Back to the Grind

So today I am back to the grind.

Mother's procedure went extremely well, although we won't know for a month if the procedure did it's job.

Latest reports from the Cheif indicate that she had a really good night and should be released sometime this morning.

Reporting to the hospital at 8:00 a.m. we settle in for what turned out to be quite the wait. But we had enough to occupy our time. We had laughed and cut up all day. I don't know if it was because I was tired and the Chief was tired, but everything was funny. We took a video of my mother on the "feel good medicine" they had given her for the ultrasound. I was stuck at how much I sounded like her. We sent it to Julz and Dooder.

I had held it together, right  up until they came (at ten minutes to 3:00) to get her for prep.  Then in that moment, I just grabbed her. I begged the Lord to protect her, and to be with the doctor and the medical team and bring her back to me. When I let her go, she was teary eyed, and I was too.

The next three hours dragged by. The hospital is a notorious cell phone dead zone. Sometimes, I would pass through an area with cell service and my phone would ding wildly as text messages filled my inbox. The space was about 2 foot by 2 foot and was just to the right of the elevators near an interior window, overlooking the 5th floor courtyard.  I had known this from my brother's lengthy visit a few years back.  About the only place I could get a decent signal was the courtyard but it was far too hot and muggy to spend any real time down there.

"The W" had sent me a "mid-day distraction"  message, ( a funny little message sent around lunch, innocuous to some but given how our minds work and our similar sense of humor, they have been wildly suggestive in the right circumstances...anything to take our minds off work, right?) but I couldn't get the picture to load. I hopped back and forth on one foot, trying to hit the sweet spot, to no avail. I protested and he shot back "Well, just know that I'm thinking about you."  Really, I could be a penguin for all I know. He sent it again, and it is currently still loading. I can't figure out how to stop it. The Chief had offered to show me how to get it, but given I did not know what it was, I thought better of it. Julz chastized me for "trading nudie pics."  If only!

My brother showed up around 5:00. He sat across from me, peeling skin from his knees, thatnks to his Talledega sunburn. We talked about recent developments in the BPD; a recent string of murders and accidents involving various law enforcement officers in his department. I worry about him. Talking about these things makes me uneasy.

It was nearly 7:00 p.m. before we got to see her.  She again, talked out of her head, and asked the same questions over and over again, but she was awake and that was good enough for me.  Julz and her Ricky- Martin- Imposter boyfriend met us on the floor her room was on. Talk about being "family ready" right away. First Easter lunch then BAM family crisis. But he dotes on her, he gets our humor,( ironically, just like "The W") and he plays along; I think he's a keeper.

I bid everyone adieu and headed home just before 8:00pm.  I was suddenly very tired, the adrenline from the day washing away.  As I cleared the parking deck, my phone once again, dinged repeatedly as all my messages poured in. 

I do not remember my head hitting the pillow

And now, we wait...