So thankful right now, and blessed with wonderful friends and family.
My best friend took a helicopter ride to the hospital last Monday. She had fallen very ill, and went into respiratory distress. While on the flight en route, she went into respiratory arrest and was placed on a ventilator. For all of Monday she was hooked up to every tube and monitor imaginable. The only things keeping her alive were drugs and that ventilator. To the doctors and nurses I was her sister. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go in her room in the ICU. I can't thank her family enough for allowing me as much time as I wanted with her. I never realized how much I relied on her for everything. I wanted to be there every second. I wanted to breathe for her. I felt helpless. We all did.
She tried so hard to communicate. She whispered, she signed, she drew in my palm. She was desperate, and it was difficult to watch my lively spirited friend get frustrated. Thankfully on Tuesday evening they took out the tube. She wanted to talk, a lot! Still on many meds though, she wouldn't start remembering our conversations until Thursday evening/Friday morning. I know she has a black hole where several days should be. (She won't remember the foot rub, or saying "This isn't how our sleepover was supposed to be!" We were planning a girl's night, with a hair cut and highlights so she feels fresh before her bakery opens.)
Yes, she is opening up a bakery. She is the very friend I have worked with for 14 years, now going on to open a wonderful bakery and cafe with another friend. There is still much to do to get ready, but she needs to build her strength, as she just went home. There are plenty of people to help get it going, but I know how much she wants to be there.
One thing is for sure. I can't let days go by, or weeks or months, without telling my loved ones that I love them. Not just my "family" but my chosen family as well. She won't remember me telling her how much I love her, or that I need her friendship like the air I breathe, while in the hospital.
But she'll remember it today.
