Overachiever

The wait is on now for Mike's bowels to start working.  In less than 5 hours following surgery he walked to the door of his room.  Six hours after that we walked down the hall together.  When the docs and day nurses did their rounds this morning and told him he would need to walk today there was some surprise that he already had.  I guess he's above average, but of course, I already knew that.

I am not the least bit surprised that Mike is determined to get better as quickly as possible.  If moving around more will kick things into gear then that's what he's going to do despite any pain he feels.  As he puts it, "there are sick people here" and he doesn't plan on sticking around any longer than necessary.

Being an hour from home is tricky.  I have two hotel rooms in town for my Dad, Mike's mom and the kids.  With Mike's last surgery I stayed overnight in his room every night, but the room here is so tiny, that although I would be allowed to stay I'm not sure there is actually room for me to sleep unless it's in a folding chair.  Instead I stayed until about 10pm, went to the hotel for a few hours of sleep and returned to the hospital at 5am.  I am quite thankful there is a 24 hour Starbucks between the hotel and hospital!

Today the kids will visit in the morning and then Dad will take Cal back home for a birthday party.  Not sure what the rest of the weekend will look like for them, but it is such a huge help to have Dad and my mother-in-law here to help with the kids.  Just another one of the many things I am grateful for.

I've also thought about my Mom a lot.  Yesterday was three months to the day that she was taken off of life-support.  I've wondered about the concept of having the person that died "with you" or "watching over you".  It sounds good in theory, but I have never really had a tangible feeling of Mom being with me.  I think was expecting something more concrete rather than simply a sense of her being here. Like an obvious shift of some kind that she's making an "appearance".  I've come to the conclusion, at least for me, that Mom being with me is a constant not something that just happens when I face a difficult situation like Mike's surgery.  She's with me when I am relaxed and happy just as much as when I'm anxious or worried.  I guess it's similar to the same sense I have that God is always with me.  I miss Mom and wish so much that she was still physically here, but I'll have to accept on faith that she IS still with me.