Our
Journey:
Journey:
Avalon's Army of Angels
| July 21, 2008 Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!! |
| Check out those freckles! |
Sent: July 21, 2008
Subject: Home Again, Home Again, JiggetyJig!
As much as I would love to say we woke up
bright and early to find our papers ready, and
our chauffeur waiting...such is not the life in the
hospital.
What I did wake up to was perhaps the most
polite resident I've ever met. Residents and
medical students notoriously round at morning's
first light. If I had a dollar for every time one of
them has woken me from a sound sleep and
scared the bejeezus out of me, I'd be able to
fund the trip to Disney the girls are clamoring
for. This morning was such a pleasant surprise,
I have to share.
I did wake up to the sound of the resident's
voice, but he was out in the hall chatting with
another doctor by the computer that was right
outside of our door. I realized I'd "overslept"
and jumped up quickly, figuring I was about 30
seconds away from being descended upon.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, the resident
came in. Except this is what he said, "Oh, I'm
sorry - did I wake you? I came in a while ago,
and you were so peacefully sleeping - I figured
I'd get back to you sometime this morning. I
hope I wasn't too loud talking in the hallway. I'm
sorry."
What?!
Never, not once, not ever in 4 years of
hospitalizations has a doctor ever apologized
for disturbing us. And certainly, not a single
one of them has EVER been kind enough to let
a really wiped out mom sleep. I was in utter
shock. Add to it all, that this was a
neurosurgery resident, a profession that's
usually known for lacking in bedside manner. I
honestly thought I might need to pinch
something to make sure I wasn't in some
stress-induced hallucination.
No no, I was actually cognizant, and he truly is
that nice. Go figure, a brain surgeon who's as
kind as he is brilliant - may wonders never
cease. I took advantage of my
actually-had-some-sleep brain, and asked
some questions I'd been pondering. Dr.
Fabulous was not only polite, he was helpful,
jovial, and happens to be cute to boot! When
he left, I felt much more "informed" and
educated than I had all week. It was a rather
nice way to end the hospital stay, feeling like
more of the team - than just along for the ride.
The next several hours were spent in typical
hospital ways. Waiting for the attending
neuro-surgeon to round - only to eventually find
out he'd been called to emergency surgery,
then left the hospital without rounding because
he was tired. Taking one last fishy hunt trip and
making a sojourn to the gift shop to spend a few
gift cards that were burning holes in Avalon's
pocket. Chatting with nurses, making a craft,
and zoning with Spongebob. A there had to be
the almighty important napping, to make up for
the long walking adventure. In all, a pretty
standard hospital day.
The weirdest part was saying goodbye, and
having to add, "See you next week!" That's just
crackers. Normally, you leave a floor and think
you'll never go back. OK, in Heme-Onc, we
would leave and figure we'd be back some time
for yet another fever, but eventually there did
come the day we left and knew we'd never go
back. And neuro-surgery? Good grief, that's
one you leave and hope like the Dickens you
don't need to go back for several years...not in
a few days. It was like walking through some
bizarre alternate universe. I wanted to stop
people in the halls and say, "Can you believe
she has to have brain surgery again, next
week?! I found it all to be too weird.
The trip home was uneventful. The kids were
THRILLED to see us when we made it in the
door. Its always a beautiful thing to see how
happy they all are to be back together. If I do
nothing else with my life, I will consider it a
rousing success if I can maintain that positive
relationship among the children. I hope I never
see that thrill of reuniting diminish.
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. We
hadn't been home terribly long and Avalon
came down with a horrible headache. We
actually considered taking her back to the
hospital, but chose to try to ride it out. Avalon
fell asleep on the couch by 6:30 or 7 pm and
slept through to the following morning. Avalon
woke up pain free and raring to go. Thank
heavens for small favors.
Now, if I manage to get the laundry done and
packed back up by next week - I may just faint
and fall over....
Subject: Home Again, Home Again, JiggetyJig!
As much as I would love to say we woke up
bright and early to find our papers ready, and
our chauffeur waiting...such is not the life in the
hospital.
