More Prayers for Donna

Tonight my brother-in-law, Michael, and I drove to San Francisco to see our sister-in-law, Donna, who is back in the hospital. We heard from our niece on Sunday that her mom was suffering from an infection from her recent surgery and had to rush to the hospital with a high fever. She's being pumped full of antibiotics and will hopefully be back home in a few days.

On Mondays I have class until 6pm so I had to rush home on my bike as fast as my heavy cruiser would take me. We met at the house, made a quick stop at Nugget Market for delicious deli sandwiches and cupcakes, and then hit the road. It was amazing how little traffic there was--we made it to SF from Davis in less than 1.5 hours. We ate our sandwiches in the car while I drove. When we got to Vacaville I suddenly felt like I was going to barf. I pulled over on the freeway for a quick breather. Michael gave me this sideway look that said "Julie, don't you dare puke on me."

I don't know if it was nerves about going to the hospital or if my stomach was just reacting to eating quickly while driving after not eating anything for 9 hours (I really should eat more often during the day...). I remember when my dad and I went back to Tennessee to see my grandpa in the hospital in 2006; I got nerves so badly that I threw up in the hospital hallway. Since blood and needles don't bother me I never expected that I'd be one of those people who gets nervous in hospitals but I'm beginning to accept that visiting people in hospitals makes me queasy. I just don't like seeing the people I love suffering. I guess my mind copes by making my body want to barf. Lovely.

Once we survived the hectic-ness that defines City driving, we found a parking spot right in front of the hospital entrance. At the elevator we scanned the directory listing to see which floor we needed to go to. Her room was in the 400 series...my heart sunk when I saw that floor 4 is the intensive care unit. But when we got to her room she was all smiles and eager to chat with us. We told her that my pooches were down in the car and that we seriously considered sneaking them inside (well, trying to...I don't know how we'd EVER succeed in sneaking two border collies into the hospital!). Donna would have LOVED to snuggle with Potatoes in her bed...and he would have loved it just as much. I brought Donna some treats to enjoy while she recovers in her bed and watches TV: mini candy bars, Starburst, and mini wax-dipped cheeses (she and I both LOVE cheese). I asked her how the food was in the hospital and she said "not bad." Tonight they served her poached salmon, fresh asparagus, and chocolate cake! Yum!

Michael and I had a dual purpose tonight: to visit Donna and to fetch our nephew, Bear, from the hospital where he was hanging out with his mom for the day. He's on spring break (it is his senior year in high school) and will be spending part of the week at Michael and Bernie's house and part at our house.

Before we left to go back home we all had those delicious cupcakes to celebrate Bear's birthday, which is today (his even had a candle...but of course we couldn't light it in the hospital).

Now we're back home and the boys are playing shoot-em-up video games in the living room. I am so thankful that Michael agreed to go with me tonight--I'm not sure I could have survived the City driving (or my sudden nerves along the way) without him. So, please pray for Donna! She's an amazingly strong, loving person. Where she gets the strength and courage to fight this cancer I just don't know. I really hope her infection subsides and that the rest of her recovery goes smoothly and quickly.