Fri 01/28/11

I'M HOME!!!!

Well, technically I’m at Lindsay’s but close enough. After my report on Wed, the nose tube did indeed come out. WHAT A RELIEF!!! Breathing again became the number one thing to be grateful for. Don’t ever think you can get any rest in the hospital. About every 2 hours, especially at night, someone was putting some medication in to me, taking blood out, measuring vital signs, or getting me up to go to the bathroom. Yesterday morning one of the young doctors on the team said I might be going home but they wanted to get an ultrasound of my belly before letting me go. That was at 5:30am. They finally picked me up for the ultrasound at almost 7pm last night.

 I was pretty bummed because I had so wanted to come home yesterday. But everything happens for a reason. I was talking to the gal who does the ultrasounds and told her about how suddenly this health challenge changed my life after never having been sick with anything major before. She asked me to wait a minute and went out of the ultrasound room. She came back with one of those river rocks you can buy at a gift shop. This one had the word “Strength” on it with some kind of symbol. She said she had been dealing with some health issues of her own and found this rock in one of the shops on Balboa Island. She had been holding it and repeating the mantra, “Strength to be strong, Strength to believe. Strength to be healed.” She then gave me the rock. I was completely and totally blown away. Here this stranger, offered me a gift that she can never know how much it meant, and means to me. She said that one day I will no longer need that rock and when that day happens I should pass it along to someone who does. If I hadn’t waited until that moment to have the ultrasound, I would have missed such an amazing experience.

Then the nurse that had been on two of the nights I had been there came after her shift, around 8:30pm, just to give me a hug goodbye as she would not be there today. There were so many acts of kindness, gentleness, generosity, and sincere desire to be of service by the staff at UCI. I honor the nurses, techs, CNAs, and housekeepers for all of their dedication and devotion to patients. They are truly a unique breed of humanity.

Lindsay had stayed until 6pm last night to see if I was going home but she had to get home. Shannon stayed with me until just after 9pm. Then he headed home. I guess about 15 minutes into his drive home he collided with something in the road and ended up with a flat tire and the front of the Jetta messed up. Fortunately he is ok but by the time the tow truck arrived and all that that entails, he didn’t get home until 1:30am.

This morning I was again told I’d be going home today, but then there just seemed to be one hurdle after the next. My potassium was low (probably due to the Lasix) so they wanted me to take that. It was a really large dose and the pharmacist was not willing to give it to me all at once. So it would have been hours to do it the slow way. A compromise was made and I just took half there. We were able to get on the road around 2pm. The sun was out and shining bright and it felt like radiant beams were warming my face while I waited for Lindsay to pull the car around. Now I’m sitting in the recliner writing in total and complete silence. Such bliss! No beeping, footsteps, curtains being drawn, voices, or doors being closed and open. Just lovely quiet.

So that is about it for now. I’m going to put my head back and just relish being in this non hospital environment. Shannon will be over later. Lindsay is going to make tuna/noodle casserole at my request. This morning I actually ate some cereal and at lunch I had an appetite for the chicken Caesar salad at lunch. Feels good to want to eat.

Oh, and I'm putting out a dire request to you and anyone you might know who might be interested. About a year and a half ago we rescued 3 male Chihuahuas. The intent was to find homes for them. Now with this health challenge, we need to either find homes for them or we will need to take them to a no kill shelter. If you know anyone who would give a good home to one of these bundles of love, please contact Shannon or me or leave a comment on the blog. We can give you detailed info about personalities, etc. All are fixed and up to date with shots.

Night all!    Hugs, Dar