Last day in the hospital !

Dear Family and Friends,

Its Sabbath (saturday) afternoon here in room 15, Nan is doing really great. Today she was given the go ahead for regular food, she has had Cream of Wheat, milk, hot tea, Boost, grilled cheese sandwich, a few frys, cottage cheese, watermelon, water and that is just through lunch. All systems are working well, the blood in her urine is much less now and she is feeling really good. We have walked (run) around the floor twice and are getting ready to do it again. The surgery team was here early today and put the vac. sponge back into the incision wound. She has had her antibiotics and is now off the iv fluids. For now she is supposed to have 2 Lovenox 50 mg shots per day but its 5:30 and she has not had any yet today.

We have talked to Roxanna and have a plan which has us leaving here by noon tomorrow after the last IV of antibiotic. We will drive to Conn. and begin sorting our things, visit with our precious friends and enjoy being out of the hospital after about 50 days of being in. We leave the hospital with so many good memories along with painful ones. We have been treated with such a high level of professional care starting with Dr. Bertagnolli, surgeon, her team, Dr. Bernard, the surgeon who did the bypass to save Nan's leg, the entire ICU team led in our case by Amy, a team of people that saved Nan's life a number of times and caught problems before they became life threatening. I have a new respect for the role dedicated nurses play in patient care. Heather, Loren and Amy are the main names we remember but the entire group including doctors was just plain wonderful. We will measure any care we receive in the future by the high calibre of the ICU here at Brigham and Womens.

We really appreciate the tremendous effort that the Dana Farber people have made to get Nan back on a drug plan to head off future tumors. Dr. Morgan, Dr. Ng, Travis and all the others have been very proactive in the care Nan has received. They have been willing to explain what is being done and given us a good sense that they are there for us in the future.

In reality I have been in the area for about 2 months and Nan has been here nearly 3 and 1/2 months. We have become pretty familiar with this place and have been treated very kindly by the chaplins, the patient coordinator, the social workers and by even the team that keeps the room clean.

Being here in Boston has given Nan the chance to begin again with her recovery. We feel very grateful for how God has led us and extended His healing hand to Nan over and over again. We know we face challenges when we get home but with God's blessings we will built business up again, our son in law Steve has helped out so much with assuming many of the things I normally do, Loree has been a great help with the house, animals, check book, mail, clients, phones and a lot of other things like Nan's Recovery Fund. We have been blessed with help from Heather, Pam, Nate, LeAnn and a host of others like Bob the treasurer of the Tracy SDA church who has handled the funds sent to that address. A special thanks also to John and Karen Cress who forwarded some very special help from the Denver SDA Church. We have been on the receiving end of help in so many ways. When I got home to my hotel last night the message light was blinking. When I went to the desk they handed me a package from Irene Wing, it had the nicest shirt, a CD by Celine Dion and a very nice booklet with messages of hope all centered around the idea of Miracles. Nan and I were both touched by this and the many messages and emails Irene has sent us.

Evening is setting in as I write. I am looking directly out the window at the downtown cityscape. I see the Prudential Building in the distance, it is the highest building in Boston I think and has a TV tower on the top and a fancy resturant at the top, bet the prices are steep up there. Below are the many stores of the Prudential Center and a huge parking lot that goes and goes for blocks, easy to get lost there. I can barely see the harbor as the fog and overcast weather limits visiblity. Yet as I note the computer the temp at home is 106, I think this overcast is looking better all the time.

When I go to the Marriot tonight I will finish packing up, every time one leaves the hospital the nurses pack us with everything they can think we might need, saline, gause pads, needles, paper tape, gloves etc. We have sacks of their generosity already at Roxanna and Ricks and we'll have to figure out what we need and then try to find someone who can use the rest. I don't plan to fly home with anything more than we need. We have books, CDs, movies, clothes, things that we have collected from our stay here. Nan has many items she had while she was living in Conn. while on the cancer trial, now everything has to go home. Fortunately we have many suitcases so we will be OK with it all. We plan to do one splurge on the way home, that is have Finesse Limo Co. pick us up at the airport, that way Nan can lay down for the hour trip home and they drive so carefully and avoid any rough spots. They are great people and have helped us in the past many times.

If all goes well we will fly out of Providence on thursday morning around 8 am which will get us home sometime mid day. We are purposely booking a flight which has a landing and plane change in Vegas so Nan can get up and move about rather than a straight flight of 6 hours without leaving the plane. Of course our trip home is based on how she feels.

It is hard to imagine being home again yet it seems to be on the horizon. We look forward to hooking up with you as soon as Nan is up to it. Her recovery is not yet complete and she needs to build up her strength so she will be alternating between being up in her recliner and resting several times a day.

Our hearts are full of gratitude to our loving Heavenly Father for His kind intervention in Nan's life. Praise God for His blessings!

with love

tim and nan