Good Morning Bakery Fam!
I am procrastinating starting baking today. I took yesterday off - and am having trouble motivating this morning. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that yesterday marked eleven years since Lance had his stroke. The anniversary (or as our kids call it, ‘strokaversary’) brings out lots of emotions for all of us- but I am always overwhelmed with gratitude.
For those of you who don’t know the story- I will give you the sparknotes version. We had 4 little kids, our youngest was 6 months old. Lance had a man-cold. It was the week before Christmas and I needed him to feel better. He had been sleeping propped up, and had a bad stiff neck. I sent him to the chiropractor that I would see post- c- sections. They did a neck adjustment and sent him on his way.
Minutes later, I got a call from Lance, who had pulled over on his way home- and he asked if I “ever felt weird after a chiropractic adjustment.” Just the mere fact that he had pulled over raised a red flag, and I quickly went to meet him on a random road in downtown McLean. As soon as I saw him, I knew something was up- but I had NO IDEA HE WAS HAVING A STROKE.
All I knew was that he didn’t seem like himself. It was almost as if a higher power took over- and I told him we were going to the emergency room. He told me he was probably just getting the flu, and to please take him home. I proceeded straight to INOVA Fairfax. On the way, I texted my mom and SIL Shannon (who is a nurse) and just asked them to be on call in case I wasn’t home in time to pick my kids up. My SIL asked what was up, I gave her the quick synopsis, and drove to the ER. As I checked him in, I was writing “dizziness, nausea” as symptoms - which would have put us pretty low on the list of importance. Thankfully, my SIL had called and told them Lance was headed in and she suspected he was having a stroke.
I still had no clue, and as we were waiting to be seen, Lance said “Heath, if it’s anything to do with my brain, please call Joe. (Joe Watson is a family friend and neighbor. He and Lance played basketball together. Our kids went to school together. And he is the neuro-surgeon that saved Bensten’s life just 6 weeks later). I immediately texted Joe and just told him we were in the ER. In the blink of an eye, people were whizzing around us, Joe showed up. A neurologist showed up. The chaplain showed up…..
Ultimately, we learned that the chiropractor has dissected both of Lance’s vertebral arteries- and he was having a massive stroke as a result. He was admitted to the Neuro-ICU and time literally stood still. I cannot even recall what happened over the next 72 hours. I remember my brother Tyler coming to stay with us at the hospital. I remember someone in the ICU saying “Didn’t anyone ever tell you never to get a neck adjustment”. NO- NO ONE HAD EVER TOLD US NEVER TO GET A NECK ADJUSTMENT!!!
Long story short, Lance was a rockstar. He spent about 2 weeks in the hospital- and by the grace of God, made a slow, but almost full recovery. We did Christmas over facetime, and despite the girls being too young to visit, I snuck them in on Christmas just to give him a quick hug. It was a crummy Christmas, but all things considered, we were super lucky. Lance suffers from pretty intense motion sickness now, but otherwise, he has virtually no deficits from the stroke.
ANYWAY, December 18th has become the day that I remind everyone I know to slow down and enjoy the holiday season. I know we all want to buy the perfect gifts and have them beautifully wrapped under the tree. But we never know what lies ahead, so taking time to enjoy the season, and all of the special people in your life is so much more important! Hence why our family now celebrates a ‘strokaversary’ on December 18th. We usually go out for dinner and just take a break to enjoy each other.
This year, we had to mix things up a bit. I like to believe I am not old, but the fact that I had to have a colonoscopy on December 18th sorta begs to differ. (I carry the colon cancer gene, not a huge surprise seeing as my amazing PopPop died quite young due to colon cancer- so I am lucky enough to require routine colonoscopies!) So yesterday morning Lance took me for my procedure, which of course changed up our morning routine…which triggered Boeden’s anxiety. So Boeden stayed home from school and hung out with Lil. They made the most amazing batch of pastina soup for when I returned home! We all hung out in my bed before I fell asleep for an amazing post-anesthesia nap! We ordered carryout for dinner and had a really nice, chill night at home. Obviously, I took the day off from baking!
BUT, that was yesterday. I had done lots of bakery work ahead of time so that I would not get too far behind. But today is busy, since tomorrow is our last day baking until after the holidays.
So I am headed back to my kitchen now, but PLEASE, in Lance’s honor- slow down. Enjoy the season! Hug your people. Take a minute for yourself. If there is one thing my life has taught me, it’s that no one knows what tomorrow holds….
xo,
Heath
And, I do know that there are several requests for Flash items tomorrow. I am going to try to make extras- if you know you want/need something, definitely click on the ‘notify when available’ button on our website, so as soon as I update quantities, you will be notified!!
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