Friday, December 23rd

Dear All, friends old and new – I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be home Together. Greg is now asleep on the kitchen couch, and has it has been a wonderful quiet evening: consuming the gifted pot-roast (pork, apple, fennel – lovely!) and quiet music in the background, chatting with each other and the cat, enjoying so much our new home. It seems almost luxurious to be quietly tidying the counters and the table, washing dishes, sorting the dangerously deep paper piles, as the Tallis Singers soothe us from the stereo, the candle flickers on the table, and Greg’s breaths from the couch go from restful into sleepful – and then occasionally rise up again with a groggy query about one thing or another.

His parents will be here in a couple of hours. Weary, I imagine, but also very keen to see their son. It’s hard to imagine how it will be for them – I’ve watched Greg’s face change so dramatically for the better over the last ten days, but for them his half paralysed face cannot but be difficult – perhaps more difficult for anyone other than Greg himself. Balanced with the fact that he is alive and walking, his facial changes, and sight and hearing changes, are so minimal – but considered on their own, they are pretty darn huge.

The last checkups at the hospital this morning revealed that Greg’s balance was much better than normal. That’s great. The news about his face wasn’t quite so good. Although he is feeling a bit in his eye, which IS good, all of their tests revealed that the whole right side of his face was still 100% paralyzed. That’s not good news, as they hoped by now there would be a little bit of percentage change. Half of Greg’s tongue is still numb too, which still challenges both eating and tasting. If there is absolutely no change in the next few months there may be more surgeries ahead for Greg, just too enable some necessary functions … but we’ll go into that later. Right now we are both tired, but glad to be where we are.

We have rather overwhelmed the lovely folk in the Tullins pharmacy – my meds alone half empty their shelves (about 14 different kinds of medications/pills) – and now I have ordered one so new and expensive it is taking them a few days to even figure out how to get it (yes, I should finally start my new drugs next Wednesday!). Now Greg has emptied the other half of their shelves with about a dozen pills / eye drops / surgical soap/ etc of his own. They definitely know the new “Anglais” in town.

And tomorrow is Christmas Eve. That’s hard to process right now. But when Greg’s parents arrive we’ll start some baking and cooking, and maybe even decorate a little more. And rest in gratefulness. We probably won’t blog for a couple of days, over Christmas day and Eve at least. But we will remain reminded of the incredible Gifts this season intends to remind us of: Life, Love, Grace – the ability to receive, share, and give these.

A Christmas full of these we wish for you. With overwhelming thankfulness –
Kirstin and Greg, Pré Borel, 2005.