“A friend who understands your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only know your smile.”

I know I've been saying it a lot lately, but seriously, my friends are the best. 

On January 23rd, I had my 3rd surgery. 

On January 22nd, my friend, Steve, came up to Palo Alto to stay with us. 

On January 23rd, when I woke up from the surgery, my friend, Chelsey, was there- from Alaska. 

These two had arranged things in their lives so they could be there for me. (Not to mention the amount of finagling and attempted lying in took on my husbands part to surprise me with Chelsey.) 

It was so amazing to have two of my best friends in the world there with me. My doctor said they would be my lucky charms. (But no pressure on them, right?)

Those two saw me right out of surgery...  I don't know if you've ever seen a person after they wake up from brain surgery, but it's not a pretty thing to see.  My face is swollen, I have wires everywhere. It's just... not the best. But when you've been friends with people since you were 15 and you are now... much older than that, it doesn't matter. And they were amazing. And it made me so happy to have them there. After the other two surgeries, they checked on me, sure. But actually having them there, getting real live hugs and everything, it was a totally different experience. It was so nice. It definitely boosted my spirits. 

Everyone has been saying that the the doctor was right, those two would be my lucky charms... and "The third times the charm!" and "this time will be the one!" and I am so sick of having lasers in my head, so you know...  They'd better be lucky.  And I have actually had a few people ask me why I haven't updated my blog in a while, so here I am, updating. 

On February 19th, I had a seizure. But I was told this is ok. This can happen during recovery as your brain gets used to everything and your body is trying to figure out what's going on. If you remember from my other surgeries, this happened then too, so I didn't worry too much about it.  I have had a few auras, but nothing else. 

On March 7th, I went for my first post-op MRI and follow up.  I told the doctor about my seizure and the auras. He looked at the MRI. He heard what I had to say. And right now, we are going to go with a cautiously optimistic outlook. We are doing much better this time, than we were the other two times at this point in time. And that is GOLD TO ME. So I guess I did have a couple of lucky charms with me this third time around. 

Friendship is amazing. And true friends are a blessing. I've said it a million times lately, but I truly mean it, cherish your friends. You never know when you'll need someone to cry with when your face is swollen and your head is bandaged.