You never know... Plus, a favor!
Lots has been happening over here, including a fun new project
You never know what’s going on in someone else’s life.
Two weeks ago today my mom had back surgery. She’d had two back surgeries three years ago, but after a three-and-a-half hour “bucket brigade,” as she called it, courtesy of Hurricane Helene, she ended up with more damaged vertebrae and a pinched nerve. For eight months, she’s been in excruciating pain.
The surgery went great. But she ended up spending thirteen days in the hospital.
Two days ago, she finally moved to a skilled nursing facility.
My parents came out to the Chicago area because she couldn’t get proper care where they live. Dad’s been sleeping in my tiny office on a futon for the past two weeks and driving two hours each day to see her. Most days, unless I had a prior commitment, I’ve gone with him.
It’s been a lot.
But, Mom’s doing better. It no longer hurts when she walks (except for the whole 12-inches of stitches and the whole major surgery thing). She’s back on a full diet after nothing for four days, then liquid for several more. Soon we’ll find out when they can go back home.
I haven’t said anything publicly until now. Mom gave me permission early on to share, if I felt so inclined, but I haven’t wanted to say anything. If it were about me, you’d probably know everything up to and including any bowel movements.
But it isn’t about me, and I didn’t want to say anything until she was through the worst of it.
And hallelujah, she is! It’s so good to see her smiling again, to see her finish a whole meal, to see her walk without grimacing.
I’ve had an impingement and bursitis in my hip for the last several months. It’s been more of a pain than truly painful and my physical therapy work has brought me a long way towards healing, but it’s still impacted my ability to do what I want to do. I can’t even imagine - or, because I’m a writer and it’s my job to put myself in someone else’s shoes, I can imagine what she’s experienced, and all I can say is kudos to that woman. Watching her face as she pulls herself up on the hospital bed, I know exactly where I get my determination from.
We should find out today or tomorrow when they can go home. We’re all hoping it’s soon so she can really begin the healing process. And, I know they miss their kitty!
I’ve tried to get some work done while they’re here. I’ve kept most of my mastermind calls, gave two presentations yesterday, started a new class, and seen my own medical professionals.
On that note, I got my A1C results Wednesday: a year and one week after receiving my diabetes diagnosis, I’m back in the normal range! 5.5, baby!
One thing I haven’t done is written words in the next Alex Paige book. I did get a couple hundred one day last week, but that was it. And I’m okay with that. Mom is the priority.
However, I’ve been planning something for months and now I’m finally ready to give you a peek. Last week I mentioned that I’ll be making an announcement involving Alex and friends. Drum roll, please…
In preparation and celebration of the seventh book in the series, I’m creating pretty new special editions of books 1-6! We’ll start with the first three. They’ll be combined into an omnibus in e-book and paperback, but the real reason I’m doing this is to create a beautiful book in hardcover.
Peril on the Peninsula, Revenge in the Rockies, and Betrayed at the Beach will be published together in one big volume. Inside will be these fun cozy mysteries, and I’ll also include images from my travels of the places that inspired these books. Like this one:
For those of you who don’t know me yet, I’ve been a travel writer for over two decades. It’s my job to explore destinations and bring them to life. Since writing Peril, I now bring them to life… and death. Mwahaha.
I’m bringing this project to life through Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform that helps creators make their visions reality!
I’ll be sharing more details, but for now, please do me a HUGE favor and click this link and then click on “Notify me on launch.” My goal is to launch this project on June 24, but I’ll wait until I have at least 50 followers. The more followers a project has when it launches, the likelier it is to fund.
(Not familiar with Kickstarter or what this means? I’ll fill you in over the coming days. Either way, clicking that button would be a huge help.)
So, please head over and click Notify!
Oh, and since it’s Friday, I’ll be emailing you again soon with more books for your TBR list.
Until then,
Happy reading!
Theresa
