I've had my husband. My beautiful, patient, caring husband. He took the day off of work to be there at the hospital the entire time I was under. He filled my prescriptions. He was gentle with me when my words were not (waking up from general anesthesia makes me grumpy...who knew?). He let me lie around the living room instead of preferring me to be upstairs, even though when I was in the living room I wanted everything QUIET. He went out to get meals so he wouldn't be banging around the kitchen, he waited until I was awake to even make coffee. He cleaned the house for hours so I wouldn't have to work on it the next week when I still won't be feeling well. He took care of our 22 month old while he puked and rocked him till 2:30am after working until 10pm and leaving for work bright and early the next day just so he could then run to my parents house and check on me. He has circled like this with zero complaining for a week.
I've had my mom who has changed bed sheets to accomodate house guests they were having that overlapped with my stay. She grocery shopped to have my comfort foods (cereal/eggs/ice cream/coffee). She sat at the hospital the entire time during my surgery and drove me around to my post-op appt. even when she had tons to do to leave for Paris the next day. She took our little monsters for the weekend and went back to our house to help Chris with bedtime routines because she was going to miss them on her trip.
I've had my dad who coordinated watching the kids on surgery day. He also watched the angels for the weekend and has played what equates to at least 10 hours of "farm" where they push tractors and bales of hay around the living room harvesting different plants. He plays endlessly with the kids and even promised to get them to eat healthy food so I not once had to worry about if the kids were happy without me.
I've had my mother in law who came to our house for almost an entire week. She has more patience in a week then I show in a day. She played, comforted, fed and rocked our little boys all without once calling for backup. I am sure she pet and loved our dogs three times the amount they usually receive. She was there for the sickness of Oliver and cleaned puke in the middle of the night so Chris could rock the boy just to wake early and help them adjust to being home without Mommy or Daddy. She then thanks me for letting her help.
I've had my sister in law, who works four jobs, take care of the boys, call to visit with me, spend the night so Chris can work more, and lend me books to get through the week of isolation.
I have a sister who works full time and is undergoing house renovations 40 minutes away who comes to play with the kids, have dinner with me, and offer to take the boys overnight even when it would clearly not fit into her own schedule.
I have a friend named Gina. A friend who flew from Arizona to surprise me and keep me company on the couch for a day. She organized childcare for her own two kiddos so she could hop on an early flight, rent a car, show up at the house, cheer me up, and then wish that she could do "more" to help.
I've had friends, neighbors and family who call/text/email me wishes, support, and good luck. They stop by to check out the battle scar, bring me meals, keep me company on the couch and try to not make me laugh. I haven't had a single judgement, but I have had a lot of cheers.
This surgery isn't easy. It's emotional, time consuming and expensive. I would not be sitting here in my compression bandage with two leftover meals and a full homemade zitti waiting for me in the refrigerator if it wasn't for this small army of support. I cannot overstate how thankful I am for each and every one of them.
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