One more before bed....

After a whirlwind 12 hour travel day, I arrived in San Diego tonight. (In grand a entrance I might add, including an aborted landing and emergency go around to avoid another plane on the runway. Fun.) Our great family friend Kerri picked me up and we met Dana and DJ at Kerri's house. After the exchange we went straight to the hospital where I got to see my Mom for the first time.

She looks tired and pale, but to be totally honest, not at all as bad as I was expecting. I got to spend a few hours with her. She drifts in and out of sleep quite a bit, and was in some pain. The night nurse that had been there the night before remarked to me that she thought Mom had improved a whole lot from yesterday in her speech. She has to speak slow and it seems like she gets mixed up trying to get specific words out when she talks. When the nurse asked her who was visiting though, she looked at me and smiled and said "My baby. That's my baby." That was my Mom through and through and the moment made me want to cry with a mixture of relief, gratefulness, fear and cautious optimism.

Because she was hurting I asked the nurse to give her some pain medication which she put in the IV, but Mom was able to swallow her own cholesterol pill which was encouraging to me. The pain meds made her super sleepy, and since I had been up for so long already and had a windy drive to Ramona still to go, I gave her a kiss and told her I would see her in the morning. She said she loved me before I left and wanted to make sure my Dad would be coming with me tomorrow. I am overwhelmed with how much I needed to tell my Mom I loved her and hear it back from her. I am so humbled by this whole experience and the strength of my Dad and sister, and grateful for the unwavering support of Glenn and Matt respectively. I have an amazing family.

Tomorrow I am planning on going back to the hospital with my Dad, and then maybe tag teaming with Dana with Alex so that she can see Mom too. They have been shouldering all of this themselves for so long I am just going to try and cook some meals for everyone and fill in where ever I can be of the most help to them. It is such a relief to finally be here. Please keep those prayers and thoughts coming. I truly believe that they are helping!!