What a difference a week makes. Today mum came home from hospital.  One nurse’s parting words were, ‘We’re so pleased. We didn’t know if you were going to make it.’ This is probably because it took mum 12 hours to wake up after the bypass surgery and the anesthetic usually wears off in 4 hours. Dad went back and forth to the hospital 3 times last monday without mum ever coming round.

Thank God for Laura’s brother Barry, a New York cardiologist, who held my hand all week (bless him) and told us that mum’s slow recovery was due to her kidneys having a hard time filtering all the drugs. Three days after the operation mum was in ‘acute renal failure’. The huge list of 12+ drugs to help mum ‘recover’ was a major culprit.  Thankfully, with a little push from the family, the list is now parsed down to 2 or 3 drugs.  And today mum got home to see dad’s new garden shed, which he has been working on feverishly all week.

Back in New York, Laura has been to hell and back this past week with the most awful drug withdrawal symptoms.  At the suggestion of Dr Cervantes at the Gerson Clinic and with the help of her psychiatrist, she has tapered off her anti-depressants (Cymbalta and Citalopram) and then went cold turkey.  She had terrible shivers, trembles, hot and cold flashes (every few seconds a climate change). She has no appetite for her food and juices, couldn’t stand the smell of the coffee and became extremely anxious and moody.  It was harrowing to say the least.  On Monday she went back on a tiny bit of Citalopram.  Her stomach still isn’t quite right, but the shakes and sweats are over and she is more playful and cheerful again. This afternoon we spent 90 minutes lying on a picnic blanket under the trees in the park. What bliss.