The Rollercoaster Continues

Hey folks! Well… here is the latest.

So far, Dad is doing OK. He is moving a little more of his facial muscles, but it comes and goes each day. The doctors are trying to figure out why his temperature is going up, as it spiked on Saturday, Sunday and again today. Test results should be in by this afternoon, but this is more than likely another infection involving one of his IV lines.

Mom drove up to Roanoke from Danville by herself for the first time today. She is planning on staying there through the night and coming back tomorrow. The stress of this whole ordeal is understandably weighing on her, but she is trying to get through it the best way she knows how. Everyone is being very supportive and trying to keep her spirits high, but it can be hard to do at times. That's no knock on her, because most would have already faltered. We just try to keep it light as much as possible to remind her of the other side of life, and sometimes that can be hard for her to do.

Speaking of which, in case any of you are wondering why this is happening to Dad, or why something bad might be happening to you, I’d like to talk about something that was shared with us this weekend and kind of puts it in some perspective for me.

GBS is one of those illnesses that just wears down any feeling of normalcy that a patient or their family feels. For Dad, he’s just waiting for his body to “wake-up” and allow him to start the road to recovery. For Mom, GBS has taken someone she has loved for almost all of her life and is holding him hostage right in front of her. Of course, everyone is affected in different ways, but it kind of hit me the other day when we talked to the hospital Chaplin about Dad’s case.

She reminded me of something that Dad use to say, and it was that everyone has a purpose in life. Some are meant to be doctors, or lawyers, but some are meant to just share themselves.

Dad had what some would view as a simple profession… he was a truck driver. But more importantly, he was a friend to all that met him during his travels. For some in life, that’s something too hard for them to ever grasp. There’s no telling how many lives Dad touched during his travels. Even now, lying in a bed motionless and barely able to communicate, Dad is touching all of us that read this blog in some way, shape or form.

So, on behalf of Dad and his subtle words of wisdom bestowed upon me so long ago, what will be your purpose today?

OK… as soon as we have more, we’ll post it to the blog. Thank you for your continued support!

Team Jerry all the way!!!