Visits from Omi and other friends

Well, just 24 hours after our friends left, I wasn't feeling well and found a weird rash on my belly. I saw a doctor who decided it was just a little contact allergy and sent me home. We made plans to go to a great park in Mannheim with friends from Alex's school for the next day. But in the morning I was feeling worse and went back to the doctor while our friends took Alex for the day. Long story short - after spending about 10 hrs at the urgent care place, they figured out that I apparently had a raging infection under the scar from the last surgery and by the time I was admitted to the hospital (around 8pm that evening) I had a fever of over 105! Alex spent the night (and the next!) with our new friends and I went into surgery that night. All's well that ends well. Our friends were amazing! They kept Alex safe, having fun, and in good spirits for 3 days by which time my mom got here. I ended up staying in the hospital for 17 days (!), but am doing totally fine now. Thanks to modern medicine, especially antibiotics!

While I was in the hospital, my mom was a superhero! With some help of friends, but mostly by herself she took care of everything! Yesterday, Alex told be apropos of nothing that he loves Omi most of all in our family. I asked him if that meant that he loves her more than me and he said yes. I'm so glad that they have such a great and close relationship - though I would like to be his #1.

Unfortunately, I almost missed two wonderful visits during my time in the hospital. The first was from my cousin who I hadn't seen since 1987! She was coming to Germany with her little daughter and we had planned to see each other. Well, she was not deterred by my condition and came to Heidelberg anyway! Her brother, his son, she and and her daughter all came to the house where my mom fed the whole crew and then they all came over to the hospital for a visit. It was so great to see them!  Even though we hadn't been together for 26 years, we had a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing them again soon.

The other visit was from 2 of my very best friends from college! We had planned this weeks/months ago and we weren't going to let a little hospital stay get in the way. Stephanie arrived from Florida and stayed for a little over a week. Katie came in just for a day (!) on her way from Georgia back to the US. We spent a wonderful day on the sunny terrace of the hospital, chatting, laughing, and just being friends. It was an amazing experience! I don't think very many people got visitors who had traveled quite that far.

Stephanie was here long enough to see me get released and we went out for dinner one night while my mom babysat.

Thanks for coming everyone. We love you!