Home now

Alex came and took me home yesterday.  I was the first of my small group to come in, and the last one to leave.  Isn't that always the way?

There is still pain, there is still unbelievable pain, mostly at the drainage site  but it's been made a lot easier by a phenomenal group of nurses and case assistants, and by a group of friends that I've made over the last week. Cissy, Sarah, Christine and I have formed a bit of an alliance. LOL. Well, it's more like a parade. Everyone on the A3 floor would wave to us and cheer us on. The cleaning staff encouraged us to dance down the hall and would dance a little bit to encourage us. There was a patient at the other end of the hall, this nice older lady who had major surgery, but would walk down to our end of the hall specifically to check up on all of us. I've got to say, it was inspirational to see how people band together and support each other in a place like that.

I'm eternally thankful to the staff of floor A3. Thank you to the nurses who encouraged us to get up and walk and continued to give us the shots we asked them to skip just this once. Thank you to the case assistants who took our vital signs like clockwork, even at 4 in the morning when we were passed out and cranky, or when we were in so much pain calling them seemed like the only thing we could do. (And we did that A LOT!) Thank you to Dr. Ameri and his staff for doing an amazing job with all of us. (And Dr. Sabor for Chirstine) Thank you to the other patients on the floor who made me smile when we walked around, and who would share their incredible stories with us when we would stop. Thank you to all of my friends and family who came to visit me in the hospital, or who called Alex to get an update on my condition, or who just sent me a message letting me know that they were thinking about me. I never would have gotten through this without you.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to my walking friends. To Christine, who shared her mother and sister with us. Watching your experience, since it was so drastically different than ours was a learning tool for us. Listening to you and how you were adjusting was amazing, thank you.

To Sarah, my pre-op buddy. We didn't end up being roomies, and in the end it was ok. I think if we were roomies we wouldn't have met our other 2 buddies, and it was fabulous making a larger support group. Your texts in the middle of random procedures, like getting a draining tube removed, made me laugh until it hurt. I love that I have someone to run things by and talk to about all of this. You are definitely a life friend. Thank you.

To Cissy, my roommate. Girl, you kill me! I'm so sorry that I made you laugh so much that you thought that your staples were going to pop. But thank you for sharing your babies, you hot boy ;-) and your stories at 11 at night with me. Thank you for getting all dolled up for me on our last day. Pretty lady!  I hope that you keep in touch.  It's going to be amazing to watch your journey. 

I know that the 4 of us are going to make it through this successfully.  In 10 years we are going to look back and laugh about our times at Winchester Hospital, while we are all skinny and fabulous!   (Not that we aren't already)

I'm so happy that I met the 3 of you in the process. We all have the same, new birthday and the same new lives coming. I can't wait to watch and share this with you ladies!