Home Again, Home Again

We are back home! It’s been a long week and we are thankful to finally be back. That being said, I must admit that Stanford provided as wonderful an experience as they could. 

The staff at Stanford are pretty phenomenal. Everyone we encountered, from the surgery staff to the nurses on my floor to the food service and housekeeping staff had a smile on their face and exuded warmth and caring. Whether I was on a walk in the corridors or lying on the bed in my room, I had wonderful conversations and exchanges with those with whom I came into contact. There was one nurse who consistently checked on me when I was out for a walk. She wasn’t even a nurse in my area. However, she encouraged me and made sure I was doing alright every time she saw me. 

As great as everyone was, I was definitely ready to come home by the time I was discharged. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and I’ve missed my family! 
Our ride home turned out to be an adventure itself. I was discharged at about 4:30 pm. In the Bay Area on a weekday afternoon, that means highway gridlock. We were looking at a five hour drive home that began with two hours of stop and go freeway driving. That just didn’t seem like any fun at all. I was in pain from transport from my room and climbing into the car. Sitting in that traffic was completely unappealing. 

Thankfully, we have and make regular use of mapping technology. Jim quickly ascertained that we could drive toward the ocean and bypass all of the traffic. Of course, doing so would mean spending the night somewhere and heading home in the morning. If you’re reading this, you know us pretty well. We are fairly flexible about things like this and we enjoy an adventure. Of course, we chose the extra night option. 

We took a slow drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains ending up in Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful, mostly traffic-free drive. We passed several parks and “open land” day use and hiking trails. Hopefully we can come back and enjoy some of these in the future. We also drove through several peaceful, beautiful canyons filled with coastal redwoods. After several days of captivity in the hospital, being in the midst of nature was totally cathartic!

Jim had found a very reasonably priced hotel in northern Santa Cruz. There was a Thai restaurant just down the street so we pulled in and Jim ordered take out dinner that we took with us to the hotel. The hotel room turned out to be quite wonderful, at least for me. By some quirk of fate, we were booked into a handicapped room. That meant that there was a walk-in shower with no step or lip for me to deal with. Yay! I think I stayed under the hot spray for at least half an hour. It felt wonderful after days of sponge bathing in the hospital. Too much information? Lol. Sorry, but it was just so wonderful that I had to mention it. 

This morning, we had to make a detour on the way home. Jim had heard about a French bakery in Santa Cruz. Of course, we had to try it out. Luckily, it was just down the road from our hotel. Jim ran in and came back with a croissant, a pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant), and a piece of quiche. I’m happy to report that the croissants were terrific. We haven’t eaten the quiche yet. We’ll have it for lunch later. I’m hopeful, based on the quality of the croissants, that it will be great. 

The remainder of our ride home was uneventful. We are thankful to finally be here. I haven’t said much about the pain, but it is there. The doctors estimate six to eight weeks to recover from the surgery. My competitive nature thinks I should beat that by a week or two. However, the current pain indicates a different reality. So, I will try and be patient as I navigate the coming weeks. As my first step toward patience, I have decided that I’m off to take a nap. Cheers!

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