Full Circle

Recently, Curtis and I had the opportunity to go back to the hospital where he was taken after his car accident 3 years ago.

It was our first time back. I was excited...and nervous. I wasn't sure how it would be for me, and I didn't want to be crying the whole time!
It was emotional, but in a good way. It was so wonderful for me to see some of the wonderful people that took care of us those first 2 months. I think it was good for them too~ so often, they never get to see former patients, and the outcome of all their hardwork.

I was so nervous & didn't want to impose on everyone, so I only got one picture this time! Next time I'll make sure I get more.
This is Curtis and me with one of our favorite MICU nurses, Barb. Let me tell you, this woman is awesome and I love her to death! She was so good to us. She and I have kept in touch and I send her photos and updates about Curtis on a regular basis.
Curtis does not remember anything from his hospital stay. It was a little weird for him to have all these people that knew him, but he didn't know any of them! But boy, they were all so happy to see him.

This is kind of a silly picture. When we visited the MICU, Barb was with a patient so we had to wait a bit to see her. But, several people recognized Curtis (even though they didn't all know him) because Barb posts the pictures and updates I send on the bulletin board for everyone to read. It was funny to have people say, "I know you, your Curtis & you had a pebble in your lung." While he was in MICU, he had a pebble that he had aspirated into his lungs and it had to be sucked out. This is picture of that pebble. I guess having an object in your lung is not all that common of an occurence. I try not to think too much about how it got there. (I know how it got there, just don't like to think about it!) I also learned, that he was one of the first patients that they had used the procedure of storing the pieces of his skull in an incision in his abdomen on. So, he's a bit of a celebrity, ha ha!

Here's a picture of some of the strange memorablia I kept from his hospital stay: (Ignore the bottle of lotion, it doesn't belong in the picture).

Weird, the things you hang on to! Some stuff just ended up coming home with us, but some of it was specifically for "memorablia". :) The Vena Cava filter was in his artery, to prevent blod clots. It's a weird looking little device, not at all what I pictured. And the notes I took are scribbled on the back of an envelope, because it was the only thing I could think to grab to take notes on. And even though I said to ignore the bottle of lotion...it did remind me of a funny story. When Curtis was in the rehab unit, for some reason he liked his feet rubbed. Anytime someone would walk in the room, he would stick his feet out. Everyone would rub his feet for him~family, nurses...everyone thought it was funny. We went through about 3 big bottles of lotion on his feet!

I also took Curtis on a tour of the hospital, and shared some memories and funny stories with him. It was just a wonderful day for me! There are still several people we would like to see, and that Curtis would like to meet so he can remember them. We'll go back again in a few months and I will for sure take pictures next time.