Thursday, January 31, 2008

We're home. And sick...

Ahhhh, yeahhhhh. The horrendous trials of the Budapest Palmer's know no boundaries :-). Woe is us. We suffereth neverending trials of misery and pain... Steinbeck will emerge from his coffin and compose a new tome dedicated just to us: Grapes of Wrath 2: Electric Budapest Breaky-leg Boogaloo.

I jest. We's lucky peoples.

Agi is home from the hospital and resting comfortably, happy to be back in her own bad and away from the wailing psychotic roommate she had in the hospital. Now I can't say this for a surety, (since I don't know exactly what I do in my sleep) but I am fairly certain Agi's new/old roommate at Casa Palmer does not scoop out the contents of a soiled Depends and fling it around the room... Small blessings :-)

I cleared the couch out of my office and moved our bed into it --being on the main floor, Agi wins by not having to hop up and down a windy staircase. Thoughtful of me, eh?

I actually win in this equation as well--Agi had laid down the law a few years back that we would no longer have a home theater system set up in our bedroom. WIth this new arrangement, I was able to crawl into bed in my office last night and watch "Blue Harvest" (The Family Guy Star Wars Spoof) in all its Bose-inspired glory on the office wall. He he. So this whole break a leg thing was just an elaborate, complicated ploy to restore cinema to its proper place!

Seriously, it is so good to have Agi home, and her parents have been a huge help these past few days, particularly since the kids(and me) have come down with the flu this week, in succession. Ali and Andrew are now finished and back at school, Aidan and Ashton are wrapping up, and Agi and I just started. Super. I can't even remember the last time I was sick. Literally been years. I probably picked up some super-bug at the hospital.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers this last week.

Aaron & Agi

Friday, January 25, 2008

Agi's accident...

This is just a quick note to let everyone know Agi took a nasty fall this morning (about 14 hours ago) in our basement stairwell, on the spiral cement steps. She has just now come out of a 3 hour surgery to repair her lower leg. her ankle was dislocated completely from its socket, and her tibia was broken in 3 places--none of them clean breaks. After surgery the doctor told me this was the worst lower leg break he'd ever worked with. The bone essentially shattered, and they had to clean out large pieces/splinters of bone fragment, use about 12 screws to bolt the remaining pieces of bone back together, and graft a 14 cm titanium rod in as well. the screws will come out in a year, the rod is there for life.

I'd made the decision to stay home for work today in order to take Ali to a doctor's appointment for her lingering flu. This turned out to be a good decision, as otherwise Agi would have been trapped on the stairwell with only a sick 9 year old for company. Knowing Agi though, she would have dragged herself up the staircase, made lunch for Ali, ironed the laundry, and then driven herself to the ER.

Agi's been a REAL trooper through this. I dare anyone to go through the process of having two doctors grasp your shattered leg and hold it firmly while a third shoves a dislocated ankle back into the socket. WIth no anesthetic, not even an advil. HOLY. FREAKING. COW. I married the female terminator. I can never, ever, ever, complain about anything painful. ever. again.

Frivolity aside, I ams asking all of you to keep Agi in your prayers for the next little while. We won't get the full details of the extent of her leg issues until tomorrow morning, as the doctor had to go back into another surgery, but Agi is now out and sleeping. She is expected to be kept in the hospital for 5 days. I'll be back in the morning and through most of the weekend.

She's resting as peacefully as one can in an underfunded commie hospital that has broken tile floors, mold on the ceiling, and a "bring-your-own-eating-utensils-towels-and-toilet-paper" policy, courtesy of Hungary's socialist government health-care-for-all system. Ironically, the same system that Hillary seems bent on giving to all of us in the US of A.

Cedars of SInai this hospital is not, but the doctors are awesome and experts in their field. THey just hate working with ratty equipment and derelict surroundings.

I'll keep everyone posted. Love you guys.

Aaron & the Terminatrix & family

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Happy Procrastinatory New Year!

I had 5 days of vacation last week. Or so I thought. Agi and I had some very specific tasks to attend to regarding a project we've been debating on and discussing for going on 2 years now. We decided to finally move forward, so I officially took off 5 days from work. And of course (thank you, Law of Murphy...)events at work guaranteed that my five-days-off turned into 5-days-off-in-your-dreams... Yep. I ended up spending just about as much time at the office and on the computer as I usually do.

THe good news is, that despite all the drama at the office, I still was able to get out there and start the process on this other event. And I guess we'll announce it now. Agi and I are going to try and adopt while we are here in Hungary. We got our paperwork filled out and are officially on The List. Meaning that if a situation came up that meets our stipulations, we get a call tomorrow.

We still have a few other appointments to take care--(visit with the psyschologist, medical checkup, writing our family histories for the state agency, etc...) but the bottom line is, WE ARE ON THE CLOCK! I hope it happens sooner rather than later. Agi and I are very, very excited about this.

IT isn't a decision we made lightly. We both feel our family isn't complete yet, but health issues really complicate future pregnancies for Agi. This is the perfect, location, and opportunity for us to do this. I think we are in Hungary for this reason.

We feel strongly about adopting a little girl. We've put in for an older girl, up to 6 and half (by Hungarian law we are only allowed to adopt a child at least 18 months younger than our natural-born youngest). We've also indicated we would gladly take siblings as well, so there is a chance we could get two sisters, or a girl and a little brother. We are putting it in the Lord's hands. Our options really go up, as most Hungarians wanting to adopt typically want perfect newborn infants that are non-gypsy (Roma). We feel better abut finding a child who others may have looked over. It is a sad state of affairs, but indications here are that if a child reaches 6 or 7 and still isn't adopted, chances are they never will be, and will spend their childhoods either in a state-run institution or flitting from foster home to foster home.

So that's our big news. Keep us, and our new daughter(s)-wherever they are right now- in your prayers.

Aaron & Agi