[For background’s sake, I’ll note that at the State Fair of Texas the last couple of years, Ami has had me try out the various Tempur-Pedic mattresses on display, and we’ve always liked them. We sort of decided last fall that when our mattress wore out, we’d probably try that next.]

Here’s the story: For the last year or so, our bed had gotten progressively more uncomfortable. It was a Sealy pillowtop that was nice when we got it about 10 years ago, but had started to present problems to both Ami and I. For me, I was waking up most mornings with sore hips and shoulders. Ami also found it stiff and uncomfortable. We definitely needed something new.

So we decided to get a memory foam bed. We wanted Tempur-Pedic, but we researched them and found out how expensive they were. I also saw that there were several “off-brand” memory foam mattresses that cost much less than Tempur-Pedic. Some even had decent to very good reviews, as was the case with the mattress we selected from Costco. I have to say that generally, I liked it. It wasn’t hot like most memory foam mattresses, and we were able to use our existing sheets. But over time, I started to develop a new set of back problems that were WORSE than with the old mattress. Ami liked it pretty well, but I was miserable, and had mostly given up sleeping on it.

Then Ami had her stroke. During the week afterward, I decided we needed a more permanent solution. So we took it back, and got back on the old Sealy. That was Thursday. On Friday, Ami had minor outpatient surgery. I brought her home, put her on the Sealy, and went out bed shopping with the kids. Understand now, that I had a sick, miserable wife at home who’d just suffered a stroke and who I was very worried about. She was uncomfortable on the Sealy, so I made a rash decision and bought a Tempur-Pedic Rhapsody bed on Saturday. This was MOSTLY because I irrationally thought that maybe if she was sleeping better at night, we could reduce her risk of another stroke (stupid, right?).

Right away, there was trouble.

I initially loved the Rhapsody. It felt like sleeping on a cloud, and I was sleeping all night for the first time in a couple of years. But it WAS pretty hot to sleep in. And Ami hated it. She had trouble finding a comfortable position, and if she slept on her side, whatever side she was on was numb when she woke up the next morning. Not exactly an experience you want to have every night a week or so after a stroke.

Here I’ll ask a question. Did you know that mattress stores don’t allow returns for refunds? I didn’t. And they all promote their “90-day comfort guarantee,” but you can only return your bed for store credit, not cash.

Ami was a trooper, and tried for nearly five weeks to sleep on the Rhapsody. In that time, I kind of learned to hate it, too. I started having some sort of problem with my left knee that I suspect had something to do with the way that leg sank into the mattress. And it was so HOT. Worse, Ami was unhappy, and I felt like it was my fault. Worst of all, we found a Simmons mattress we both really loved at another store, but the chain we bought our Tempur-Pedic from didn’t carry it and wouldn’t order it for us.

Finally, it was enough. Last weekend, we went back to the “mattress firm” and tried out pretty much everything. Eventually, we settled on a ridiculously huge Sealy innerspring mattress with a pillow top. The good news was that it cost much less than the Tempur-Pedic. After much negotiation, the store agreed to refund the difference. We’re only a week in, but so far so good. At least we both sleep O.K., and I don’t have any pain in the mornings.

But don’t be surprised if you find us on that Simmons when you come to visit in 2020. That’ll be about as soon as we can afford to try this again.

Well, the move is going swimmingly. After about an hour working on it this morning, I’ve got the posts back as far as April now moved to this new version of the site.

Only 10 more years of posts to move over. Hold your breath, I dare you.

Anyway, we’re getting a lot of queries about Ami’s health, and that’s completely understandable. It’s also sort of hard to respond to, because as far as I can tell, it’s still not 100 percent clear what’s going on.

The good news is she’s doing VERY well and is nearly completely back to normal. She’s still fighting some weakness in her left hand and slight loss of function in a couple of fingers in that hand, but that all seems to be returning gradually. She’s back at work, and also back doing stuff like going to Hawaiian Falls with the kids in her free time. She’s also spending a lot of energy trying to figure out how to get our kitchen remodeled before the end of this decade (preferably before September).

So, like I say, pretty much back to normal. The most recent diagnosis is “migrainous stroke,” if I’m not mistaken. I guess that means a stroke related to a migraine headache. She’s had a long history of these headaches, so now we’re in a “wait and see” mode to see if this means her migraines have turned into something more, if this was a one-time event, or if something else might be going on.

