Love, Laughter, and Some Good Coffee

I haven’t written anything in quite a while and I am so thankful that the craziness of the past few weeks is winding down and that I can spend some time with my blog and my thoughts. It’s the Fourth of July and this is not the typical patriotic post or a post about a picnic and eating too many hamburgers. Many of us are reflecting on how thankful we are for our freedom or even just how thankful we are to be surrounded by friends and family on a beautiful holiday weekend. Today however, I felt compelled to share how these last few weeks I have been reminded time and time again how blessed I am and how thankful I’ve been to so many people.

About six weeks ago our family found out that my mom’s recent hearing loss was due to an Acoustic Neuroma on her right side. An Acoustic Neuroma is a non-cancerous tumor that grows on the main nerve leading from the inner ear to the brain. She handled the news about it how my mom handles anything – with grace and a crude joke. The tumor was benign but the words ‘brain surgery’ are not ones that should be taken lightly. Despite the worry, we spent the last month and a half talking about how many days I would spend with her post surgery, making jokes about the ‘haircut’ the surgeon was going to give her, and offering encouraging words whenever she got anxiety about not being able to order Starbucks for a few days. 

Monday, June 19th was scheduled as surgery day and it approached quicker than I wanted it to. Hubs and I left for Rush University Medical Center around 5am so that we could meet Mom and Simon to check in. We were told it would take about eight hours so I packed up some snacks and games to keep me and my family’s minds busy during the long day. In our family, you can face just about any obstacle if you have the proper snacks. Mom was all smiles when we met her at the hospital right up until we had to leave her with the doctors. Perhaps the worst part of this entire process was leaving her at that moment and worrying that she was going to be scared. Though, I was confident in the two incredible surgeons and nursing team that would be taking care of her. 

I have never questioned the love my family has for me or my mom, but the support system my mom had in the waiting room that day was like no other. My Uncle Mike, Mom’s brother, spent the entire day making us laugh, offering coffee runs, and just overall being the constant rock in our family. Anytime in my 26 years that Mom or I have had to face a tough situation, Uncle Mike has been there. I am so comforted by his presence and find it hard to put in to words how thankful I am to have him (and his hilariously awful magic tricks) in my life. 

Aunt Lynda was another one of Mom’s cheerleaders on surgery day. As a Aunt, mother figure, and friend to me, I was so lucky to have her encouragement, hugs, and famous peanut butter sandwiches to get through a day like this. Anyone who knows ‘Lynnie’, as we fondly refer to her, knows she rarely enters a room without some homemade treats, whether that be a sandwich from home or some of her delicious banana bread, to share. I received a text message from her that morning prior to her arrival at the hospital and all I saw was a picture of a loaf of bread, and gigantic jars of peanut butter and jelly – indicating this particular day would be no different than any other long day our family has endured.  There is something so comforting about her peanut butter sandwiches that give the rest of us confidence we can face anything and I think it’s because they are always made with such love.

Cheerleader #3 was another man that has been an important player in my life for the past ten years. Simon and Mom found each other when I was sixteen, and while admittedly there were times it was hard seeing my mom with someone other than my Dad, I wouldn’t pick anyone else for her but Simon. Him and I have a very special relationship and I realize it probably wasn’t easy dating a woman with a daughter in the middle of her teenage years when he had no children of his own. He has grown to love our family and I will be forever grateful to him for taking such care of my favorite person. Simon absolutely provided some good reasons to laugh last Monday as he kept us all entertained with a lessons in British terms. Did you know that in England they call potato skins, potato jackets? 

The last team member that stuck it out all day, but certainly not the least, was Bryan. I would never have enough time or room on this post to express my gratitude to my husband for loving my family as his own. As if waking up at 4am to trek downtown wasn’t enough, Bryan stayed with me until 9:30 pm when I had a hard time  going home for the night. And to be honest, if I had asked him to stay longer, I know he would have. When I cried for 45 minutes on the way home, he let me. He accepted the fact he was probably going to have another night of little sleep when I set my alarm for every two hours to wake up and call the nurses to check in on Mom. He recognized I needed some late night food and bought me a Portillo’s cheese dog with a large fry (A salad just doesn’t cut it in times like this). Sometimes I question how on earth I got so lucky to not only find my soulmate at a young age, but to find someone so willing to tackle any curve ball thrown our way.

The surgery ended up taking ten hours. Ten. Hours. God has a special place in heaven for the surgeons who start their day ready to stand for hours on end and operate on someone’s loved one. Dr. Byrne and Dr. Wiet were able to get 99.9% of the tumor and fully preserve her facial nerve. Dr. Wiet, despite being exhausted I am sure, took the time to talk to Mom’s little cheer section (who were the last ones in the waiting room that day) and answer any and all of our questions. Especially this weekend, I am thankful to the doctors and nurses that give up countless holiday weekends and time spent with their own loved ones to take care of ours. 

There is no way I would have made it through these last couple of weeks with my sanity without some of the people in my life. On top of it, Mom was re-admitted last Wednesday an infection and some fluid that built up at the site of the surgery. When you add it up, she will have spent twelve days at Rush by the time she finally comes home for good. I have been in absolute awe of the amount of love, support, and prayers we received each day. My sister and brother drove down in rush hour the day of surgery to be with us, see mom when she woke up for the first time, and offer a prayer for comfort and healing. Mom’s group of wonderful friends from the Elmhurst Immediate Care never went a day without an encouraging text reminding me to tell mom how much she was loved and missed at work. Me and Bryan’s group of friends checked in on me every once in a while and many have already offered to come out to St. Charles, bring food, and sit with mom once she’s feeling better. My team at McDonald’s were not only okay with, but encouraged me to take the time I needed to be with my mom, and have been incredibly patient with me as I’ve gotten as much work done as I could from the hospital. It’s impossible to list the countless other people that kept mom in their thoughts. I know a Facebook ‘like’ or comment is a small act, but being able to show my mom a small blurb I posted requesting thoughts and prayers that day and the 300+ people that were thinking about her and sending positive energy at some point during the first few days post surgery was something I looked forward to. Seeing her reaction when reading those comments was something very special. 

I am pretty positive that if it had not been for the friends, family, and the promise of some good coffee, an already difficult road to recovery would have been near impossible. Mom’s strength to overcome anything continues to amaze me every day and I’m thankful that soon she can come home and finally enjoy the rest of her summer. I’m even more thankful that on my way to the hospital yesterday morning, I saw ‘Mom’ pop up on my caller-ID again, something I haven’t seen in a while. Her only request was a Grande Americano (double cup, little room). Needless to say, I think this dancing queen is ready to come home too. 🙂

I hope everyone has very wonderful Fourth of July!