Elizabeth & Brendan

It was great to Kevin here those first two days. It was good to know that he is now drinking caffeinated coffee. It was annoying how much decaf he was drinking. I was very surprised to learn that he is a fan of Project Runway. So we actually watched it together before he left. (I gave him directions home and assume he made it back but that is a big assumption.) I do not know who I want to win just yet. Maybe Christopher, maybe one of the girls. It turns out that one of my nurses went to high school with Althea. Such a small world.

Another small world story. B and I go to alot of college hockey games. In fact, our first many dates were to BC hockey games and we have even traveled for some tournament games. We were talking about college hockey to our visiting nurse. Turns out her dad played at BC and her uncle (dad’s twin) played at BU. Oh and her uncle is legendary coach Jack Parker (she called him Jackie). AYKM???

I did! I am so excited! I have always wanted to send one and get one.

Yay!

Thank you Jo Ann and Tommy!

Today was spa day at Bristol Road.  The day started with a sponge bath (more exciting than it sounds), new pajamas.  Then Laura came over for the hair washing.  It has been a week since I wash ed my hair and I feel soooo clean right now.  It is like one hair wash equals 10 sponge baths.

I am comfortably tucked into our IKEA chair watching Sunday news. Eli is still away at a doggie sleepover, Brendan is making coffee (none for me though) in the kitchen), and Kevin is picking up Lyndell’s for breakfast.

I was released yesterday and we left the hospital just before 2 and while we were only a few blocks from Ted Kennedy’s funeral, we were going in the opposite direction and hit no traffic. Around 10:30, I received a call from Kevin saying he was going to come visit and help out and he actually arrived at the apartment at the same time.

Not only was yesterday my day of release, it was also the most alert I have been. Thursday and Friday I was awake during the morning but then was in and out in the afternoon, small conversations took a lot out of me. However, we really seemed to have turned a corner.

I am eating what I consider a ton and starting to vary my diet – after being sick those two days I was cautious but have now had chicken fingers, pizza, garlic breadsticks, soup, saltines, blt, grilled cheese, italian ices, applesauce.  I feel a cupcake coming soon.

Aldo Brendan is an excellent nurse if anyone is looking for some help.

There’s been alot of movement since my last post.  Some of it has been quite literal.  We’re out of icu.  Liz has a private room in one of the newer sections of the building.  It’s very much like a hotel, complete with room service.  She is on to solid foods (grilled cheese).  There have been some bumps in the road with some nausea and vomiting but for the most part she is doing well and fighting through it.

And she’s walking.  Well, she takes about 2 dozen steps out into the hallway and then we turn her around and steer her back but she’s walking!!  Now that we’re in the private room she has had some visitors which really seems to lift her spirits.

Tonight I am home.  Eli’s been staying with some friends (big thank you to Alett and Hugh) but tomorrow he goes to his “day care” which will actually hold him for the weekend for us.  Plus I need to shower and shave as I think I was starting to scare Liz a bit.

They spoke to us a bit today about the “release plan”.  Right now it looks like either Saturday or Sunday most likely.  Liz’s primary surgeon keeps saying Sunday but every other doctor says Friday or Saturday [Friday seems very unlikely at this point].  He’s the guy in charge, so my guess is Sunday.  We will have a visiting nurse who will come by to check her out.  It won’t be everyday but it’s good to know we won’t be out on our own.

More to come as I have time.  Thanks for all the emails, calls and well wishes.

At about 5:30 Liz was able, with quite a bit of help, to get out of bed and sit in a chair.

She is on a “clear liquid” diet. Apparently orange ice and cranberry juice are clear liquids. Who knew?

Looks like we’ll be in icu for the night and get a regular room tomorrow. Our doctor is very conservative with progressing people in Liz’s situation and we are definately ok with that.

Will try to post updates when I can.

So I had this Economics professor in college, Professor Laramie.  At different intervals of the 75 minute class on really tedious Micro Economics he would stop and say, “So good, so far?”.  It was positively infuriating.  It was so bad that at semester’s end a few of us actually wrote in his evaluation – “I would have understood supply and demand better if the prof understood that the phrase is ‘So far, so good’ and not ‘So good, so far’”.  Of course one of us also wrote “He should bring in his monkey, Clyde, that he speaks so highly of” on the same review, so that might tell you what we thought of those things.

In any case, by all accounts this was a good day.  Liz’s surgery finished around 8:30-9pm.  I finally got to see her just after 10.  She looked great and was smiling a little.  After speaking with both of her surgeons, all the news for today is positive.  Both surgeries went as well as and in some cases better than expected.  This was the first step on long slow road but it was also one of the toughest.

And as I finally lay down for some rest I can only think of one thing to say to recap this very long day: ’so good, so far’.

So we just heard from Liz’s general surgeon. Everything is going well so far. They have moved on to the reconstruction and expect to be finished around 7-8pm tonight.

As Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.

Erica was in town this weekend and we met up for a bit in Davis Square. She got to meet the famous Eli and is totally enamored with him (just like EVERYONE who meets him). He sat for her and gave her paw. He even went to the window when she left. But enough about Eli. Let’s talk about me.

Erica brought Crumbs cupcakes for me to try. Now I have never had these cupcakes and have heard great things about them. Hopefully they live up to the reputation.

It made me think that I should create a cupcake score card and begin to rate and dissect all the cupcakes I eat.  I think I eat too many of them.  Whatever.

When dining in a public place, you should not carry on (loudly) about STDs and specifically, STDs at nursing homes.

Just saying.

PS: Sibling Rivalry is a very nice restaurant