He's home!

 He's out! He's free! I picked him up Monday afternoon (the 18th) and went straight to a local pizza joint that he'd been craving since he'd been in the hospital. I'm not sure why since we don't go there very often, but he was getting whatever he wanted that day.

 Andy missed him.

So did Cori.

And of course, so did me and Sydney. It's been nice to have him home. He's getting around ok, still walking with a walker (he tried a cane and decided it was too soon). He started outpatient therapy on Friday and will go 3 times a week for however long they want to see him. The scheduling has been a bit crazy since he's not driving, plus Sydney doing cross country after school, Dr. appointments (for all of us), meeting with the school, Open House, but with my mom, his mom and his friend Robin, I think we'll figure it all out. Hoping his recovery is short and complete!

Waiting for Daddy and a New Haircut

 Sydney's school pictures will be coming up on the 20th of this month and her hair was a mess. Hadn't been cut in a while, just looking blah. So I thought I'd just take her to get a trim. But she wanted her hair cut like her BFF Auna. I didn't trust just anyone to do this and our normal stylist was off for a funeral, so I ended up going with someone my friend recommended.

She managed to squeeze us in that day and here is the final product. Looks SO much better. I think she'll look cute for her pictures.

So, Chris continues to make progress everyday. He's been in rehab for 9 days now and the therapists are amazed at how quickly he's improving. They said they believe he will regain full function of his legs. Let's hope so! We're shooting for him to be home either Monday or Tuesday which is just another 3 or 4 days. As of yesterday, this whole ordeal has been going on for 3 weeks. Which is just about all the time he had for taking off work. As soon as he gets home, he can work from home and keep the money coming in.

The Unexpected and First Day of Fifth Grade

 Thursday, July 31st was Sydney's first day of Fifth grade. July. Seriously. She loves school, so she was plenty happy to go back. This year, she has a new teacher who is from England. Sydney likes her accent.

 

 And I took this one the other day while we were having lunch at Pizza King, just because she's so stinkin' cute!

So, here's the unexpected part. 2 Thursdays ago, Chris had severe upper back pain and started to lose feeling in his legs. He went to the immediate care center, who sent him via ambulance to the hospital. They did an MRI and determined he had a severely herniated disc in his upper back and it was pushing on his spine because it had herniated in towards his spine instead of out, like it usually would. He got transferred to Jewish and the surgeon there told us it is a very risky surgery, he'd have to have bone around his spine removed and rods and pins put back in it's place. So, he had surgery last Tuesday and just got transferred to Southern Indiana Rehab late yesterday. His right leg is especially weak and doesn't work as well as the left, so he's got a leg brace for his right leg. He'll be in rehab 2-3 weeks, they're estimating. So, I've spent a lot of time at the hospital in the last 2 weeks. It felt like a second home. Fortunately, we had lots of visitors.

 This is my all grown up niece, Cali and her step-brother Jake. Cali's mom brought me pop tarts and doritos, a real life saver. My friend Amber also came by and brought me lots of my favorite candy, plus some magaznines, which helped to pass the time.

 When Sydney visited, she'd just sleep

This is the day of surgery. She found herself a nice little place to take a nap. I got NO sleep the night before and thought for sure I'd be crashing too, but I couldn't. The surgery took about 4 hours, but we were out there even longer than that.

So, that's what we've been up to. It really blindsided us and we just couldn't believe it turned into something so serious. But I believe everything happens for a reason and I can already see many fruits coming from this seemingly bad situation, so I just have to trust God that it will all turn out according to His will.