What a Shocker..

I can't believe this.. It's funny, so funny, and sad..

I've been trying to blog about this for a while, but it probably did not sink in yet.. I don't know how to say it.. It's WEIRD!

My 48 year old uncle had a stroke..

Since this August alone I've seen as many as 100 patients with stroke, everytime I see one I get the same heart ache, and feel sorry for his family how they must be suffering.. and now it's my uncle, and my family is suffering..

He's young, most of my patients were above 60! 48 is too young for a stroke!

The day before I went to Rome, while I was packing, my mom called me from work and asked me to visit uncle Afif before I travel.. I was surprised, cuz they weren't on good terms lately.. I objected saying that I barely have time to pack as it is, but she insisted like she never did before!

My sisters and I drove to his house, had lunch there, he's such a great person, very funny with a very unique sense of humor.. I had a very good time, hugged him really tight and said goodbye..

He had the stroke while I was in Rome, no one told me until I went back to Tunis.. I almost collapsed to the floor.. My heart sank and my face went monochromic!
Then I went to see him in the hospital, that huge man is lying down on a white bed, unable to move his left side! Thank god his speech is intact, otherwise he and everybody else would've gone into depression! I was trying to soothe him, and reassure him that with physiotherapy everything's gonna be fine, and he'll hop back on his feet (although deep inside I know how difficult it is, and how demanding and time consuming it is!) The good thing is that he still has his sense of humor, he would joke and laugh in spite of his condition! God I love that man!

It was heartbreaking cuz again, he's relatively young to spend a great deal of time in a wheelchair, after being a very active man.. his youngest daughter is 18 months old, will she ever see her dad walking again? :'(

I still can't believe it! He quit smoking 2 years ago, but the main reason for his accident was high blood pressure. A vessel blew up and he started bleeding into his brain :( Thank god his brther took him immediately to the ER, otherwise he could've died..

We decided not to tell my grandma, she could have a stroke herself if she knew! So my mom is bringing her here to Jeddah sometime next week..

Please pray for him to recover as much as possible, and as fast as possible..

Bye Rome!

And I'm back from the eternal city, to the, umm, the, well, not so eternal one lol

What a journey, you haven't lived until you've seen Rome! Scratch that, you haven't lived until you've walked down the streets of Rome!

I walked like I never walked before, actually, throughout the whole week there I never took a taxi! Hell, I walked from my hotel at the center of Rome to the Vatican!

Rome is another experience when you go as a couple, it turns into this totally romantic place where you cn actually hear romantic music everywhere you go *that's amore in particular was playing in my mind all 7 days of'em*..

There were so many churches, so many basilicas, so many beautiful fountains, mesmerizing statues, it's just a huge museum where you keep walking and walking with no particular destination and still enjoy every single second of it, just breath-taking..

On the day of our anniversary, my husband gave me a spectacular gift.. He gave me the most sparkling Solitaire I've ever seen (and believe me I've seen alot!).. I could be biased it being mine but it really is exceptionally sparkling.. I loved it, and I didn't see it coming at all -it was the perfect gift-.. something that lasts forever, reminding me of a beautiful time and a wonderful person that he is, I love him..

Now all romance aside, I HATE HIM!
The day after, we went to the Vatican.. At the entrance of the vatican, there's a basilica named St. Peter's Basilica.. It's beautiful, with all those paintings, and all those statues, you would spend 5 hours just staring and going around in circles! At the top of the basilica, there's a dome (the cupola), for which you should climb 512 stairs or so to reach the top and enjoy the view.. At the beginning of the steps they mention that if you're pregnant, suffering from back pain, or cardiac problems then you probably should reconcider.. and since I don't belong to any of the mentioned above, I went ahead.. After about 200 deliberate stairs in the open air, you have to climb indoors stairs.. What they failed to mention is that you should climb inside a narrow tunnel that barely fits a size 6 person! and I'm CLAUSTOPHOBIC!!!!!!!!

In the middle of the way up (which by the way does not allow you to go down unless you've reached the top and followed a different exit tunnel) I stopped and exploded in tears all of a sudden.. Luckily that happened near to a window where my husband and a couple of American ladies helped me sit down, and take in some fresh air.. I was begging my husband to go down but he kept on pushing me to go up and I so hated him at that time.. Everytime I remember those f'ing stairs I get claustophobic again and get tears in my eyes.. It was a terrible experience that IMO resembles being buried alive!
Long story short, with the help of an italian couple I made it to the top where it was completely worth it, and I got back to loving my husband again lol *climbing down was not a problem thank god!*

If I go on and on talking about Rome I will never stop.. So I will force myself to call it a night..

Two more things,
1. I pierced my nose today *finally*, been willing to since quite a while now :) It hurts like hell, but is absolutely gorgeous!
2. I was forced to see the Gladiator today, I hate all movies in which the main charachter dies, like the gladiator and brave heart..