seminary class and asked me to take him to the er. You must understand, since my husband had a previous brain tumor he very rarely if ever goes to the doctor. I knew it must be serious. We arrived at our small town er and there where a ton of people and kids everywhere. Someone had hit a school bus. My husband is a large man and was on the verge of passing out. Luckily, they listened to me and moved him immediately to a bed. They assessed him right away hooked him up to a heart monitor and his blood pressure was 247/114. The doctors put an immediate request to have him transferred to a larger hospital in Gainnesville. His blood pressure was at stroke level and his head was killing him. He had me call his family up north, our 19 year old daughter was coming home and getting ready to board her plane, I had 5 other kids at home and was very worried about my husband. I called our Bishop and he came with another Brother and gave him a blessing. Bob,was looking worse when the squad came to transfer him . He was pale, sweaty and clammy. I kissed him goodbye and told him I loved him. I was terrified. I had to run home and grab some things, check on the kids and gas up for the 2 hr. drive. What was I gonna tell my kids? The first thing they asked was if he was ok. I didn't know, I just told them to pray and he would be ok , he was in good hands. I called our oldest daughter who didnt know what to think. I quickly threw stuff in a bag and headed to the freeway. I had to ask how to get to the hospital as I have only lived here for 11 months and had only passed thru that town. I thought I knew where the highway 75 was but nope. I pulled over and bawled. Here I was all alone and lost. I said a prayer called for directions and was on the way. I had a dear fb friend call me and she prayed with me on the phone as I drove .
I saw an emergency sign. Hung up the phone, grabbed my bag and ran in. Remember it was a 2 hr. drive. Yes, I prayed and cried and had some awful scary things go through my mind. I was looking around as I walked and noticed a lot of amputees and thought , Man this must be a tough town. LOL Then, I walked over this cool carpet that had all the service insignia's on it and I thought that is great they support the armed forces. Then I saw the Marine Corpse sign and thought wow my hubby is in great hands. He is a former Marine. Then I saw the sign of doom , I was at a VA hospital. I was suppose to be at Shands. Grrrr. seriously? I was so upset, I asked for help and luckily was right across the street. So I ran back to my truck and drove across the street. I had no idea where to park so I found Valet parking and let them do it for me. I had to ask inside where to go and finally was reunited with my hubby. They next ordered a cat scan then we where told there was no tumor which was a huge relief. Then they ordered a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. Hours later we where told he possibly had viral meningitis. They honestly where not sure what it was. His blood pressure was uncontrollable,he was vomiting, and his head was still killing him. Then they told us they where going to admit him and I needed to go home and rest. It was now 11:30 at night. We started this ordeal at 8am. I had someone get my daughter from the airport all the way in Jacksonville.
My kids fended for themselves. Luckily, they are teens and know how to take care of each other.
As I drove home I thought of the passed year with my hubby. He had gone back to church, we had been to the temple together again in Salt Lake City , he went to General Conference, he took the kids to the temple in Orlando, and he helped our daughter submit her papers to go on a mission! I thanked the Lord for all he'd done to help my husband and I prayed this would not be the end of our time together here on Earth. I also said that if it was the end I understood and would do the best I could with out him. This is when I had an overwhelming sense of love. I felt that he was in good hands and the Lord was in control.
I came home and hugged my kids tight and told them how much we both loved them. I told them I knew that Heavenly Father knew of Daddy's struggles and would take care of him. I wont bore you with the details but my husband was in the hospital till the day after Christmas. There where two times they told us he was coming home. We where all so excited that he would be home for Christmas. This did not happen. On Christmas Eve they told us that he would have to stay. I tell you a week of running back and forth, throwing food in the crock pot for the kids had taken its toll on all of us. We where all tired, the kids where fighting with each other. I had to go and pick our daughter up from work and was in town grabbing groceries when a sweet friend called me. She said she was at the house and had some Christmas cheer for the kids and I. I was upset at first as we didn't want to be a bother to anyone on Christmas eve. She was so sweet,she brought everything we did on Christmas. A movie, cd, hot chocolate, just all the little touches to make it more Christmassy! I was so touched, she knew what we all needed. I was feeling so lost and alone and was trying so hard to be strong. The Lord knew I needed a friend and sent her.I was so thankful she listened to the promptings of the spirit! I then loaded all the kids up and we went to get my oldest. I popped the Christmas cd in and we all started singing carols. Oh and did I tell you she also bought Flarp for all the kids? Yep , farting putty, it was so funny! The truck was full of giggles and singing. I decided we where all going to go caroling to just a few people we knew. I got my oldest and to my surprise they all agreed. I told them we had so much to be thankful for and we needed to pass along the Christmas cheer. The friend we choose opened the door and was so shocked. It was such a wonderful true spirit of Christmas to be had as we sang to this young mother and her child. Her husband was at work as a highway patrol man so she too was alone.
Christmas morning came and I was so lost. The kids opened their presents we called my husband and he didn't want us on the roads traveling. We played games and hung out. I tried to keep things as normal as possible. Our wonderful church family spoiled us rotten. We actually had three Christmas dinners throughout the day. I told the kids how lucky our family was. That we still had our Dad. I told them the Doctors told us if he wouldn't have gone in to the hospital he would of either died or suffered a massive stroke. As we said our prayers that night we had so much to be thankful for. Our Christmas was so much more about the meaning of the day than about the things. I hadn't been able to finish our shopping so it was not the kids normal Christmas and they where all fine with that.
I am so thankful that my hubby came home the day after Christmas! I am thankful that my husband listened to the promptings and sought medical attention when he did. I am thankful for all the small kind gestures that everyone did during our families time of need.There where so many acts of kindness showed to us. People helped me keep my kids lives as normal as possible and allowed me to take care of my hubby! I am very thankful for all the prayers that where said for our family. There where so many little things that happened that I know without a doubt the Lord was with us all every step of the way. I am so thankful for it all. I love my family and my husband. I am thankful that he is home and can continue to make us giggle and smile. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. Ours was far from what I wanted it to be but looking back I don't honestly think it could of been any better!
