I'm home!

Where do I start? It was an incredible ten plus days, to say the least.

On Friday, Oct. 31, Jamie visited the neurosurgeon at Madigan Army Hospital in Ft. Lewis, Washington with copies of her four-day-old MRI scans. He took a look and said, "Be here at 6:30 Monday morning for surgery." In Jamie's words, "Mom, I almost p*ssed my pants!"

I left California first thing Monday morning [yes, I should have gone on Sunday, but Jamie was worried about me travelling that far "alone", so I waited for my sister, who was going to be going most of the way on Monday and followed her - it made Jamie feel better] By the time I had crossed the Oregon border [my sister drives more slowly than I do], Ben [Jamie's bf] had called. Jamie was out of surgery and already on her feet. What I found out LATER was:

1 - Even with now six-day-old MRIs, Jamie's condition when they got her to surgery was MUCH worse than they expected. Instead of a herniated disk, they found a disk that had completely ruptured. They did a "discectomy". She had 15 staples in her back [shudder]. the "lettering" on the pants. everyone else wants some! 2 - The surgery that was supposed to take an hour and a half tookover two and one-half hours. 3 - And bless his heart, even after working all night long, Bentook her to the hospital and never left her side. He did it all.Helped her out of bed; helped her to the bathroom ["I was NOT going togo in some bottle!"] and anything else she needed. He stayed with heruntil the end of visiting hours at 9:30 PM that night. She and I wereboth very impressed. I managed to get to the exit for the hospital at 9:15 - too late to convince them to let me past the gate and into her room, and Ben had just called to say he left her sleeping. She really enjoyed that morphine drip - learned to fly without a plane! One of her Chief Petty Officers visited her that afternoon and told her he wished he had thought to bring a camera, just so he could document her being higher than a kite just once.

I pulled into the base [after getting completely lost in Bremerton] at about 10:30. The kids had everything ready for me at the gate [including a faxed copy of my car insurance, because I had forgotten it at home] and my gate pass and parking pass. Ben and his roommate carried everything to her barracks room for me, and I crashed.

The next morning, bright and early at 7:30 AM, Jamie called and scolded me for not calling her the night before, told me not to make a mess in her room and then announced "get my neighbor Jen and bring her with you, and get here as soon as possible, so I can get OUT of here!" Say what????? She was supposed to be there three days, but she was doing SO much better than they had expected, they cut her loose and sent her home in 36 hours!!!

had strict instructions - bed rest or walking as much as she couldhandle. NO sitting, NO bending, NO lifting, NO stretching. It's agood thing "momma" was there. And the other kids were impressed - "MYmom wouldn't do that!" We managed to get her back to the base [through Tacoma's infamous rush hour traffic] and into bed. The first few days, she was pretty full of pain killers most of the time, but only for the pain associated with the actual surgery itself. The pain and numbness in her legs was COMPLETELY gone when she came out of the anesthesia, and has remained GONE!!!!! ALL OF YOU TOTALLY ROCK! Your positive energy, vibes, prayers, and wishes did it - I'm convinced!

The next several days consisted of doing all the little things she couldn't do for herself, including finding things like "coke syrup" to settle her stomach from the side effects of the pain medication. [She didn't believe me, but when her friend Kristen backed me up, she agreed to try it and was amazed at how well it worked.] The military has a rule about the patient having to pick up medication, and she wasn't supposed to be "out and about"!

I'm sure Ben was glad of the help, too, although he continued to spend most of his waking hours not on duty dancing attendance on Jamie. One thing I did think of before I left was about how bored she was going to be . . . so, I BROUGHT BEADS! And before you all fall down laughing, it worked! I had her neighbor [Jennifer] making her own necklace, Jamie made a necklace and a bracelet, I made a bracelet for Jamie, a choker for Ben, and a bracelet for her friend, Kristen, in addition to having Jamie pick out "matching colors" for the other sets I was working on. I beaded like crazy, in between getting up and down getting things for her, helping her with things like showers, dressing, fixing snacks, and answering the door. Her room was a "stopping in spot" for just about everyone she knew.

I also managed to read all five of the books I brought with me, usually after she fell asleep at night.

By Sunday, she was feeling much better and had cut way back on the pain medication, so we visited her friend Kristen's home. Jamie is especially fond of Kristen's girls, so we took beads . . . and got them beading, too! When I talked to Kristen a couple of days later, she said the girls were still beading madly!

Samantha:

and Jamie: 't he CUTE? Monday, she took me to the "cop-shop" and introduced me to everyone, and I managed to find Alpha Supply and stock up on SS wire!

Tuesday, I managed to keep her quiet most of the day.

Wednesday, it was back to Madigan to have the staples removed. The doctors are SO impressed with how well she is doing and how quickly she is recovering, they expect her to be back to full duty much sooner than the expected nine months . . . which makes her "chain-of-command" happy, too. Jamie was doing so well, until her back got so bad, that she was on a "fast track" for promotions. They want to get her back on that fast track as soon as the doctors clear her to return to full duty. [and she wants her gun back!] Wednesday night she felt well enough to beat Ben and I both at dominos. [**sigh** - can we say the child hates to lose?]

Thursday, she wanted to do something "different". She wanted to revisit the Tacoma Mall. Of course, that meant waiting for Ben to finish "Captain's Call", Jamie to get "cleaned up and makeup on", and by then it was lunch time! By the time we got to the mall, it was almost 2:00. So naturally, we ended up headed back toward Bremerton through all the commute traffic again. [Note: I am NOT going to miss the Tacoma Narrows Bridge!] I managed to keep missing everyone by phone but Kat, so she relayed information for me. I did manage to reach Jennifer, but only to find out it was ballet day, and we missed each other again! Next time!

I left Bremerton about 8:00PM Thursday evening, headed for an overnight in Portland with my sister. Had to turn around and go back to the base because I remembered there was one drawer we hadn't thought to empty. Jennifer ran up to the truck when I got back to the barracks with "I missed you already!" When I left, it was to choruses of "Bye, Mom! Come back soon!" from all the kids.

Pulled into Portland about 11:00 and out again at 9:15 on Friday morning. Stopped in Medford for a short visit with my oldest at her work [Harry & David] and got a new picture of grandsons . . .

[left - almost 5] and Geran [right - 2-1/2]Started over the Siskiyous, and thought I was going to make it withoutincident. **snort** should have known better. Got to Weed, and itstarted raining BUCKETS. To the point where I could barely see thelines on the road, and was reduced to following the 18-wheelers inspots. NASTY! but, at least it wasn't snow, I suppose. Finally gotdown out of the mountains, and it quit! just as abruptly as it hadstarted. Arrived home about 8:30 tonight - totally exhausted. Tomorrow, I'm off to my mother's for my birthday and BABE. Look for me, please, or wave a flag, or something. Johnny will be joining me when his exam is over to help me decide if I need more beads!

With over 1200 posts in rec.arts.mystery and over 1800 in rec.crafts.beads, it's going to take me a while to catch up!!!! especially since I have to start "work" again on Monday, but I'll do my best!

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!! especially Kat, for posting updates!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis