Flashback Fridays - And Then There Was One

On August 5th, 2005, I had a Pneumonectomy.  My family, both Mother and Father's side, Dustin's family and our friends gathered to see me off into my new life with one less organ. I can't imagine what it was like.. just waiting, in an unfamiliar waiting room, not knowing if your wife/daughter/sister/niece/friend was still living behind those sterile, metal doors.

I remember being in the pre-op room, where they give you an I.V. and then give you some awesome drugs to help calm you down. I remember they made me take my contacts out and it felt so weird to be "getting ready for bed" in the middle of the day. There is a moment before surgery, while you're alone,  just the anesthesiologist wheeling you into the operating room, where life becomes very clear. Those moments are the closest to God that I've ever felt. Like, when you're watching a movie and you know it's the end, but the director drags the scene out for a few seconds. Where everything is quiet. Where the world kind of slows and you KNOW that none of the stupid, everyday stuff matters. That money doesn't matter. That shoes and houses and cars and movies don't matter. That taxes and jobs and vacations don't matter. It's just you, your breath, your heart beats and those last thoughts. That last prayer, the last plead with God is all that really matters.

[And then, She woke up.]

Comments

[Kimberly Reed]

not sure i've told you this in a while. you're a strong, amazing, inspiring woman.

i didn't comment, but i did LOVE the photo you posted showing you standing on one leg. you take life and L.I.V.E. it. that's the way it SHOULD be done.

you've been through so much. you've handled yourself well. that's the mark of who you are. bad things happen, you deal with them, come out on the other side...it's HOW you come out that matters. you, my friend, are amazing.

[S. Violet]

Ha! Thanks Kimberly!

Actually, YOU inspire me. I've learned to be a bit more bad-ass from you.. and to really appreciate my love. That one was HUGE.

The way you just picked up and move for you, because you needed it... amazing. I went thought something like that with a friendship and it's been somewhat liberating. Sad, but liberating. I assume your Astoria move's been the same way.

Hey, thanks for writing! <3