red letter day :-)

[Guest guest]

God is so good! my two guys were able to sit side by side on the sofa in

our los angeles hotel room, to watch the chargers-raiders game. now, both

are nestled all snug in their respective hotel beds...

it's been an extremely long and tiring day. but all in all, a great one.

after i got jason his breakfast, i arrived at the hospital at 10am this

morning, picked up jim's drugs ($1,800 a month -- good thing we have a great

drug plan... we only paid $72 for all of it), went up to the 6th floor, only

to be told his labs from this morning didn't look good. at this, jim

revolted. i went up to the nursing station and said " room 616 needs

restraints... or i swear there is going to be a jailbreak! " the staff did a

double take and nearly took me seriously, because usc hospital has had

repeated problems recently with one particular man on the 6th floor making

consecutive jailbreaks -- he even made it out to the parking lot one day.

gentle and passive as a lamb on the way " in " to the hospital, but the drugs

have turned him into a classic case of psychosis. i'm grateful as anything

that jim's just a chatterbox, all smiles and tears and filled with love and

a grateful heart. THAT i think i can deal with.

so anyway, dr. sher re-ordered jim's labs, and jim and i twiddled our thumbs

for an eternity. finally, a short while ago, she gave us the thumbs up and

we brought him to our hotel homesweethome.

jim is still emotional; on the drive here, we listened to Christmas carols

and we both heard the part of " silent night " 's lyrics that speak of Jesus

being born to give us " second birth. " second birth? well, jim and i looked

at each other on the freeway, and he just dissolved. which, of course,

dissolved me.

we are all going to lie low for the rest of the weekend; we are scheduled to

return to the hospital on monday for clinic. we have tons more questions

for dr. sher, because we know it's foolish to assume it will be smooth

sailing ahead for all eternity, and we want to be very proactive with jim's

care.

i'm just now starting to go through buckets of mail, and there are so many

unexpected surprises... not just cards from relatives and friends, from

jason's church, from our children's school, but also from kind supportive

people we have met in cyberspace groups. i've put up their cards around our

bedroom doorway, and it's so cheerful... getting us all in the Christmas

spirit, thank you!

i'd write more, but i'm savoring my husband and son being together again...

besides, i am still tired and i deserve to go lie down next to my

schnoogums.

jim says " hi! "

love,

maureen