Update: lynncoyle1 & briancourteau

Hey everyone!

(therapy in the pool)

First things first ... Brian is alive and "well", all things considered! That's not to say things have been running smoothly though; Brian had a major stroke several months ago, and truthfully, I believed that he had reached his end. He was paralyzed on his right side and unable to speak, except to say you know, and fuck. Trust me when I say, I heard plenty of one of those :)

All kidding aside, it was a very very difficult time, but he has improved remarkably well, much to the surprise of everyone, doctors included. He really is the toughest guy I know!

Here are the details :

• April 1st (yes, note the irony), he woke up during the night and thought he'd taken a little too much CBD oil because he said his head wasn't quite right, and his balance was off

• when he woke in the morning, he was unable to move anything on his right side, and he couldn't speak. I woke up to his left hand "hitting" me and panic-like noises coming from his mouth

• doctor made a house call (Yep, they still do that here!) and confirmed our fears

• I'm sure out of the ordinary, but we chose to keep him home and I did all the heavy lifting ... literally.

• for several days he continued to have mini-strokes and I truly believed I was saying my final goodbyes more than once. I phoned our kids and had them do the same; the absolutely worst experience of my life :( It was a rollercoaster ride that I hope to never have to get on again!!

• true to form, Brian decided that he wasn't ready to give up just yet, and spent three days staring at his big toe, telling it to move! He also told me days later that he loved me too much to watch me struggling with everything ... showering him was the toughest.

• after some time and a lot of hard work, Brian walked! Here's a video we made to send to our son Patrick :

That little walk totally wore him out for the rest of the day. We'd actually purchased a walker from Mexico Amazon(overnight delivery), but it took over a week to get here and by then, Brian was determined to only use the knee brace.

• Today Brian is basically recovered ... unbelievable to his doctors that he did it so quickly. Sometimes when he gets tired, his leg might drag a bit, or his hand is somewhat weak, but overall, he's back to normal. Whatever that is :) Our doctor says that there is extraordinary power in love and good nursing (that's me :), but both of us have said that we hope to never have to go through that again!

Like always, his cancer and the pain that he has still exists, but post-stroke, it seems to have plateaued. Mine is not to question why, but simply to accept the extra time we've been given together. I see it all as some kind of miracle, and together, we're thankful for every single morning he wakes up.

Life is short, but we'll keep enjoying every single drop of it that we can.

Thank you so much to all of you that have continued to check in with me, regardless of my "posting absence", and to all of you that have thought of us but were afraid to check in because I've been absent for so long. I felt bad for leaving you all in the dark, especially after you've shown such compassion, but knowing now what you do, I'm sure you understand. I'm trying to get back here regularly, but life has taught me not to plan too much :)

As always, lots and lots of love from the two of us,

Lynn and Brian
xo