Recent hospital stay and resulting life changes - yet once again

I recently spent 6 days in the hospital due to my RBC being at 5. Apparently, that's not a good place to be on the blood scale. I received a call from my surgeon and he said to go to the Emergency Department and be admitted. Which I did.

After being triaged and taken to a room, an IV was placed and within about hour I was taken to a room in ICU, where I spent my first night. The next day I was transferred to the 3rd Floor (Med/Surg) and spent the next 5 days. 

Along the way I had a couple of procedures done (CT scans, an Endoscopy and a Colonoscopy), two blood transfusions, a PICC line placed in my upper right arm, TPN and no food for a couple of days. Once the colonoscopy was completed I was able to eat breakfast the next morning. I was out from anesthesia all night as the doctor heavily sedated me for the procedure. I slept 8 straight hours through the night finally waking around 5:30 the next morning. I did get woken up a couple of times but always went right back to sleep that night. I was discharged later that afternoon and came home to recoup. 

Now, here I am three weeks later, doing better, eating food, taking vitamins and drinking three protein shakes a day (High Protein Boost in Rich Chocolate flavor). I'm glad to be home and grateful the second blood transfusion took hold. I no longer eat only ice and crackers.

Things I like about Me challenge

1. My undying love my husband who takes care of me - now while this may sound sophomoric, I love my husband to pieces. It's taken me three tries to get to where I am and I am forever grateful to him for coming into my life when he did. Suffice it to say, now that I am not well medically and no longer employed - until after college and I have obtained my Sociology degree, or I find something less stressful to be gainfully employed, he takes care of us financially. He also attends college, fulltime, online. This is something we do together. He is a year ahead of me in college, but so what. That just means he'll graduate sooner and be gainfully employed before I am, which is how it should be anyway, shouldn't it?

2. My long strawberry blonde hair - I have been growing my hair for 12 years. It is past my waist now and I am not cutting it for anything. At my age, if I were to cut it all off, I would never get it back to the length that it is now and I (along with my husband and daughter and people who know me for my hair) would be very upset for getting rid of it. My hair is my signature feature. I am very attached to my hair.

3. Dedication to being there for my daughter - our daughter is 8 going on 31 some days. She is a very smart, artistic and talented little girl. She loves to sing, draw and video record her Littlest Pet Shop animals 'playing' veterinarian taking care of a sick or injured animal, or recreating a day in the life of her. Now that I get to be a stay at home mom again (something I haven't done since she was a toddler) I am going to be her homeroom mom in her 4th grade class this school year. I plan on making it a lot of fun for her to have me there and try not to embarrass her in front of her peers - although that will be exactly what happens anyway.

4. Living healthy, maintaining an ideal weight - while I have never been extremely overweight, I did weigh too much for my small frame. I have since lost nearly 25 pounds and want to maintain it. Eating healthy, taking the right vitamins and a walk around the block when the Arizona weather is cool enough.

5. Going back to college - online, full-time (see #1). I am enjoying online learning and prefer college education this way as opposed to attending a traditional campus. I have never liked being in a classroom, even when I was in school getting my primary education!

6. Being Honest - even when it hurts - I learned a long time ago to always be honest, no matter how much it hurt me or the person having to hear the truth. Lying or 'sugar coating' the truth when someone asks, leads me to believe that if they don't want to know the truth then they shouldn't ask for an honest opinion. But, you should give it anyway, even if it hurts.

7. Not judging a person until you get to know them - ever hear the saying, 'You never truly know someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes'? I don't know who said it, I looked it up trying to find out, but to no avail. Anyway, I like the quote and I think it's quite true. Until you've gone through what someone else has gone through, you can't possibly understand what life is like for them.

8. Getting back into going to church - for ourselves, for our daughter, for our lives.

9. How easily I make friends - I'm lucky because I have a few select friends I have kept in touch with since quitting my job. There are some people I occasionally chat with on facebook, sure, but there aren't all that many that I actually 'talk' to offline as well as on.

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