It's been a trying few months. My wife, Peg, had surgery the day after Christmas for bone spurs in her shoulder and a reconstruction of a bad knee. Last month, my mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer and had to have a hysterectomy (which went well, and we believe there won't be any complications). This past week, we received the rather shocking news that my daughter Allison was hospitalized with a blood clot in her lung.
We got the news on Thursday afternoon, so that night, Peg and I drove up to Maryland, where Allison lives. We've spent the past couple of days there with her, and we left this afternoon and are now at my mom's in Virginia. Allison is still in the hospital, but we expect her to be released on Monday. She's doing reasonably well, but is still in a lot of pain. The doctors believe that the clot is a result of her taking birth control and being a smoker -- evidently, not a good combination.
Her prognosis is generally good; she's on blood thinner to help dissolve the clot (and will be for the next few months) as well as high-powered painkillers, as this thing is quite excruciating and interferes with her breathing. The word is that there's only a minute chance that it will move and cause further damage, but needless to say, her mom and I remain concerned about that. On the good side, she's had excellent medical care, and we're fairly confident the worst of it is over.
Some of y'all met Allison at a couple of the DS gatherings a few years back when she came to hang out with the scary folks. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, if you would. The kid means the world to me.
