Joni, I am sooo glad you are home. If there is anything we can do, let me know. I mean it and I believe you know that. I hate you had such a horrible time in the hospital. I, on the other hand, had my Mom with me and she never left my side. She took excellent care of me--helped with my baths, helped me with my walking, helped with it all. I am blessed and I know it. I am not going to call because I do not want to wear you out. Call me as soon as you feel like it. Jacquie If you need someone to make a run to the grocery store, call us.

Ah, my poor little apartment that I have maligned, complained about, whined about its clutter....I am so glad to see it again! Thank you everyone for the well wishes, birthday greetings, ecards, presents, phone calls, visits, etc., etc., etc. I have been totally overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support from my friends. I am still.....STILL....in a LOT of pain and have a lot of fatigue and nausea still, but at least I am HOME. As awesome as Debbie was, I am still glad to see all my "junk" again and sleep in my own bed. Beth....oh my gosh....Beth.....THANK YOU. Beth helped me in ways no one should have to do. But she did it cheerfully, even coming from her house in the wee hours of the night to help us when I got really sick. The hospital....I wouldn't wi**** on my worst enemy. They did have some real JEWELS as far as nurses and techs, but overall, the care was NOT anything remotely resembling care. I would tell you everything that happened, but there just isn't room or time. I will say that when one nurse came to remove my catheter, she just pulled off my sheet, spread my legs, exposing my bloody Kotex and privates to everyone. At one point, she had me hyperventilating and crying, standing in the floor with Debbie trying to help me cover up and get my panties and another Kotex on. Beth rounded up the patient advocates and got me another nurse and let my story be told about all the humiliation and lack of dignity I was experiencing with these people. Again, thanks Beth. I ended up having to go back in the hospital, probably due to the lack of care I had received the first go round. The second time, I had to lay for hours in my diarrhea because no one could be bothered to clean me up. Asking for pain meds was impossible because my calls for the nurse were ignored. I was unable to walk like I knew I was supposed to because no one came to get me to walk me. I asked for a walker, but didn't get it until the last day. When I asked the nurse about walking, she sighed loudly like I was really bothering her and asked, "Do you have some family coming who can walk you?" Anyway, not one soul in the hospital would help me walk. When I went back into the hospital the second time, the doctor had told me I was going to HAVE to walk, but when I got in the hospital, I was on IVs which were not properly put in, so everytime I barely moved, it started beeping, so the nurses keep telling me to stay in the bed and keep still. Well, this is just a small sampling of what it was like at Shelby. I know some people enjoyed their stay at Shelby and technically, if I had had the good nurses most of the times I was there, I would have enjoyed it, but the horrendous ones I had made my stay there terrible. One night after getting out of the hospital the first time, when wicked Hurricane Katrina came through and we were without power, we were SAVED by Sandy's candles she had given me. Sandy, thank you for the candles and for all the other goodies and for driving up to see me! It was so awesome to get to meet you in person! Debbie and I talked about you that night we were without power! We would have been completely in the dark had it not been for those candles! Debbie had tons of them at her place and I had tons of them at my place, but we were at John's place, so we had no candles. Well, I am too tired to sit up too much longer and have a million other emails I need to answer and will never get to, but I wanted to check in and let you all know I am home, email accessible and will be posting more as time and energy permits. I'm still in a lot of pain, still fatigued, still trying to keep my lungs clear and am taking lots of meds and vitamins to try to perk myself up. My hematacrit level was low yesterday and he had told me I could go home, then he came back and mentioned a blood transfusion or taking iron supplements. He let me leave since he had already said I could, but I have to go get a blood test....somewhere....on Tuesday to see if it's better. So I'm hoping I don't have to have a blood transfusion. I have so much bruising from where he did the liver biopsy, which was normal, thank goodness, so all my blood cells are going to try to repair all that...the bruising is horrendous. Hopefully the iron supplements will help, although he had said it would be liquid and it is tablets, so who knows. I wish I had some good old