Last Night in the City

One last trip back to the hospital this morning for blood work and to meet with Shani. One of Jim's kidney values was elevated because of the Bactrum they put him on but the doctors feel confident it will slowly come down on its own. It is important for him to drink lots of water which will help flush it out. We said goodbye to Shani once more then went up to the transplant floor to leave cards for two of Jim's favorite nurses. Unfortunately they were off today. After leaving the hospital we stopped briefly in the Catholic Church where I used to sit when Jim was in the hospital. Such a beautiful church.

Our next stop was Dr. Howitz's office. We had gifts for him and Peggy, his nurse practitioner. Once again neither was in today. Darn...we really wanted to see Dr. H. We left the presents behind and started to walk back to the Lodge. The sun was out and the temperature was in the mid 70's. We passed a lot of restaurants on our way back. They all have little tables set up outside even when the view is not palatable. There was a sign out front one of the restaurants that caught my eye.

In the afternoon I spent the time packing. We have accumulated a lot of "stuff" over the last 7 months. We are so glad to be leaving. The last couple of days someone very close to our room keeps spraying lysol. The smell wafts into our room and it is very offensive for Jim and me. Our eyes burn and personally I can't stand the smell. I even have a towel rolled up at the bottom of the door but it doesn't seem to help.

Tonight we said bye to some of the couples we have gotten to know over the last few months. We exchanged numbers and emails and hope to stay in touch. Time will tell. It is still hard to believe we are going home. Tomorrow it will be challenging to pick up the rental car from New Jersey, drive it back to the Lodge and hurry to put all of our belongings inside. There is no place to park out front so Jim will have to drive around until I manage to get all the luggage downstairs. He wanted me to stay with the car but that is not happening. I could never drive around here. It is just too crazy.