On Second Thought

I should have been at work Tuesday. In reality, there was anywhere I’d rather have been than where I was, except my husband and I prayed for this appointment because it was necessary, not because we wanted it.

Tuesday, my husband and I woke up at the ridiculously early hour of 4-ish and spent much of the day at UT Southwest Heart Center in Dallas so he could undergo a couple of heart catheterizations. That appointment was the beginning of a few more tests before he will likely have open heart surgery.

And by the way, I have his permission to tell this.

I tell you all this to say a lot of things.

I am so grateful to a lot of people including my work family – my boss and co-workers – who have worked with me in making sure I could put family first, and having my back at work while I’ve been out, which has been a lot lately.

This didn’t just begin, and won’t be over for a while, so I’ll be asking for a lot of help from a lot of people. So, when you don’t see my column in the paper like last week, just know when that happens, I will be back but I just didn’t feel I could put anything out worth reading.

We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my pretty amazing brother-in-law, David, for making sure our two co-dependent Weimeraners didn’t languish in loneliness or lack of abundant snacks while we were gone; and my family and friends who have checked in and prayed for us, and support us while we navigate this first rodeo.

I am also incredibly thankful we have this amazing medical team assembled on Bobby’s behalf. And in this case, I have to say the team they assembled for him has been impressive and professional as well as truly caring, human and fun.

Thanks to all of you. I won’t lie, it has been a scary few months and all the people I just talked about - and I know there are more - have given us a lot of comfort and faith we can do this.

As a gift, next week I will write about all the crazy, funny things that happen when you wait in a hospital - and there are many.

For now, I just wanted to give a heartfelt thank you for the love and support to the people who love us unconditionally and have shown up in the same spirit.