In any case, I’m no better husband than I was before the stroke. To prove it, I’ll share the story of my disastrous bed buying this year later today if I get some time.

Well, it’s official. This is the new and improved ScrubbyFrog.com. It’s pretty much the same, just better. Better for me, anyway. The MacBook made creating this pretty simple. So this is what we’re going with.

The only bad part is that now I’ll have to re-import all the old entries from the old site. That will take some time. But we’ll get it done, and then we should be good for a long, long time.

Dylan has posted his first blog entry on his page, and it’s about his summer learning Taekwondo at the Texas Taekwondo Center. Check it out here or click the “Dylan’s Page” link on the right.

O.K., first the question: what’s your opinion of the width of these pages? I was thinking about going wider, but I’m not sure. This is the default width, and it looks good, but I think it could also look good a little wider. Let me know if you have an opinion, or post a comment below.

Now, about KFC. Honestly, I never eat there any more. We used to sometimes when I was a kid, and I generally remembered liking it. But when I went away to college, I pretty much stopped. Sure, there were one or two nights when Rich Cooley and I lived in Arlington when a bunch of us would walk through the drive-through just as they were closing (on our way out of one of our favorite bars, of course) and buy a bucket of leftover chicken for $2 bucks or something. But that only happened once or twice, and I think pretty much every guy involved generally regretted the decision to eat KFC at 1:00 a.m.

But since then, I don’t think I’ve had anything from there. Until yesterday, that is. Lately, Anna has gone on a fried chicken kick. I don’t know why, but she’s ALWAYS willing to eat fried chicken. Yesterday, while we were out looking at flooring for the upcoming kitchen remodel, Anna asked for some chicken. We happened to be passing a KFC (that was also a Taco Bell), so we swang by and got her a couple of drumsticks.

Blech. Now I remember why I don’t eat there anymore. It was “original recipe,” and it was nasty. Greasier than any food I’ve seen in a while. Within seconds, Anna’s hands were coated in it. When I tried to help her get the batter off (it was soggy and she didn’t like the spices), I also got a greasy handful. What’s more, grease was literally dripping off the drumstick as I held it. So, we returned it and got a refund.

Last time we’ll be doing that for a while.

But the upside was that we went to Bubba’s in Highland Park last night, and got her some fried chicken so good that she was still talking about it when she went to bed a while ago.

Hello! In the midst of all the other life confusion happening right now, I'm also in the gradual process of building a new version of this site. I think you'll like it, but we're just getting started.

Please take a minute to take a look and let me know what you think. It's right here.

Your ideas and suggestions are welcome. It's easier to do, now that we're at the beginning.

Thanks.

Again, I’m just testing the tool to see how well I can control everything. I’m using the Mac to do it, so even though it’s somewhat easy, it’s also a litte foreign. Kind of like brushing your teeth with your other hand. The job’s getting done, but it’s just...DIFFERENT.

This is my first test post using my new blogging tool. If it works, then I’ll finish building a new version of the site and this is how we’ll do buisness going forward.

Here is a photo of Anna and her classmate, Matthew, the day they read announcements at school this spring.



Let me know what you think of the new look and feel.

The stroke/not a stroke speculation is over. It definitively WAS a stroke, says the neurologist.

What that means is still an open question. More when we know it.

The good news today is that Ami is doing very well. Thanks everyone for the notes and calls, and for the various assistance (food, kids, and otherwise) over the past couple of weeks. She still has a little trouble with writing, but the occupational therapy seems to be doing its job and she's heading back to work next week.

The other good news is that, after a couple of weeks of indifference by her doctors and the hospital staff, Ami seems to have found a good doctor who is actually interested in figuring out what happened and preventing it in the future. The new theory is that what the ER docs diagnosed as a stroke MIGHT have been something else instead. I'm not sure if it's good news, bad news, or just news. But I'm glad we've finally got someone trying to help us run it down.

What was it? It's probably too early to say definitively. One possibility is that it was a "migraine-related event," whatever that means. We'll know more in the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, happy Fourth (third) of July. Hope everyone's celebration is excellent!