Day 232 BMT Day 22

Wow, what a long day! When we woke this morning, we weren't sure whether Mom would be discharged. Her blood pressure was acting a little funny, but we were told that this was an issue that could be managed on an outpatient basis so it was still likely we would be set free. The reason this was so important was because the hospital won't discharge on a Friday, on the weekend, or on a Monday... so if she didn't get cut loose today it would be five more days before they could consider releasing her.

She did, in fact, get released. The day is pretty much summed up by a quote from Sir William Wallace, made famous by Lisa on an especially eventful St. Patrick's Day (ironically) three years ago... "FREEDOM!!!"

So we talked to pretty much everyone that works at the hospital in order to get signed off to leave. It was a lot of information, but we did learn a lot and some of the food restrictions didn't end up being nearly as bad as Mom originally thought.

The trek back to the hotel was pretty interesting. First off, anyone who's ever seen theWill Ferrell movie "Elf" knows about how he got to NYC from the North Pole - you have to pass through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gumdrops, and then walk through the Lincoln Tunnel. This is the most accurate way I can describe how you get from the hospital to the hotel.

Anyone who knows Mom (and why would you be reading this if you didn't...) knows that she is perpetually prepared with multiples of every possible item that anyone could ever think of needing. If someone ever asked Mom what she would bring on a desert island if she had only one choice she would fight until she was blue in the face to get that particular someone to agree to allow her unlimited items. It's just her style.

Now, put those last two paragraphs together. In short - if anyone is looking for some Christmas gift ideas for the Briggs family, we could use some donkey baskets. And a donkey.

For the rest of the day, Mom got to do whatever she wanted. We went and celebrated at Red Lobster and then went shopping at Mom's favorite store (one of the 100 favorite stores), Stein Mart. When I'm telling you I have no idea how she does it, I have NO idea how she does it. I am straight up whooped. I haven't even had so much as a runny nose for the past three months. Here Mom is, fresh off a Stem Cell Transplant and eight months of battling Leukemia and she's the one telling ME to sit down and take a breather. Granted, Red Lobster and shopping are probably two of the best motivators for Mom, but wow. She's just amazing.

She's tucked in for the night now and we'll be getting up early to get to the clinic by 7am. She has to go every day for probably a week and then they'll start putting her on a schedule that includes some days off.

Thank you all for the continued support and prayers. It's working. Big time.

Love,

Amy