Life is good, healing is miraculous.

I won't set off metal detectors anymore! Almost all my staples are out!

Yesterday I got amazing news from my surgeon... my healing is way ahead of schedule, and I can go home after my appointment next week!! We were originally told we'd need at least 30 days from surgery to stay put, and only then would we re-evaluate how the healing is going to see when I can get on a plane and return home. Well, We haven't even come close to 30 days, and he is so pleased that he said if I needed to I could go home now (!), but ideally he'd like to see me next week before I go. So yesterday the medical assistant took out almost all of my hundred+ staples. She left about 6 or 7 in still, just in the area where there is the most tension; where he worked most to cover up gapey with muscle and skin. That, unsurprisingly, is the part that hurts me the most from everything he did. But it will get better, I know and believe that now. The recovery has been tremendous. What a total free gift from Hashem. Proper healing, ahead of schedule. I could never have guessed that this would be the case.

me and my surgeon, Dr. Margiotta, and his physician's assistant Lauren,
who has been so very helpful throughout this whole time.

And you know what? I have had no PTSD whatsoever this whole time. I mean, gapey was messed with big time, and I had no PTSD. I think that's because I had such a great preparation for six months beforehand, at the psych hospital and day program that was helping me heal my PTSD. I think it all played a factor in my amazing healing.

So we are terrifically grateful to be going back home in about a week and a half. We'll be there for a week before Dov's induction into the army, which at first we considered the possibility that we might miss the whole thing if healing wasn't going well. I have so much gratitude it's unbelievable, really. I miss home so much.

Having said that, we have done some very meaningful things while we've been here. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish even being in a wheelchair. (I can't walk more than 5 or 10 mins max at this point, and my doctor said that is a lot and don't push it). Robert has wheeled me all over this city! We went to the 9/11 memorial museum which was very poignant. It had videos of survivors and first responders telling their stories, plus many artifacts and personal tributes to individual people. From there we went to "Ground Zero", where the world trade center towers used to be, and we saw the "Freedom tower" as well. Came home exhausted from all that!

On another day we went to a local museum here in the Lower East side, talking about how this one particular community center assisted with childbirth, and general the needs of the poor and ill immigrants living in the squalid conditions of this area. It was done so well that by the end I wanted to leave a donation for the place! It still operates as a community center for arts, soup kitchen, and general reaching out to needy community members.

Then came yesterday... the day I got all (most of) the metal armor taken out of my abdomen! Definitely a landmark day for more reasons than that; I finally, for the first time in my life, went to the top of the Empire State building! Yes, I grew up in New York, and never went there. (I've never been to the statue of liberty either, but that will be for another time.) It was wonderfully exciting, **but** unfortunately a rainy day. There were no lines, though, so at least that! I got some great pictures from up there in the clouds, but one bad thing happened... taking pictures in the rain broke the screen of my phone. I'm so, so forlorn about that. I just basically lost communication with the world, you know? We are so connected to those phones! Good thing I have this blog and my laptop! :)

So, after buying some obligatory Empire State building souvenirs, we went out into the rain (totally unprepared, without umbrellas etc) and on the way back to the ferry we decided to stop into the hospital where my surgery was because we had left some personal medicine there. It took over an hour to get people to search for us where my meds could have gone to, and in the end they were nowhere. I was cold (air conditioning after being out in the rain) , tired, and in pain (remember, staples had just gotten taken out earlier that day), and it was getting really late in the evening. I was getting very cranky. Then we went to go to the ferry to get back to the Lower East Side where we've been staying, and it left the dock without even opening the dock for people to board!!! And there we were in the rain, getting quite soaked to the bone. We then took a cab back home. I was wet, cold and cranky when we got into the apartment with our friends. Immediately, though, they cheered us up! It was wonderful! They were so happy to hear our good doctor news, they said some Psams (tehillim) to praise G-d, and gave me a blanket for around my shoulders, and then a cup of mint tea appeared in my hand. Ahhhhhhh, how quickly moods can change, thank G-d!

So it turns out that our remaining plans are that on Tuesday of next week we are transferring to my dear friend Devorah in New Jersey (we grew up together). We'll be there for the week (with a ride back into Manhattan for my Thursday appointment for the remainder of my staples hopefully), and then take off for home around the 23rd or 24th. We haven't rearranged our plane tickets yet. That's for after Shabbat. I miss my kids and my home so much, I can't *wait* to get home!! Surgery really makes one want to be home. And the apartment shuffle, although it worked out, has been trying in many ways. But the end is in sight! As a gift for our gracious hosts, we have shopped and prepared all of the Shabbat food for them and us together. The lady of the household went to the botanical gardens as a getaway. Yay!

OK, getting ready for Shabbat now, so everyone have a wonderful Shabbat Shalom!