We are home. We hope to stay home this time but I’m still taking it one day at a time. It was wonderful to sleep in my own bed, take a shower in my own bathroom, and cook food that Dale can have on a renal diet that actually has some taste and that he likes. Things I hated were Dale being in pain and having to go through so much physically, being alternately hopeful and terrified, leaving my kids here on their own, sleeping on a pull-out chair, having no privacy, having sleep constantly interrupted, missing work and the seniors graduation, being afraid that no matter what I did – it wouldn’t be enough. Things I am so very thankful for are Dale while still being very weak physically is now more like his old self and feeling more positive, for my kids being able to keep things together and finish school without us here, for meeting folks that were often in much worse condition than we were and finding that we could all pray for each other and hold each other up, for doctors and nurses that cared, for finding that I can drive in Dallas, for Robert at Hicks who scotch-taped my air conditioner together to keep it working for a little longer, for the prayers and concern and calls and emails from all the people who love us and who we dearly love, for Jack at the dialysis center who paid attention and realized that Dale had something else going on and needed to get back to the hospital, for all the people at the dialysis center who called us in Dallas to check on us and who gathered around to welcome Dale back tonight and probably much much more. I’m still running on adrenaline and I think I will probably crash and burn this weekend. I’m planning on a long Saturday afternoon nap with the kids here to look after their dad and maybe a long soak in the tub.