Home from the Hospital!

YEAH - She's HOME! Kristen's surgery went very well on Wednesday and after only one night in the Hospital she was released and is now recovering and resting (sleeping actually at the moment) at home. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, encouragement, calls, emails, letters, positive vibes, flowers, offers of food, and countless other acts of love and kindness from so many of our friends and family. Love is certainly in the air around here - thank you all.



This picture was taken earlier in the day - she's happily holding the 3 drain bulbs that she'll be living with for the next week or so (notice the conscripted Camelbak fanny pack - easier than pinning the bulbs to the inside of her gown). Kristen's spirits are great - she's still a bit groggy at times - but she should shake that off by this evening and even now is generally feeling pretty good. Her appetite has returned and after 3-4 days of solid R&R she'll be well on her way to a full recovery from the surgery.

Special thanks to Christy for hanging out with me yesterday during the surgery (6 nervous hours is a LONG TIME) and for making sure Kristen was squared away with the best doctors and nurses Kaiser had to offer - you're great - thanks.

What's next? 2-3 days before we get the pathology results back - which will hopefully show good clean margins (meaning they'll be pretty confident they got it all). Then back to the surgeon next week to get the drains removed - followed (most likely) by 7-8 weeks of localized radiation therapy... but we'll see - with chemo and now surgery behind us the future is looking pretty bright :) - and the kids come home on the 10th!