The Long Road Home

Anna and I after she broke me out

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted a blog. The picture of my guts doesn't count. I believe I was still in the hospital and I was frustrated with writing on my cellphone. Now that I have a computer in front of my it is a lot easier to type and yet I still haven't sent out a blog. Thank God for Jenna, keeping up her blogging, or they might have shut down my blog by now. Sorry for the wait. I wonder how many of these apologies I will write.

So now I am home and by now feeling much better. It was great to get out of the hospital. Obviously. I was ready to leave a few days before they were ready for me to go. That made it very difficult. I don't have a problem with being in the hospital if there is good reason. The last couple of days there, I was getting up much better, eating solids and feeling better about the c-diff. I would get up in the morning, get dressed, and then sit around the whole day. It got old, quick.

Thankfully I have very good friends and family. Jeremy came to visit me almost every day. I know that must have been a pain in the ass driving down there on the 405 durring rush hour traffic, but he did it. He brought his laptop with him and a couple of DVDs one night. We tried watching "Balls of Furry" but we had to turn it off. In the opening of the movie, the main charicter is hitting a ping pong ball off another guys head. It made me laugh so hard. And because laughing made me hurt so bad it became funnier and we laughed even harder and it hurt worse. We couldn't stop laughing so we had to turn off the move and Jeremy had to leave the room.

Jenna also came down to visit me all the time which was great. I know I couldn't have done this without her. She was, and is, such a trouper. It's amazing the kind of strength she has shown. She would go to work every morning, drive down to the hospital to see me, and then go home to take care of Jonathan. It was so tiring for her and yet she kept on. I don't think there is any way for me to say thank you enough.

Then there is Nicole, Jenna's sister. Nicole works at the hospital in the NICU department. She works down on 2nd floor on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the days she worked, she would come and visit me at least 3 times during the day. It was so nice to have someone so close by. One afternoon when Nicole came to visit, we went on a walk and I got to see the room she works in. It was like a little field trip. I even had to get my permission slip signed by the doctor.

Finally the day came for me to go home. It was a little passed due. I couldn't sleep well the night before, knowing they were going to take the drain out of my side. This drain is a plastic bulb connected to a tube that runs into my gut. It went into me just below my incision. I had been told it was uncomfortable to take out. I had heard that before when they were going to take out my nose tube, so I knew what that meant. It was going to hurt. And it did. They started pulling on it. At first it wouldn't come out. They had to lay the bed down further and try again. The second try worked. The end of the tube is bigger then the tube itself so when they pulled it through ... lets just say it sucked! But finally it was out and I was free. I packed up my stuff and within about 20 min. they had a wheelchair there to take me away.

Jeremy was coming down from Valencia to get me but I was afraid it was going to take a while in the traffic. I wanted out sooner then that. I called Anna, a good friend of Jenna and I who works with me at LADP Santa Monica, and she agreed to come get me. Anna and Glen (another friend of ours whom we work with) were just pulling up to the loading dock at the same time I arrived. It was so wonderful, finally freedom. Not just any freedom either, this one came with an Ice'd Mocha from Starbucks! Thanks Anna and Glen!! They took me to the office, which is very near the hospital, to wait for Jeremy who showed up the same time we got there. Glen took a couple of pictures of my scar and then I was off for home.

I'm going to quit this post here. I've got things to do today and I want to get this up on the board sooner then later. Everyone is doing great though. I am able to do more and more each day. I am feeling stronger, better and faster ... cue the Six Million Dollar Man music. I made a video the other day, "A day in the life". It was too boring to post though so all you get is this. Enjoy. I will start work on my next blog tonight. It seems like there is so much to write about and at the same time nothing. If that makes sense.

A picture of my scar