Connie and Luka at a wedding in 2018
Hello ever growing army of Connie’s cheerleaders,
The nurse told me there wasn’t a ton to update me on this morning, but look how long this post is haha.
The nurse said most things are the same with Mom, however there was a chance she would be able to get on her feet with the assistance from the specialist to get to the commode. (This feels like a HUGE advancement, actually). Everything is remaining stable with her brain monitoring and vitals. Regular neuro checks still happening every hour.
She had her first visit today from fabulous friends and bandmates John Burns and Tracy Hammond who have also been checking in on their dogs, Willa and Abby when Dad’s up in Syracuse. I heard they saw her up and walking, too. They witnessed a milestone.
On the topic of visits — if you want to visit Connie, shoot Mia an email. She will coordinate your schedule with Dad’s, the hospital’s and beyond so that it’s super well-organized. mia.reisweber@gmail.com
From a first-hand account, I spoke on the phone to Mom this afternoon. She had the nursing staff give me a call from her room. To me, she sounds a little bit better every single time. She’s full of loving words. She’s not quite as sharp on the short term retention of details, visits, conversations, the severity of the situation, the length of the ongoing hospital stay. Not yet. But jogging her memory of that stuff helps it all comes back momentarily. She told me she doesn’t want to be there 3+ weeks. I reminded her why, and she gets it.
The disjointed storytelling wasn’t as prevalent this time. As I wrote before, that stuff will ebb and flow. It can get worse, and it WILL get better.
My partner, Michelle, and I have a redeye flight back to Syracuse next Wednesday. This time next week we’ll be by Connie’s side. Who knows where she’ll be at in recovery by then, but I know our presence is going to bring her a lot of comfort and joy, progress and inspiration.
Dad finally allowed himself a little more rest today. He has been heroic mentally, physically, and emotionally. More than anything, we encourage him to listen to his body, because his rate of alertness and exertion is not sustainable for anyone, not even for Rock Starmer. (if you know you know lol).
A group of you raised a sizable chunk of gas/lunch/whatever money to give to him, and I know he’s in awe and full of a gratitude he can’t even put to words right now. People in my close community have supported in that way, too. It’s astonishingly generous and has smoothed some bumps in the road. Giving money is a tangible way that folks know they can help out. We haven’t discussed enough in depth as a family about handling that type outreach or show of support. If we get there, I’ll let you know . It’s too much to think about at this very moment, and we’re just moment to moment still.
I know Dad shares with Mom all of the messages he’s been getting. I’m looking forward to a longer moment with her to go down the list, person by person, sentiment by sentiment, word for word, all of the beautiful things that people have written for her for her recovery. It’s going to take me two, three days, and it’ll cost me my voice from reading, and choking up.
More to come. Hoping these’ll get shorter soon.
Luka