I never thought I would be back in Pennsylvania this soon!!!

There truly is ALWAYS SOMETHING going on in our family! Hope and I returned to Texas on Monday, while John stayed in PA to work for the week. During the night on Tuesday, John woke up with excruciating pain. Pain like when I took him to the ER a few months ago when they couldn't figure out what it was. He tried to wait it out, but couldn't, so he went back to the ER in Harrisburg. They quickly figured out the problem--his gallbladder had to come out. So emergency surgery was scheduled for the next morning

So, meanwhile, I get the call Wednesday morning from John. He is telling me he is fine, doesn't need me to fly up there...typical man things. My awesome friends at church supported me and my feeling that I needed to go. April took care of everything for my program for Wednesday night and Hope until my mom and dad could make it from Little Rock, Sharon took care of travel plans and loaned me some cash so I didn't have to stop at the ATM. Then, the ID issue hits me like a rock. I went to get my TX driver's license Monday, and it takes 2 weeks to get it by mail (remember...TX is better than AR) and they took my old AR one, so I do not have a government picture ID, just a slip of paper from the great state of TX saying my license is in the mail. Airport security says you must have the picture ID. Sharon calls the airlines, tells the all the documents I do have, they say it's a risk, but I just might be able to get through if I arrive early. Genius Becky remembers that Hope's Dr's office would have a copy of my old one, so I ran by there to pick it up. At the airport, they search everything that I have with me, and I get the pat down, but I made it through!! Whew! Home free, right? Not so much. The airplane has a fuel leak. Hours later, they switch airplanes, put us on it, we're on the runway when bad weather is headed our way. The captain comes on and says that we will be stuck on the airplane for no less than 2 hours. They finally find a way to get us back to the terminal. They cancel our flight, the only one to Harrisburg for the day. Thanks to John's awesome company, they find a way to get me to Chicago for the night, and a flight from there to Harrisburg first thing in the morning. So, after some more delays for the Chicago flight, I make it there at about 3 a.m., sleep on airport chairs for a couple of hours, and make it to PA at about 10:30, where one of John's friends picks me up to take me to the hospital.

I get there, and John's surgery has been pushed back from 10 to 1:30. So, although he was ready to get it over with, I was happy I got to see him. They were still not sure that they could get it out laproscopically (which John had failed to mention when he was saying I didn't need to come!) They had an opening around noon, so he went in for surgery. It took a little over an hour. And, although they were able to get it out laproscopically, it was so enlarged that it caused more trauma to his muscles than they expected. He should have been able to go home within 3 hours, but they were unable to control his pain, so they kept him overnight again. I was able to finally bring him to his apartment today around 11:30. Right now the plan is for us both to fly home tomorrow evening if he is feeling up to it. Hopefully he can get some good rest today and still be okay to get home tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for their help and prayers! My mom and dad are taking care of Hope in TX. They took her to her end of the year program this morning and said she was wonderful! I can't wait to see pictures! I will post them when I get them!