Thank you all first of all for your willingness to help us out as Stacey is recovering. As she recovers there are a few particular areas where we will greatly need the help of our friends, family and community. From the time of the injury, it is supposed to take about 3 weeks for the blood that is on her brain to break down and reabsorb back into the body. Throughout this time Stacey will continue to have pain, light sensitivity and the need to not over exert herself. This also means that she is not able to care for the kids by herself for a time. I am actually going to be starting at a new job during this time as well and they have been very accommodating in letting me push back my start date a bit so I can be home to continue to help. With that upfront information, here are more details about our specific needs:
MEALS
Many of you have offered to bring meals and we would gratefully accept that offer. I made time slots for each day for the next month for opportunities to sign up. Ready made and frozen meals are both great. When you sign up please click back into that task and leave a note in the comments field at the bottom with your contact information and any details that would help us plan accordingly.
VISITS
When you do visit, especially at the beginning, I just ask that you help Stacey recover well by keeping conversations relatively short and limiting stimulation particularly with screens because it triggers her pain.
CHILD CARE
While Stacey is not able to watch the kids by herself and after I am back to working, we are looking for help with watching our two kids, Selah (4) and Cedar (2). I know that this is a huge ask and we are willing to help this be as flexible as possible. My goal in Stacey’s recovery is to help her ease into transitions as time goes on so it can not be very abrupt. With this in mind, if you are able to watch the kids at your house I will be able to drop them off and pick them up before and after work. If it works better for your situation to watch the kids at our house we can certainly do that too. In that case towards the beginning I will probably bring Stacey to my parents house during the day so she can lay low and recover well.
My hope is that after the first week or two we can transition to having help with the kids at our house with Stacey there a couple days a week. My hope is that over the next few weeks to a month, we can work towards Stacey having help with the kids at our house side by side with her and moving toward help for par of the day and so on. We will have to watch and see how her recovery progresses to know how this timeline will actually play out.
If you need to do a partial day and want to split a day with someone else that works too. It would likely be easiest if watching them at our house but if needed I am hoping to have extra car seats available in case anyone needs to bring the kids anywhere. Just let us know.
With that context in mind, please sign up for what you can and please reach out to me with any questions and ideas. Some of you may be able to take a certain day of the week for these period of time and others may be able to do just one day. All are very appreciated and a huge help to us. When you do sign up please click back into that task and leave a note in the comment field at he bottom with your contact information, address (if you are watching the kids at your house) and any other information you would like us to know.
RIDES
There may be times when Stacey needs a ride to and from an appointment. if this need comes up I will post it on here first to see if anyone has the availability to help out.
Stacey got to go home today! The recovery continues but it feels so good to be home. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers encouragement and offers to help. Again, more than anything I am grateful beyond words that my wife is here with me and recovering back to full health. It is still going to be a bit of a long road to recovery but really do feel so supported and loved by everyone who has reached out, prayed and encouraged us. Stacey is one very loved person.
Patients and caregivers love hearing from you; add a comment to show your support.
Help Stacey Stay Connected to Family and Friends
A $25 donation to CaringBridge powers a site like Stacey's for two weeks. Will you make a gift to help ensure that this site stays online for them and for you?
