My heart is full of happiness today! (long)

sophie206 · May 2013

Some of you may remember that my FIL was just recently diagnosed with stage IV (terminal) stomach cancer. DH is the only child in the country and FIL is not married, so a lot is weighing on DH's shoulders. The past few weeks have been a blur of running back and forth to the hospital, cancer center, FIL's home and pharmacies. Yesterday FIL was readmitted to the hospital with sepsis (blood infection) and things were looking down.

And then today, the sepsis is clearing up, and we got the amazing news that DH's sister was approved for an emergency visa to come to the US from Guatemala! It is tough to get a visa from Central America; she has been denied 3 times in the past, so we were not expecting this! She will likely be here next week, the first time DH has seen his sister in 5 years!

And for the icing on the cake, DH's coworkers have pooled their vacation hours so that DH can continue to be paid while on leave to care for his dad, in what will be his final months. (He has been given a prognosis of less than 6 months.) DH only had a few more days left of PTO available as of today. I am overwhelmed by their kindness, which will allow for DH to take a full 3 months of paid leave under FMLA. And I am so happy that FIL will be able to spend time with both of his children in these final months.

notkateanymore · May 2013

Awww that's so sweet! Can we have more of this and less of everything else on the board today? What wonderful co-workers!!

sophie206 · May 2013

nowababy:
Oh wow!! I'm so happy for your family. That's really wonderful about the visa. And your DH's coworkers?? Wow. I didn't even know that people could do that sort of thing. That's really amazing of them.

We are so happy! It would have been a strain to go months without pay, and he really wants to be there for his Dad as much as possible. He works for the State of Washington, but the hours were donated just from within his department. I told him that he must be well-liked for people to be willing to give up their time!

bumpuser8448316 · May 2013

This is such great news! Your DH's co-workers sound like really good people. It's so refreshing to hear people giving out of the goodness of their heart.