it’s been a remarkable summer for my family. much of it would make you say the writers had gotten lazy and pulled out every cliffhanger cliché if it came to you on “days of our lives”. i’ll post it here so i can point people to it instead of emailing it twenty times.

first, glenn, the least dramatic part. we’re coming up on the first anniversary of his being wheelchair-bound and needing constant care. he’s been in and out of the hospital repeatedly since thanksgiving. nine weeks is the longest he’s managed to stay home. there’s been nothing new in his condition this summer, just the same pattern of getting an infection, going to the e.r., getting it treated, coming home, starting again. our warmest thanks to everyone for their moral support, and especially to those who were near enough to lend practical support as well. please keep us in your thoughts.

the real adventure has been back in west virginia. because of glenn, i haven’t been able to be there, but here’s what i’ve gathered from the many phone conversations:

it started with my mother having a sudden bout of fainting spells. she was admitted to the hospital in fairmont and given emergency surgery to install a pacemaker. the night after the surgery, she suffered a stroke.

my brothers and sisters started arriving to help. my brother jim came up from florida, and as he was driving dad home from the hospital, a car hit them head-on. it flipped over them and landed on its roof. the driver suffered minor injuries. my brother broke his right foot and his left hip, and my father broke six ribs and broke his sternum in five places. (he’d traveled that stretch of road regularly for nearly a century. what a time to be in his first wreck!)

they were rushed to the hospital in morgantown. through the perseverance of my brothers and sisters, dad was transferred to fairmont the day of his 61st wedding anniversary, and the rehab staff treated him and mom to as romantic a dinner as a ward could manage.

when jim was discharged, he returned to my parents’ house to recuperate, and was eventually cleared to return to florida. he flew back and was in the hospital again the next night with a blood clot. at the same time, dad developed blood poisoning and went back to morgantown for two surgeries. mom moved on to a rehabilitation center, where dad hopes to join her as soon as he’s able.

my brothers and sisters are putting in long days on the million tasks to be done, and renovating the house in preparation for my parents’ return.

the phone hasn’t rung today, so let’s hope we’ve reached the end of the ride! i hope peace has settled and everyone will be home and healing by winter. thanks to everyone who’s shared a kind word as this has unfolded. let’s look forward to some long, boring, predictable months to come.