big day = big step

today was a HUGE day...while my 6-7 week stay in the hospital i made many friends who i am close and are very near and dear to my heart...when tom wasn't there the nurses and staff of 5300 were there to hold my hand while getting chemotherapy, flip through a magazine with me in the middle of the night while having a slice of pizza or just provide a shoulder for me to cry on those tough days/nights when i just needed a good cry and didn't want to do it in front of tom...as much as i love all of them, i have not been able to visit the unit since my last stay in december..too many emotions and could NOT do it...

well, around 11:30am i checked facebook and noticed that my friend nicole would be working today until 3pm. in a spur of a moment, i said to tom around 12:15pm, i am going to 5300 today..of course, he asked me if i wanted him to go with me...in the back of my mind i wanted to big and bad and go alone, but who was i kidding i needed my rock to be there, just in case i chickened out at the last minute...well, i did not chicken out..in the elevator ride i could feel a big lump in my throat, but thanks to tom we entered the unit via an alternate entrance i was not used to (that helped out)...it was great..i saw denise (my first nurse when i was admitted on september 1),silvia, maria, anna (who shares the same birthday with me), mari fran, lori ann, aileen and of course nicole (my facebook buddy)...i held it together until nicole (who was working a different unit today) came up...i started to cry when we hugged each other, but overall no waterworks...it was AWESOME seeing them...so great!!!! God gave me the strength and continues to give me the strength i need each and every day....
TJ of course, was a superstar and they all loved him and said how big he had gotten from the last time they saw him...the girls were happy to see me and continuously said how good i looked..maria even commented on my bootie and i said "yes the bootie is back, thank the Lord for that"...
at another point of our visit, tom took tj for a little walk and when i saw tom in the background of the nurses' station i got a flashback to when i would walk him out (IV pole in tow)at night after his daily visit...the unit was pretty quiet which is great because to me that means there weren't many people with cancer....so it was a BIG DAY for me and i am ecstatic i took this giant step in my emotional/mental recuperation of this process.... Check it out

on to other news, besides our sunday outing...on friday my parents came over (as usual) and we watched the yankees literally spank the red sox...early on in the week tom and i decided that on saturday we were going to go do some car shopping since the lease on our truck will mature on October 1st..needless to say it was a pretty unsuccessful trip...we are hopefully going back this week or labor day weekend and get something..on saturday, we also had my great aunt (ruqui) and her husband (ramon)come out with my parents and grandma and we cooked up a storm of food..it was delicious and i was very happy i could participate in the cooking process (the little things i can do still excite me, even after almost a full year)....

this week should be a good week...kellie (tom's sister) is coming down to spend a couple days with us and wednesday is my weekly number checkup and hopefully on thursday tj will get a haircut...

fyi...marc anthony is still on tour and while tj and i are in florida marc will be in miami...i am highly considering getting tickets to see him...we will see what the boss says...i can never get too much of marc!

sports update: good yanks/sox game so far...top of the 5th, yanks 7 sox 3 a-rod at the plate and hit a 2-run homer...