Boston Day 23 ... and HOME!

Yesterday was a loooong day. I got up around 7 and got ready and woke up Nate at the last possible minute to get him downstairs and let him eat breakfast by 8, because that was when our cab was due. I had called to schedule the cab the night before, then I called at 7:30am to confirm that it would be there at 8. Well guess what. Ten after 8, and no cab. I called the guy back, and he said he would check on the cab. At 8:20, I called again and he didn't even answer. So I went all Julia Sugarbaker on his voicemail.

"Hello. My son has an appointment with a world-renowned NEUROSURGEON in 10 minutes, and we're going to be late because your cab didn't show up. So now I have to walk six blocks IN THE COLD, with my son IN A WHEELCHAIR. So thankyouverymuch!

It's funny now, but of course I was fuming the entire six blocks, huffing it to make it to this appointment in time. We got there at 8:35, and a nurse practitioner said Dr. Warf was in surgery and couldn't see us until 10.

There are no words.

So we went down to the lobby for Nate to see the "ball thing" and goof around for awhile, and went back up at 10. Nate looks great, and there are no concerns. Dr. Warf is "happy happy happy" with the results. We gave Dr. Warf a gift--a bow tie (he wears bow ties) in blue and white, University of Kentucky colors, since he's a fellow Kentuckian. I wrote him a thank you card. I said we came here for his reputation, but what I most appreciated about him was that he listened to me and took my concerns and opinions and ideas seriously and changed his plans based on what I knew was best for Nate. He seemed very pleased with the gift and card.

We caught a cab back to the Yawkey Family Inn to finish packing up our stuff. I took some pictures of the house. It's a gorgeous old house that at some point was a fraternity house for, I assume, a Harvard fraternity. Then someone, I guess the rich old Yawkey family, sunk a lot of money into it to restore it to the beauty it is now.

This sweet woman was playing the harp for guests as they came and went. She let Nate try it out. She kept telling Nate how great he was doing in his manual wheelchair. She has some kind of neurological issue and must use a motorized chair.

This is Bert.

Anyway, we got a cab to the airport, got some lunch, and Granna and Nate played a couple hands of cards before it was time to board the plane. One perk of your kid needing a wheelchair is that you can board first! Which means on Southwest you get to sit toward the front, and you're among the first off the plane too. Oh! And the social worker at the hospital got us 3 free tickets from Southwest! Never hurts to ask.

I was worried about how Nate would do on the 2 hour flight to Chicago, but much to our amazement, he FELL ASLEEP. This is unheard of. He just leaned over on Seal the Sea Lion, and was out, no screaming. Thank you, Jesus.

When we got to Chicago, my mom helped us to get to our gate, then she had to get to the other side of the airport to her gate, because she was flying back to Pittsburgh. So Nate and I were on our own for the last flight, and Nate was very good. He might have bugged the guy sitting next to us a few times by trying to get our Talking Carl app to talk to the Talking Carl app on his phone, but hey they guy was just asking for that. It was only a 45 minute flight, and Nate and I were both SO excited to get home.

It seemed to take forever to get to baggage claim to meet Blake and Georgia, and coming out of the elevator, we sneaked up behind them. Yay! It was so exciting! Georgia started jumping up and down and squealing! Lots of hugs and kisses. We went over to retrieve our baggage, and  Georgia goes, "I misssed you, Nate!" and gives him a big hug. It was so cute. Those two had a lot of catching up to do, and were just so glad to see each other again.

When we got home, I realized we hadn't eaten in about 8 hours except for some peanuts and crackers on the flights. Blake suggested bacon and eggs, and I thought I would fall over from the joy of eating a Blake Payne breakfast. Then I decided it would be nice to take a shower, and I didn't even have to gather up all my clothes and towels and shower stuff to go to the bathroom (like we did at the Yawkey house). Just so nice to be home.

Nothing gets you in the spirit of Thanksgiving like coming home from a hospital stay and 3 weeks away from home. I'm sure I'll be back to the old stresses and annoyances pretty soon, but for now, I could not be happier with home and my family. Sometimes the hard times make the good times even better. Live life like you just got home from the hospital! Happy Thanksgiving!