99 Silver Linings

1. Children’s Hospital is like EPCOT.
2. Our male nurse named Coop who whispered when Tuck was sleeping, listened to his pain, and was every bit a man’s man.
3. The ‘ball circus’ in the lobby of Children’s Hospital.  We could watch for hours.
4. Scents and flavors to change the smells and tastes of medicines.
5. Nurses who tell riddles as you’re falling under the spell of general anesthesia.
6. “Can you play Uptown Funk in the operating room?”  “You bet, kiddo.”
7. No shots, pokes, or IVs until you’re fast asleep.
8. Policies that let Mom stay with you while you’re falling asleep and then while you’re waking up.
9. Deep, safe sleep that makes a 2-hour surgery feel like it was two minutes long.  (For the patient.  Not for the mom.)
10. “Everything went well, Mom.”
11. The epic nature of a post-surgery x-ray to show 5 rods and 1 screw in the new bionic foot.
12. Popsicles.
13. Air Hockey in the activities room.
14. Beating Poppa at Air Hockey.
15. Beating Mom at Air Hockey
16. Mom winning at Air Hockey.
17. Cable TV, since Mom pulled the plug on DirecTV at home.
18. Room service.
19. Pancakes.
20. Big Hero 6.
21. Guardians of Galaxy.
22. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
23. Breakfast burritos.
24. Wood-Fired Pizza.
25. Ice cream.
26. Ice cream sandwiches.
27. Grandma visiting.
28. Poppa visiting.
29. Tyler visiting.
30. Football Coach visiting.
31. Fourth grade teacher visiting.
32. Football teammate visiting.
33. The ‘hot dog’ statue from Coach, “Because I’m pretty sure you were hot doggin’ when you got this injury.”
34. Aunt Rachael’s visit.
35. Playing games with little cousin Nate.
36. Crutches!
37. Physical Therapy: “You passed!”
38. Cute Nurse Chelsea.
39. Cute Nurse Maggie.
40. Cute Nurse Nikki.
41. Cute Nurse Jaclyn.
42. Cute Nurse Janette.
43. Cute Nurse Megan.
44. Cute Nurse MaryLisa.
45. Coca-cola.  Mom never says yes at home.
46. Fanta!
47. Chocolate chip cookies.
48. Dazbog Coffee for Mom.
49. Chocolate mousse gelato.
50. Mint chocolate chip gelato
51. Toasted coconut gelato.
52. Going to the bathroom, finally unassisted.
53. Glass elevators that we went out of our way to ride again.
54. Butterfly mosaics on the floor.
55. Morphine.
56. Colace.
57. Tylenol.
58. Ibuprofen.
59. IV.  Or as Tuck called it, “The VIP.”
60. IV coming out.
61. Cotton balls.
62. X Rays.
63. The help button.
64. Comfortable beds.
65. Happy mylar balloons.
66. Little red wagons with IV poles.
67. Nickelodeon.
68. Salad bar.
69. Bleu cheese dressing.
70. Reese’s Cups.
71. Rolos.
72. Gummy Bears.
73. Glow Sticks.
74. Dr. Stoneback, the Orthopedic surgeon.
75. Dr. Stoneback’s cowboy boots.
76. Advocates.
77. Mom’s iPad.
78. Card games with Mom.
79. The fast and addictive game: Blink!
80. Wearing one shoe.
81. “Insurance says there’s no medical reason for you to stay.”
82. “We just established a medical reason for you to stay.”
83. “It’s okay, Mom.  We’ve got this.  Insurance doesn’t make all the decisions.”
84. “Mom, we’ve got four nurses on Tucker’s watch tonight.  Please… sleep.”
85. “You feel ready to go home?  Great.  Then we feel ready to send you.”
86. Discharge orders.
87. Valet Parking.
88. Coming home.
89. Two Months of Meals provided by friends, family, and the virtual you.
90. Wheelchair delivered to our house.
91. Even better: SCOOTER delivered to our house!
92. Naming the scooter: Goliath.
93. More Netflix.
94. More Popsicles.
95. More Legos.
96. More ice cream.
97. Family Camping in the living room.
98. Hanging out with his Mom, day in and day out.
99. Realizing again that she is exceedingly cool.

And the list grows.