5 years 2 months 20 days

Day 1907. I had planned for one last good night of sleep before going home, but it was not meant to be. I went to bed at 11:15 and woke up again half an hour later. They had taken my box with pain medication away and not brought it back. At 9 pm I asked for the medication, but it never came. When I woke up, I decided to ask for it and got it. I was hoping to sleep better with it.

And I did sleep well, but when they came into the room at 7 am and woke us up, I was extremely tired. They didn't measure my blood pressure any more. Instead they gave me my release papers and told me I could leave as soon as I'd had breakfast. I stayed in bed and closed my eyes until then.

At 8 am breakfast came and I sat up to eat. It was a breadroll with butter and honey again. My roommate was pretty talkative, so we talked while we were both eating. She was my fifth roommate; I'd had a different person every night (four nights). After breakfast they said they needed the room for the new patients waiting to move in. I told them I was waiting for my husband, but she said I'd have to wait in the waiting room. My roommate left, while I went to the bathroom to shower and get dressed. Before I could even go in there they had already taken my bed out and put a new one in and cleaned the side table. After I got out of the bathroom I took a selfie with the two fresh beds and a picture out of the window. The sun was shining and it was a great view towards the west of Vienna. I was on the 16th floor.

I was considering just going home by myself, but they told me I was not allowed to carry more than 5 kilos during the next two weeks, and I wasn't sure how heavy my bag was. Still, I felt bad that Randy had to come to the hospital for me. And I didn't feel like waiting that long. Just before 9 am I took my stuff and went to the waiting room. The tiredness was so bad I just wanted to sleep. Randy was taking the kids to kindergarten and then coming to get me. I closed my eyes and put my head on my arms on the table there. The place was extremely busy with so many people waiting to get their rooms.

At 10:10 Randy arrived. He took my stuff and together we walked the long walk to the exit of the huge building. I had already decided not to take public transportation today but an Uber. It arrived 2 minutes after ordering it, and we got in. Just before 11 am we were back home.

I was so tired that I went straight to bed. They had removed the bandaids off the five holes in my belly in the morning and said I didn't need any. Besides not carrying anything for 2 weeks, I'm not allowed to bathe for 4-6 weeks. That's gonna be a problem with the kids' swim class.

Randy left not long after we got home to go pick up Tammy and Emmy and then Sammy. I figured it was too early as there is a minimum requirement of hours they have to be in kindergarten per week and this week Randy has had to pick them up early. But when he told them it was because of me being in hospital, they accepted that.

Randy left, and I eventually fell asleep and slept well. When I heard the kids come home just after 1 pm already, I sat up in bed, and the kids came in and lay down next to me to cuddle, including Sammy. They were so happy to have me back, and I was very happy to have them next to me again. But it didn't take long before they wanted to get on their tablets again. Sammy stayed right by me, with his tablet, while the others went to their corners and Randy sat down to eat lunch. I also made myself a sandwich to eat. Tomorrow I'll cook again.

After Randy was done and had had some rest, I got up and said we were gonna go downstairs and practice piano. We all went downstairs, and Randy left to go to the grocery store. Randy had said he'd had no time to practice with them. Usually I'm the doing doing so. The Caritas helper spent a little time with them to practice, but I'm not sure what they did. It seemed like it was their first piano practice this week, and there is only tomorrow left before their class on Saturday. And so we spent more time than usual practicing today. First Tammy, then Emmy. Emmy hates making mistakes and not being able to do something and can't deal with it. He ran off, but eventually came back and finished practicing. And all that even though he's such an amazing piano player. Today I challenged him to play another song with both hands that he plays well separately, and again he did an amazing job being able to do so.

After we were done, I went to the living room. We still had an experiment box we hadn't done and I had taken it downstairs with me to finally do it. The kids love theses boxes and were very excited. There are always three experiments inside, and we did one after another. The picture is from the third experiment. While we were doing the experiments, Randy returned and joined us. I wanted a picture of me with the kids, and he took it. After we were done, it was 5:15 pm and I wanted a break before having to make dinner for the kids. So I went upstairs and sat down by my computer until 6 pm. Then I went to the kitchen to make their dinner.

After they were done, it was bathtub time but with my bath restrictions we couldn't do it the same way we always do it. I sat down on a chair by the bathtub and washed their hair which hadn't happened while I'd been away. Randy stayed as well, as I'm not allowed to lift Sammy back up, when he slides under water.

After bath time, it was wonderful to do our regular evening routine again. I prayed for Sammy and put him to bed, then lay down with Tammy and Emmy to read the next two chapters in the book we're reading at night. Both kids were snuggled up next to me. Then I prayed for them, they brushed their teeth and went to bed. Sammy was already asleep. I stroked them, sang over them and then went to the kitchen to make myself some soup for dinner. A regular evening, yeah! I enjoyed eating my good food and watching a good program, then working on the pictures and my blog. Now it's only just after 11 pm. Tomorrow  morning I have my first student since the operation.