I have a LONG list of people that I want to thank for all their help/support while I was sick. I've never actually sat and compiled a list of the names, and now I wonder why. I want to document this so that I will never forget those who went the extra mile to help me when I really needed it.
1. Dr. Robert J. Singer. Dr. Singer, I believe you saved my life. You spent six long hours operating on my brain, and I am alive and well and able to talk about it because of the care you took doing so. Thank you, Doctor.
2. Mommy. You would not leave my side the whole time I was in the hospital after my hemorrhage. Although I cannot remember a lot of it, you stayed with me every night until Dad and B.J. forced you to rest and let B.J. take over. You were with me every single time I went to the hospital, and you were with me before both operations. You gave me showers when I came home and you helped me walk when I could not do it by myself. You helped me see when I had double vision. You came running EVERY SINGLE TIME I woke up crying in pain that first few weeks, even though you barely got any sleep yourself. You were my metaphorical rock. Thank you, Mommy.
3. B.J. You were by my side whenever Mom would give over and let you be :) You would not let me get up to get my own drinks or food. You would not let me carry anything. You gave me my meds and got up with me through those long night when it hurt too bad to sleep more than 15 minutes in a row. You helped me shower and walk. You would not even let me bend over because the doctor said not to. You told me that I was beautiful every single day, even with my head shaved, bloody and bulging eyes, swollen face, a giant scar, staples, everything. You cried because you were scared when they told you I had a hemorrhage and you thought that meant that I was not going to make it. You dealt with all those people telling you that I probably was not going to make it and to spend as much time with me as possible, and all that crap people were saying when they did not even know what was going on. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I love you. Thank you, B.J.
4. Daddy. Daddy, you bought me those silly shower caps when I was not supposed to get my staples wet. You bought me that GIGANTIC balloon from the gift shop, and the sleep mask that helped so much because the light hurt my eyes. You made the three hour trip to the hospital and back several times just so you could be at the hospital with me. You bought me that big, awesome piece of pizza when I was finally allowed to eat again and I was starving :) You sat in that waiting room for six long hour with Mommy and B.J. while I had my surgery. None of you had to be there. I would not even have known the difference. You were there anyway, though. You brought that big, dumb dog home for me. Thank you, Daddy!
5. Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt Carrie, Lauren, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Calvin, Terri and Barry, Britney and LaRon. You guys traveled THREE HOURS to see me, to tell me to get well, to give me moral support and to just show that you cared. None of you will ever know how much that means to me. I wish I had words to say just how much that touches my heart. The prayers from your churches, the cards, all these things helped so much.
6. The employees at Blackboard Student Services, Inc. The donation you took up for us helped so much when B.J. lost his job for missing work and I just could not go back to work. Thank you all for that. You were a God Send.
Rogan. I know in my heart that you are the reason I survived. You were what tied me to life. It's like this part in the book Jane Eyre when Mr. Rochester tells Jane, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you — especially when you are near to me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land, come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapped; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly." I mean, without you I could not be. Without you, I would bleed inwardly. I love you, Son.
There are so many more owing. I can't think of them all now, but it isn't because they do not deserve it.