Lead-Up To Surgery... List Form.

Well, I was going to do this in several posts, but figured one good 'listing' would be sufficient for the weeks leading up to my Mom's brain surgery.  As this is day twenty-one, I will do my best to just give highlights, and leave out the non-essentials.  *Note... I will TRY.  No promises.

*  Nic and I left Oklahoma on November 28.  Stayed in Jackson, TN... and there was a blizzard.  

*  Well, maybe not a blizzard... but lots of snow, nonetheless.  And for the record... KMart does NOT sell ice scrapers.  I'm unsure of the reasoning behind this... but it's fact.

*  Got to Mom's the next day... the 29th.  The total drive time for this two day trip was... 18 hours.  Not too shabby.  (And my nephew, Bryce... well, he is just so darn cute!)

*  Spent the next few days just doing daily chores, cooking, etc.

*  Mom had her first doctor appointment with the neurosurgeon at WVU on December 2.  At this point, he confirmed her tumor (a colloid cyst), and said that surgery was mandatory.  

*  No medical insurance = lots of paperwork.  It's okay though.  It's all complete, and taken care of.  Surgery was scheduled for the following weekend.

*  (~missed it, but it happened)  My sweet Max turned thirteen on December 4th.  I didn't see him, but know he killed two does the day before his bday.  Way to go, Max!  And Happy Birthday... I am now the proud owner of TWO teenagers.  ~Deep breath~

*  Then, it got a call that the surgeon had an emergency, and had to reschedule.  They were to admit her on December 16 (her birthday), and do surgery on the 17th.  We had a little over a week to go after that call.

*  At this point, we focused on rearranging furniture to best assist Mom when she comes home.  We did laundry.  We cleaned.  We went through old photos, and laughed our butts off!  THAT was the most fun!

*  My brother, Joe surprised us, and came to visit.  That was good.  I'm quite certain that Mom was just beside herself with happiness to have all of her children under the same roof... even if it was only briefly.

*  My sweet Nicholas did as good as he could possibly do having been displaced from his home for two weeks or so.  I'm so very happy that he went with me, and that he was able to spend some time with sweet friends on the weekends... this helped tremendously!  I don't have words to describe the help my precious friend, Heather, and her family have given me over these weeks!  Nicholas certainly loves them... almost as much as I do :)

*  (~missed it, but it happened)  December 13th commemorated the day that my Sydney was inducted into the National Honor Society.  I am so very proud of this young lady!  And love her dearly!

*  Now... before we go any further here, let me just say we had a bit of a sewage issue in the basement at the beginning of the 'surgery week'.  Lord help us... the basement is where the washer and dryer live!  Thank you, God, for a quick response from the landlord and appropriate sewer people!  That's all on that... I will not describe the smell... or what I saw...  You're welcome.

*  Wednesday of 'Surgery Week', I drove to Charleston to deliver Nic to the best Nana and Aunt Karen in the world!   Had some lunch, gave them his things, and was back on the road to Mom's.

*  Then... I had to take my truck to the shop.  It had been acting funny.  Thought I'd get it checked out.

*  Had a mini-breakdown at the Ford place... in public.  Even made the sweet service advisor cry with me.  This was the day before I was leaving to get Mom to Morgantown!  I could not possibly be having car trouble!

*  Wrong!

*  Come to find out, it was much worse than they originally thought.  I was not allowed to leave with my truck, as it was considered a FIRE DANGER!  I had been driving all of my family around in a fire hazard!  Holy Sweet Jesus!  As much as it was a burden in the moment, it was a blessing in the long run!

*  This news evoked yet another mini-breakdown.  I did not need to hear the amount of money that it was going to take to fix this thing!  Tears flowed, and flowed, and flowed.  

*  There was a kind lady with whom I had been talking for about 45 minutes.  Her vehicle was ready as I was crying, and she had to leave.  She came over to me, slipped something under my leg, and said, "God is going to take care of this!"  Then she left.

*After she left, I felt under my leg.  It was money.  I mean... IT WAS MONEY!  It was $100 from a person I didn't know, other than casual conversation and a bit of prayer time while waiting.  Kindness has it's way of showing itself through others whom you do not know.  I stood up to find her, and thank her... she was gone. ~WOW~

*  Kathy, the service advisor for Ford, hooked me up with the guy from Enterprise.  Got a rental, and were able to leave the following day as planned.  

*  Got to MoTown Thursday late afternoon, checked into the hotel, ate dinner, and went to bed.  Mom and I were both exhausted after all of the drama from the day before, and then the drive from Princeton to WVU... it's not a pleasant one!  But we made it!

I will begin again at time of admittance... December 16, 2011.  My Mom's 64th Birthday.

Oh, and one more thing (as this IS Monday Night Football)...

GO STEELERS! :)

cw