Saturday, August 22, 2015

Better slow than never...

Hi everyone!  

I'm baaaaack!  (AND without Meg the 10 pounder!!!)  Todd did such a great job with posting while we were at Hopkins.  Once we were home, he turned it over to me & you see how well I did at keeping up with it....  I'm a new liver now, but not a prompt blogger.  Prior to my surgery, I had never blogged "just because" & always felt the Spirit leading me.  Just haven't felt the Spirit encouraging me to blog since the surgery.  

For the first few weeks at home, I was sleeping only 2 hrs at a time, pretty uncomfortable with digestive issues & mobility, adjusting to life outside of the hospital, Todd & I focusing on taking care of me (everything took a lot longer than pre-surgery), getting rest & hanging out with Sara & Carly.  Seemed like a REALLY long time since we spent time together.  They had come to visit me at the hospital but it wasn't the same as spending time with them at home.        

So, a HUGE thank you for your patience & for many of you checking with us to say "haven't seen a blog post...how are you?"  We were REALLY blessed by the love & care that surrounded us & continues to do so.  

Here are some ways that people helped (just to name a few) meals, cards, emails, calls, visits, decorating our house for our homecoming, setting up a 1st floor bed for me, weeding, cleaning, transportation & errands, shopping with Sara & Carly, groceries, friends taking Carly & Sara to hang out with them, keeping me supplied with plenty of blueberries to support my habit (glad I didn't miss that season!), putting us on prayer lists, lawn mowing, caring for our girls while we were in the hospital, and many more.  

This is just a preliminary post to say "I'm doing well & getting stronger each day.  My medical staff is very pleased with my current medical condition & say that I'm ahead of most patients".  

I'll post again soon to start to chronicle the time during my surgery & since my hospital discharge & put my thoughts in writing.  I've been getting more sleep so that is a blessing.  My disrupted sleep patterns were effecting my mental abilities.  I can function fine; however, I am having difficulty with deeper thinking. (My new friend, Prednisone, is the cause of that.)  Also, with my A personality I think I should have it processed in my mind before trying to share with it others. That's why I haven't posted yet.  However, I know that some of you are wondering what's happening in my new world so I wanted to start somewhere.  

I'll never be able to praise God enough for this adventure--the new organs AND the waiting time.  I'm slowly re-entering the public world.  Until recently, my travels solely included blood labs & Johns Hopkins.  However, God gave me great peace during this time of seclusion & often solitude.

Here is my 1st card.  It's from my friend, Micah, and his family.  Their yellow lab, Ben, is pictured on it.  He's the dog that I kept seeing in my room while I was hallucinating shortly after surgeryI wasn't afraid...I just kept thinking someone would step on this sweet dog.  This picture also shows the awesome view that we had from our room.  What a blessing!
 




Love & peace to you all!
Belinda (without Meg!!!!) 



                                                       At one of my Hopkins clinic visits



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