Disjointed Thoughts (All Good Ones) From a Tired Blogger

Our lives will soon be whatever the new normal is. There is much to be thankful for.

This morning's heart catheterization and stent insertion went very smoothly. Joe's heart has not yet begun to heal from the trauma of Friday night/Saturday morning, but Dr. Cohen is not worried. An echocardiogram in a few weeks should show some progress, he says. We also do not yet know the extent of the damage.

Discharge is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

He serves on a Synod committee and today the Bishop phoned because she'd heard he was ill. She wondered what was going on. I explained the whole story to her and she asked if it would be okay to visit him tonight. She wanted to know if she could put him on the Synod-wide prayer list. I told her he was so well-prayed already -- from near and far the prayers have come!

We've begun planning for After. I got a new cookbook and am looking at another one. We have tickets for Sunday to go with dear friends to see "Our Town," and though the doctor says there is no prohibition to such an outing, I do not believe I can face that graveyard scene, and so the tickets will be going to another couple.

I believe he is beginning to comprehend the seriousness of what happened to him, to us; this is challenging because he looks and feels so well. Painfree except for the groin incision, it would be easy to minimize the entire experience. But he has begun to look at some of the stressors in his life and has already planned a resignation from one of the major ones.

Bodacious has no idea why Joe isn't here. He gives me looks that are puzzled, mournful, and mildly accusatory as though I know more than I'm telling him. He follows me around when I'm home and has taken to sleeping in the bed every night, a behavior usually reserved for only the coldest times.

People have been so solicitous, with offers of all kinds. Meals have been provided, flowers have come, phone messages, and more emails than I can possibly respond to, though I have read every one and am printing them all out for his perusal.

We've gotten through a tremendous crisis in our lives, and now are ready to face the next steps. It is Joe's illness, but it has happened to both of us. The bishop understood this; she prayed and marked his forehead with healing oil. And then she marked mine, too.

Amen.