One Week

Well today marks the one week mark since Mary's accident. Jim and I have been here since Wednesday evening and have only seen her a few times. She's had many many visitors since she got here and asked to have a quiet day yesterday. We saw her briefly in the morning and then the three of us (Mike, Jim, and I) went our separate ways and gave her some space. Jim went for a bike ride to blow off steam, Mike visited with his mom, and I took the opportunity to get some shoes for Ray's wedding. I think we all needed the break as much as Mary did to be perfectly honest. We did get to see her briefly last night and she was awake and eating and looked really good. Every day is an improvement which is what we like to see!

Aside from Mary and her improvement, the think that amazes me more than anything is the amount of support that all the families here in the ICU give each other. We say hello to each other in the morning, offer to get food or coffee when someone goes downstairs, share our stories, and check in to see how their loved one is doing throughout the day. When someone comes back from a visit everyone stops what they are doing to make sure everything is ok. There is a man here who's brother got in a severe motorcycle accident last Saturday. They just stabilized him this morning. There is another family who's wife/mother/sister had an aneurysm like Marys. Another family is here with their mother who is suffering from cancer. Together, we have all become each other's support system. It truly is amazing, and I am so grateful for all of us here that we all feel like we can give each other that type of support, rather than just sitting in this green and tan waiting room all day long, staring at the wall with nobody to talk to.

So, one week down, with tons of improvement. Hopefully this time next week we'll be talking about a timeline for heading home, or at least getting out of ICU.