We had the follow-up visit with the surgeon and the nutritionist on Thursday. We were hopeful we would get released to return home on Saturday when we had tentatively booked our return flight for, knowing that was the best case scenario. I so wanted to get home, I started even talking about trying to get the fight changed to Friday, if we got released on Thursday. When we met with Dr. Mansfield Thursday, he was very tentative about releasing me. He talked about how I was near the end of when leaks could happen, but they could still happen. He talked about two blood test results that had changed more since I had been released from the hospital than he would like. He discussed seeing what the nutritionist said and then deciding. He knew we were determined to go home and the fact that we already had a flight booked helped. He finally decided to retest the two blood results on Friday. If they were stable or moving back to pre-hospital release numbers, he would let us go. If they were trending further away, he would want us to stay another week. Both test results had to do with hydration. I felt like I was staying plenty hydrated, but the blood work wasn't necessarily supporting that. I did everything I could to make sure I stayed hydrated the rest of Thursday and Friday. At 2pm Friday, we had my blood drawn again. Then it was wait for the phone call. It was about 3:35 when Dr. Mansfield's assistant called. The test results for Friday had been similar to Thursday's results, so I appeared to be stabilizing. She asked me all sorts of questions about how I was doing. She was happy with the answers and said I could go home Saturday. Yay! I knew Saturday would be a big day. I knew travelling would be difficult. But I knew recovering in my own house with my own bed and my own furniture and a full kitchen would be so much easier than recovery in a hotel room.
The travel was actually pretty easy and uneventful. Our flight was at 10:45 so we left the hotel about 8:30. Because of my weight restrictions, I could only carry my purse. Keith had to lug both suitcases and both carry-ons, I felt bad for him, but he was great. We had little line at the airport to check luggage or go through security. The gate was close by so I was able to walk to it and didn't need assistance. The flight was on time, less than 2 hours direct to Kansas City from Houston. We had plenty of room so I was able to stretch my legs during the flight, important to not develop blood clots. I didn't get up and walk as the physician's assistant had recommended, but just did so in my seat. We made it to KC. My oldest daughter, Jesi, picked us up in my van and we were home by 1:30. And I got to sit on my couch in my living room. It is wonderful!
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