Rest and recovery

It's Carolyn. I just returned from visiting Maria at her mom's house. She is doing pretty well. I had Olivia with me and it was nice to see mom and daughter snuggling and holding hands again. She is still dealing with major vision problems. She saw Dr. Vig yesterday and he suggested an opthamalogist to check her eyes because it might not be chemo related. Otherwise her symptoms are at a minimum. Her hair is coming out pretty quickly now and she had a beautiful headwrap on and said she ordered a couple more since she will be like this for a while. Next week she gets her catheter out of her vein that has been in a month. She will then be able to shower fully and not have to worry about getting anything too wet and I know she is looking forward to that. She and I were looking at pictures that were in her camera from events of this year and she came across a set of photos and said, "look, these are pictures from right before the MRI." And ya know, life is just like that set of photos that we group together. Before I was married...before i had kids....after I turned 40...after my dad died. We tend to associate events in the before or after such and such. Well, we were in the "after she was diagnosed" stage and now we have moved on to the "after she got her stem cell transplant" stage. There is no telling what set of photos in our minds will depict this time in Maria's journey. I can tell you that the photo I will have snapped in my memory from tonight is her sitting at home on the couch and her sweet girl laying next to her so very happy to have her mom home for Christmas! So many people have done so many kindnesses but today the one that stuck out for me was that Maria received a Christmas bonus from her former boss at Ann's Bra Shop. It was surprising because Maria had to quit there over 5 months ago due to her illness, chemo and the risk of infection. It certainly was not expected but definately comes at the perfect time! I also loved seeing her reading the cards from my daughter's second grade class. Her smiles and laughs out loud were so good to hear and all the little details and hard work of these little hands were a very special gift for her tonight! She just keeps saying that it must be the prayers working because things have not been as bad as we were warned they would be. She just wanted to be home for Christmas and her wish was granted. That is all from me for a while as I am escaping to Florida on Christmas morning with my husband and kids. Wishing all those in Maria's life and all who read this a very blessed Christmas season!