What I did wake up to was perhaps the most
polite resident I've ever met. Residents and
medical students notoriously round at morning's
first light. If I had a dollar for every time one of
them has woken me from a sound sleep and
scared the bejeezus out of me, I'd be able to
fund the trip to Disney the girls are clamoring
for. This morning was such a pleasant surprise,
I have to share.
I did wake up to the sound of the resident's
voice, but he was out in the hall chatting with
another doctor by the computer that was right
outside of our door. I realized I'd "overslept"
and jumped up quickly, figuring I was about 30
seconds away from being descended upon.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, the resident
came in. Except this is what he said, "Oh, I'm
sorry - did I wake you? I came in a while ago,
and you were so peacefully sleeping - I figured
I'd get back to you sometime this morning. I
hope I wasn't too loud talking in the hallway. I'm
sorry."
What?!
Never, not once, not ever in 4 years of
hospitalizations has a doctor ever apologized
for disturbing us. And certainly, not a single
one of them has EVER been kind enough to let
a really wiped out mom sleep. I was in utter
shock. Add to it all, that this was a
neurosurgery resident, a profession that's
usually known for lacking in bedside manner. I
honestly thought I might need to pinch
something to make sure I wasn't in some
stress-induced hallucination.
No no, I was actually cognizant, and he truly is
that nice. Go figure, a brain surgeon who's as
kind as he is brilliant - may wonders never
cease. I took advantage of my
actually-had-some-sleep brain, and asked
some questions I'd been pondering. Dr.
Fabulous was not only polite, he was helpful,
jovial, and happens to be cute to boot! When
he left, I felt much more "informed" and
educated than I had all week. It was a rather
nice way to end the hospital stay, feeling like
more of the team - than just along for the ride.
The next several hours were spent in typical
hospital ways. Waiting for the attending
neuro-surgeon to round - only to eventually find
out he'd been called to emergency surgery,
then left the hospital without rounding because
he was tired. Taking one last fishy hunt trip and
making a sojourn to the gift shop to spend a few
gift cards that were burning holes in Avalon's
pocket. Chatting with nurses, making a craft,
and zoning with Spongebob. A there had to be
the almighty important napping, to make up for
the long walking adventure. In all, a pretty
standard hospital day.
The weirdest part was saying goodbye, and
having to add, "See you next week!" That's just
crackers. Normally, you leave a floor and think
you'll never go back. OK, in Heme-Onc, we
would leave and figure we'd be back some time
for yet another fever, but eventually there did
come the day we left and knew we'd never go
back. And neuro-surgery? Good grief, that's
one you leave and hope like the Dickens you
don't need to go back for several years...not in
a few days. It was like walking through some
bizarre alternate universe. I wanted to stop
people in the halls and say, "Can you believe
she has to have brain surgery again, next
week?! I found it all to be too weird.
The trip home was uneventful. The kids were
THRILLED to see us when we made it in the
door. Its always a beautiful thing to see how
happy they all are to be back together. If I do
nothing else with my life, I will consider it a
rousing success if I can maintain that positive
relationship among the children. I hope I never
see that thrill of reuniting diminish.
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. We
hadn't been home terribly long and Avalon
came down with a horrible headache. We
actually considered taking her back to the
hospital, but chose to try to ride it out. Avalon
fell asleep on the couch by 6:30 or 7 pm and
slept through to the following morning. Avalon
woke up pain free and raring to go. Thank
heavens for small favors.
Now, if I manage to get the laundry done and
packed back up by next week - I may just faint
and fall over....
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| I might be going home...but I'm still a pretty fragile little girl. |
| Mommy is having to get used to the new "zipper". Its completely insane knowing we have to come back and do this to the other side in a few days... |
| Melody, the nurse who helped me cut nightingale feathers. |
| Gada, the nurse who is so stinkin' sweet she let me mispronounce her name for two days, rather than correct me. I felt like a giant horse's patoot. |
| Had to go on one last fishy hunt. These giant goldfish are hysterical! Any time the girls get close to the glass, they come straight to their faces, and "kiss" them. The girls love moving from end to end of the tanks to watch the fish follow them for some lovin'. |