fashioned Geritol. Anyway, hopefully I will get some ENERGY soon and can start my life again. My weight loss is minimal at this point, but this has never been about the weight. It is about my health and this is not a competition and I'm not on any deadlines, so I'm not even going to worry about the scales, especially since I have no livestock scales here at the apartment. Ok, I'm sure you are all wondering if I ever told my parents.... Well, after all that stress and worry, it was no big deal. My mother, instead of the expected stressing and accusations....just went on talking about HER AILMENTS as if I had never even said a thing. She did ask a few questions, but mostly, as ever, it was about her. I told them about the surgery, telling them that there was a surgery that I thought could help my health, but led them to believe that, while it is gastric bypass surgery, people also have the surgery to help cure things like sleep apnea, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Of course, it's not over yet. I'm sure she will have more comments and questions as she has time to mull it all over, but today, it was okay. My family had KFC family dinner with the chicken, creamed potatoes and gravy, slaw, biscuits, the new little cake they have and they also got me a big birthday cookie with my name on it. I was able to eat a little of the creamed potatoes and was okay with that. Speaking of food, when I had to go back in the hospital the second time, I had only had about 1/2 of a bottle of water that day and had been unable to get anything else down. I had a CT scan and chests xray, but I wasn't allowed anything else to eat or drin****il the test results came back the following day. So I was bummed and SO thirsty. The next day, after getting the go-ahead to have some sustenance, they brought me a plate with a big ol' hunk of beef, creamed potatoes and carrots. I told them I cannot eat that yet, so they took it away. For supper, they brought me a hard, dry piece of chicken and RICE. I explained to them that I cannot eat that, so they took it away. This went on for two days with them bringing me food I could not eat and not bringing me anything else. The nurses kept saying they were trying to get them to bring me something I could eat, but they never did. One angel tech found me an apple juice, no sugar added, that went down well, stayed down and was delicious. I had told Debbie to stay at home with her family during this time because she had done so much and I wanted her to have some family time. Besides, with the gasoline being rationed, she didn't need to be driving here and there. When she did come, she brought me a cup of soup, creamy chicken, or I would have starved to death at that place. Dr. Stahl told me I could have eaten any of the food, but hello! One week out, he's wanting me to eat BEEF, when I was in there with dehydration from diarrhea???? And RICE? I have heard people talking about how rice NEVER goes down well. The first day or two I was able to eat after the surgery, it was like my taste buds came alive. Everything tasted heavenly....chicken broth was the nectar of the gods. Now, nothing tastes good. The only thing that sounds good to me right now is a burrito supreme. I imagine that's because I went to Taco Bell for my farewell burrito supreme before the surgery and was imagining the taste, especially the sour cream. I got home with my farewell burrito supreme and what did I have? A soft taco...no sour cream. So Taco Bell.....grrrrr! I know that eventually I can have a few bites of the inside of a burrito supreme, so that's okay, but it's the only thing that sounds good now. Anyway, I am off to go rest. I know I'm missing a lot here, but I have been gone from my computer a long, long time, so I don't think I will ever catch up! My hands are going numb even as I'm typing this, so will have to rest for a while. Love you guys! It's been a gloriously beautiful day here, a perfect day for my birthday. This is my seventh annual 39th birthday! Joni

You know what, forget about half of what I said...Renee is right...you need to take care of yourself right now. Sometimes I have to remind myself...no one asked for your opinion...keep it to yourself. Becky

Hey Beth! Have you ever tried Airborne? That stuff is great...its bascially Vitamin C and some nutrients...but I take it when I'm getting a cold at school and it always makes me feel better! You're in my thoughts and prayers...feel better soon! Love you, Becky

Hey guys, I talked to Debbie a little while ago. Joni has a mild case of pneumonia. Her CT looked good otherwise (surgery related)...thank goodness. Please keep Joni in your thoughts as she continues to recover. I haven't gotten to see her today and I feel bad, but I don't think I should go see her with a fever. You guys...if you see this and feel like it please call to cheer joni up..the number is 205 620-8327. Love yall, Beth