A GOOD DAY

3/12/09 - 7:00PM

After dropping Harrison off at school this morning, I headed back to the Hospital to give Kristi a kiss goodbye before I went to our house. I needed to get her some more pajama pants, tank tops and some toothpaste. Going home was hard for me. Being 40mins away felt like I was on the other side of the country. Walking into the house when it was empty...quiet...just the sound of the central heat blowing in the background. I gathered up the things she requested, luckily they were all folded on the dining room table as Karen had done some laundry when we were at the ER on Sunday. Got some clothes, toys, a favorite book for Harrison, some diapers, socks and a blanket for Hudson. Took a long hot shower and brushed my teeth. I ended up emptying and running the dishwasher with the 5 dishes that were in the sink and then I just kind of wandered around. Looked at old bills that were due, cleaned up some stuff, got some clothes for me...sat on the couch for 10 minutes staring at the clock...waiting for it to say 2:30 so I could leave and go pick Harrison up from day care. 2:28 I was out the door.

While I was spending some time alone, Kristi had all kinds of visitors. Her friend Jen came by with her sister Shellie. Her fellow Aestician Melissa and her co-workers Karessa and Shannon came with some flowers. Her friend Ryan and his Dad came by for a while and she got some lunch from a tasty sandwich shop (Jen brought it). Her brother Jeff and his fiancée Tiffany flew in from CT this afternoon and came directly here to see her. Her cousin Cheri, who lives close by came as well. The highlight of the day was that Kristi got to get up out of her bed, walk to the conference room in the CCU and hold Hudson for the first time since Sunday. She really needed it. They both needed it. He cuddled right into her and slept in her arms for a nice, long time.

Dr. Jutzy also stopped by to speak with her about her surgery. He explained to her in detail what the replacement they decided on will be. I will try to get the complete story out of her, but she doesn't listen like I do. 8 years ago when they did the replacement they only replaced a "part "of the valve. I can only assume that this means they replaced the part with the cuspids only and not the entire thing. This time, it's the whole thing. Kristi tried to explain it to me in a way I can understand and type it for you but I still don't get it. Dr. Jutzy will come in tomorrow morning and I will have him explain it to me. Sorry 'bout that.

I picked up Harrison at school at 3:45. He wanted to show me everything. The slide, the pushcar, his basketball and of course...the sandbox. I stuck with him there for a while, playing and running and talking with his teacher. We left and headed back to Phil and Kathy's house 'cause he had a runny nose and a cough. I hope he is not getting really sick. If he has some sort of upper respiratory infection we have to be really careful about bringing him around Kristi. And then I went back to the Hospital. We ate dinner together...hugged a lot and cried a lot.

Tonight I decided to go to Phil and Kathy's house and try and sleep for a while. Something tells me that if I can't, I am going to get back in the car and stay in her room again. On the way home I talked with Shawn about how things were going at Atlas and it was nice to talk about something other than Kristi's illness for 20min. Sounds horrible to say.... But I have been thinking about it all day and night for 5 days. The thing that is killing me is the waiting. Waiting for the results of the cultures and then waiting for the surgery.