hopes and dreams

A year ago I graduated from Pharmacy School! It really was a dream come true. Can you believe it has been a year already?! That is crazy to me! At this rate, we will all be old before we know it. LOL. Seriously, this year has been a blur. I miss my Pharmacy School peeps. I think when you go through something traumatic with a group of people, a special bond is forged. It was indeed traumatic at times, and I miss them all! I hope everyone is as happy as I am a year later. I love my job. I owe you all an update about that very soon!

Chris told me Happy Mother's Day this morning, and the first thing I thought of was how much I ALWAYS wanted and hoped that I would be a Mom one day. I am so thankful for our healthy, happy children. Marrying Chris and then becoming a Mom was a dream come true for me.

I will probably always connect graduation with Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. She really is one of the strongest women I know. Her life has been so challenging. She was a single mom of four at the young age of 26. How did you do it? All alone? How did you keep going from day to day? Thank you for perservering. I know you had so many hopes and dreams that were put on the back burner for years. You taught me many small and big lessons along the way. I am thankful for the time that we have been able to spend together recently.....as we have been in Baltimore, MD together visiting this chic... 

My sister, Suzanne, has been back in the hospital for 3 weeks now. She has had two more surgeries since I last blogged. To say that my heart has been heavy is an understatement. There were days where I felt like I struggled to breathe because I was so frustrated for her! I spent four days there last week while she was in the ICU. It is quite stressful to see the ICU critical care team hovering around your sister's room and hear words like "hemodynamically unstable".

YOU are the strongest woman I know, Suzanne. I am amazed at your fight and tenacity. I could not have made it through school without you. You helped with the kids, you were there with me all along the way. You spent the night if I had a 7am exam, and you made sure the kids got to school. You picked them up early and took them to McDonald's for ice cream when I had late labs. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 I wish you could have walked across the stage with me, because I could not have done it without you. I love you. I believe in you, and I know that you can carry on and do anything that you want in this life. You have big things coming your way, so many hopes and dreams that you have kept holding back... After everything you have been through, I know everything else will be "small potatoes" (<< name that movie...). You can do anything!

 The good news is...she is doing AMAZING-ly well now! She has WOWed the doctors.  Her last surgery was this past Friday. She had a skin and quadricep muscle graft (Surgery Part II) to close a pretty extensive open abdominal wall. They essentially completely rebuilt her abdominal wall in Surgery Part I.  It was very complicated and it was touch and go in the ICU for a bit.

Now she is doing great. NO signs of infection. No longer hemodynamically unstable. No more intubation tube. I talked to her when I got home, and I heard something different in her voice. At first I thought it was the pain meds...LOL, but then I realized that it sounded like HOPE. She is starting to feel hopeful for the first time in a loooong time. She has been through SO much and I am amazed by her strength and spirit. I am just in awe.

Sisters 1980
Heather, Crystal, Suzanne

SHE is the strongest woman I know, and although she is not my Mother, she was there for me as we were growing up, and in many ways she assumed the Mother role when she didn't have to. I love her so much. I will keep you posted on her recovery. We are praying that in a few weeks that she will walk out of Johns Hopkins Hospital tube-free for the first time in 8 months. That will be a MIRACLE and the beginning of a new life for her. I hope.....