This is a dedication to my husband Sidney. He is the love of my life and my rock. I am not sure how I would be able to get through each day without you. When this first happened to me you stood by my side and never left. You urged me to seek treatment, even when my stubborn self-thought it was nothing to be worried about. We were not even married yet but you didn’t even blink an eye sleeping in a hard chair and even on the cement floor of my hospital room because you knew that I was scared to fall asleep and would wake up in the middle of each night sometimes crying.

Our relationship was put to the test only a few months prior to saying our ‘I do’s’. You had to do things that I am sure spouses don’t even think about, or if they do, it’s not for another fifty years or so. Sure you say for better or worse, in sickness and health, but actually being in the trenches and facing the music is something different. I am so thankful that you grew out your hair and that your cousin Paula had adorable kids, Lily and Briana that loved to play hairdresser because they helped teach you a hair thing or two including how to put a ponytail in my hair when I could only use one hand and needed my hair out of my face. You have now mastered to top knot quite well.

I thank you for washing my hair when I was so tired I had to sit in a shower chair, for dressing me, for cheering me on trying to hobble up the stairs using  you as a crutch at the same time, picking out my kick-ass cane (red of course), and for many, many more reasons. All of these things you did without question as instinct, with care and love. You have watched so many reality television and crime dramas I think you might go insane just to keep me company. After getting one of the old people medication boxes (you know the ones, they list the days of the week on them), you make sure every week to fill Monday to Sunday, making sure all of my vitamins are there because you know that the pill bottles are difficult for me to open.

You are the person that when we in the London Health Sciences brought back a McDonalds Happy Meal for me when my jaw was loosening for my first real meal in two weeks because you knew that it would make me the happiest person in the world. After being transferred back to the CKHA I had a room right across from the fire hall. I would watch the guys from across the river each day and when you went back to work just to see you happy again. When I called during lunch you would come outside so that we could see each other and wave through the window as we talked.

Each day was a new day. We couldn’t look past anything more than that and I appreciated that. You stayed every day, all day. You came in early and left late and were patient, oh so patient during the many difficult days that I have faced and we are still facing together. It was always ‘we’ never ‘I’ that had to face this and I can never thank you enough for that. During this whole process, you have been supportive and caring hearing my frustrations, drying my tears and mending fences when I might have yelled at a person or two out of emotional exhaustion. Even now as we are still facing the challenges that are post-hospital – the debilitating anxiety attacks, the remnants of paralysis and speech deficits, we are getting through it – together (of course I have to say with Ace too).

You are one of the strongest individuals I have ever met and gives a little of himself in everything that you do, expecting little in return. We have faced something that not many newlyweds face in only a short few months of marriage but I cannot thank you enough for standing by my side. You are a man of integrity and I know that I don’t say this enough, but I appreciate everything that you do.