A ROOM WITH A VIEW.

By TEAM ANISSA

October 4^th, 2014

Week 11 – Part III

October 2-4, 2014

It was a relief to have Anissa out of surgery and settled into her hospital room.

With the exception of Thursday morning prior to surgery, the rest of Thursday was a vague and foggy memory for her. Kind of like when you travel across multiple time zones and lose an entire day. We’re not getting that day back.

Thursday afternoon was probably the easiest for her only because she was still doped up on anesthesia and would be until it wore off completely over the course of the next 12-16 hours. I took advantage of Rob and Cristina being at the hospital. They agreed to hang there while I hopped in the car (which had a prime parking spot due to a 4:40am arrival that morning) and sped home to see the kids. I just had this feeling that I needed to see them and let them know everything was ok with Anissa – this was probably more for my own peace of mind than it was for theirs. I walked them through the events of the day step by step. Jonathan just wanted the broad strokes so he could get on with his iPad game, but Isabella wanted details, which I was happy to share.

I didn’t stay at home very long. I didn’t sleep and I didn’t shower (despite both of which were very much needed). I got back in Anissa’s car and headed back to the hospital after only about an hour and a half.

While I was gone, Rob had been keeping up on the pain medication drip for Anissa – pushing the button and “ringing in” as we called it. Like you would on Jeopardy but every ten minutes or as often as the distribution governor would allow. “I’ll take more pain medication for $200, Alex.” This was to keep Anissa ahead of the pain. And based on the look on Anissa’s face every so often – there was a lot of it. This kept this up for the majority of the night.

Thursday night at the hospital reminded me of when Isabella or Jonathan were born. Not only was it the last time we stayed overnight at a hospital but it was also around the last time we were up all night…every. two. hours.

These days I’m trying to “make every day better than the next” and Friday was certainly better than Thursday. I guess any day you’re not having surgery is a good day.

We let the kids take Friday off from school so they could come visit Anissa. Down in the lobby I met the kids along with my mother-in- law and good friends and neighbors. On the way up to Anissa’s room I prepped Jonathan… more like, bribed Jonathan to be calm when around Mom. I even threw in a “the medicine Mom is on makes her sensitive to noise… so you have to keep it down” for good measure. It worked.

They were nervous when first walking into Anissa’s room. When they got past the privacy curtain they found Anissa with a smile on her face. I think it was a bit of a forced smile through discomfort – but as Anissa always does – she knew what was best for the kids and she needed to put on a brave face for Jonathan and Isabella. They spent about 4 hours at the hospital visiting. Isabella got to fix Mom’s hair and Jonathan and Uncle Dan had fun exploring the hospital. The kids took a trip to the gift shop and Jonathan picked out a red glass heart to give to Anissa. Anissa had fallen asleep while they were downstair shopping so Jonathan waited patiently for Anissa to wake up to give her his gift.

Friday was also the day of “boot camp”. In other words, time to get up and take a few laps around the hospital floor. On the first outing from her room Anissa managed to get in two laps. Two. Very. Long. Laps. Jonathan was there to document the stroll with us as seen below.

Having the kids and visitors was great for Anissa today. But it was also exhausting. Once everyone left we ordered dinner and suddenly the room was quiet. There was something very peaceful about that night. Perhaps it was the contrast from having just had visitors there or if could have been the beautiful sunset outside her hospital room window that helped ushered in the night. It was one of those moments when you are completely present and acknowledge that everything and everyone was exactly where it/they needed to be. When your mind isn’t racing or thinking about the next action or task. There was nothing to do but just be.

We took advantage of a late “check out” time on Saturday. Anissa slept most of the day, enjoyed the calm and even took in a movie on the TV. We were gearing up for what would be the third slowest ride home from a hospital. We arrived home that evening to find the house dimly lit and the bed turned down waiting for Anissa.