Day 20

Well, today marks one month in the hospital. Cabin fever struck during nap time. I was laying beside Tessa reading, and I could hear a group of nurses (who are all young women in their mid to late 20's) chatting and laughing outside. I was gripped by an intense need to get out of the room. I really wanted to see my girl friends, but for obvious reasons this wasn't feasible. Fortunately the fabulous Dee Dee showed up with her magic bag of books, so Casey and I went out for a walk (just around the hospital). First time we'd been "alone" together in a month. It was really nice to be outside of the room together. On our way back we bumped into the fabulous Dr. Krysta. She's such a love and we chatted for about fifteen minutes about Tessa, her kids and life in general. When we got back Tessa was happily listening to stories.

Tessa is doing so well, every day her counts go a little higher. She went out for a little walk again today. She complained of pain in her legs and didn't want to go, but with enough cajoling we got her out the door. One of our very favorite nurses, Cassi, even went so far as to hide under her desk so that Tessa would look for her. Have I mentioned how much we love our nurses? LOVE them! I'm going to miss them when we leave, they're such a source of sunshine in our days. Anyway, Tessa managed to make it through her stroll before returning to her usual position of laying prone in her bed. We are going to have our work cut out for us getting her muscles back into shape.

If Tessa continues on this trajectory we are hoping to get out of here in a couple of weeks. That would be amazing! We will have a lot more freedom. Tessa will be allowed outside, but not in any enclosed public areas with lots of people (think grocery store, library, school, etc.). Casey can hardly contain himself and asks the doctors and nurses every chance he gets when they are thinking we can leave. Poor guy, guess cabin fever set in for him a little while ago.

Tomorrow starts another month. Happy February everyone!