RockWall Cottage Chronicles

A newsy, sometimes amusing, usually interesting fly-on-the-RockWall view of my life as an author with updates from my Substack adventures.

The small cottage where I live and write has been affectionally named RockWall Cottage because of the rock wall that divides our side of the property from the side of the property where our friends, the owners of the cottage, live. (Learn More)

What Has Been Happening at RockWall Cottage?

It has been four months since Scott’s first ER visit. I am completely against anyone comparing their stories to anyone else’s and yet, I grow increasingly respectful of those who have been dealing with this level of health—their own or family member’s— issues for years. For some, it has been a lifetime. The level of stamina that is required is astounding. I am aware that Scott has not been well for longer than that, but still, this seemingly endless four months pales in comparison.

When I was staying at the hospitality house, the wife of a liver transplant recipient told me, “There are going to be so many days when you feel like you can’t do this. But you can, and you will.” Those words have held me steady.

I wrote that part last Friday before our life took another turn . . .

We were jumping (read that as crawling) through hoops required by the liver transplant team, but on Saturday morning, I could tell something was very wrong. I called my son about another matter and then Completely. Came. Apart.

I knew he needed to go to the UW Medical Center, but have no idea why I thought he needed to jump through another hoop first. Stress does weird things. My son said, “He needs to get to UW now. I am on my way.”

He was admitted to ICU early Saturday morning after they worked to stabilize him for hours in the ER. I understand now (and maybe needed to understand this for years) that he looks way better than his numbers. Doctor after doctor has said, “You made the right choice to bring him.” It is unlikely he would have lived another day.

It was his kidneys and they are still working to figure out what happened.

Monday afternoon, while running on little sleep, I went to the gift shop to get a snack and seemed to have gotten food poisoning instead. I am staying at Scott’s brother's house and being well cared for. Our son took the day to be with his dad and other family members are stepping in so I can rest. Scott is receiving the best possible care and needs me not to be the sobbing wife I was yesterday when I began to feel sick.

This song is my reminder today. . . as I rest.

Podcast

One of the more remarkable things about me is my ability to do hard things when life is chaotic. Sometimes those things are necessarily hard but life makes them hard. The following podcast launched today and was recorded from the hospitality house during Scott's first stay at UW. This is a chance to catch a glimpse of the work that I do with my co-founders at the Religious Trauma Network! Thank you Brian Lee for this wonderful conversation—you herded cats very well.

046: Unity in Diversity and the Work of Healing with the Religious Trauma Network

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