If you regularly visit this web page, you'll have noticed that nothing has been posted for the past couple of weeks. They have not been fun weeks. Here's an explanation.

On Sunday August 13 Nancy and I drove to Eaton Rapids, Michigan, to visit with Nancy's sister Elaine and her husband Karl. We were planning to return to Huntsville on the following Thursday in plenty of time to see the eclipse on the 21st.

Early Monday morning, the next day, Nancy passed out in the bathroom. There's a medical term for what happened, but I can't remember what it is. I was still in bed but I heard her call my name. I was running toward her, but I was seconds too late. We called 911, and Nancy was transported to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. As a result of the fall, she fractured the C5 vertebrae in her neck and bruised her spinal column. She could not move her legs or right arm but had some movement in her left arm. Also, and I thought this was important, she could feel people touching her everywhere. She was in a room on the 10th floor of the hospital. I took the above picture from there.

On the following Friday, the 18th, she underwent surgery to fuse the cracked vertebrae to C6. By the Monday after the surgery we began to think about rehab in Huntsville and how to transport Nancy to Alabama from Michigan. There were some starts and stops over the following several days, but we packed up and returned to Huntsville last Tuesday, Nancy in an ambulance and me driving our car. I made that sound so easy, but a 12 hour ride in an ambulance is no picnic. However, the 4 EMT attendants who rode with her did everything they could to help make her comfortable. Nancy is now in Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital here in Huntsville.

Over the last almost 3 weeks she has recovered some movement. She can peddle her feet and lift her knees. She has a good range of movement of her left arm including some fine motor skills with her left hand. She can move her right arm around, and yesterday she moved a finger on her right hand. I think it's going to be a long recovery time, but there's no one more willing to do what it takes than my wife, Nancy.