Surgery Day - Morning Edition

Well, the day has finally arrived - Brad's day that he has his ureter reimplantation surgery. We got a call last Friday from the hospital and his surgery is scheduled to begin at 3:30pm, which is about three and a half hours from now. However, we have to be at the hospital at 2:00pm to check-in. At that point he will have a physical and then we will meet with the anesthesiologist and the doctor so they can tell us what to expect.

We are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg, with is literally one block from All Children's Hospital. This way, we can both alternate staying with Bradley in the hospital, and staying with & entertaining Jacob while Brad has the surgery and recovers. We checked in here last night, and the people and the place is simply amazing. Last night Seminole United Methodist Church came here and prepared a ginormous Easter dinner for all the families staying here. There was more food and desserts than any of us could possibly eat in one (or two) sittings! There was turkey, ham, fried chicken, lasagna, and all the trimmings you could think of. Then for dessert they had cookies, pineapple upside down cake, banana pudding, brownies... the list goes on and on! The people here are so welcoming and we are thankful that there is a place like this to where we can be right by Bradley and still feel like we are at home.



This morning we took it pretty east. Actually, we took it realllllly easy. We decided that since we are so close to the water and are literally in downtown St. Petersburg, that we would break out Jacob's stroller and our walking shoes and just go and walk through downtown and explore the place. We came across spectacular condos that line the downtown sky, old brick taverns tucked away between homespun coffee houses and bistros, and then my favorite - we found a gelato shop. Oh my word. If it wasn't 9:00am, I would have ordered a chocolate hazelnut waffle cone of the fabulousness... and quickly! But, I was a good girl, had a sample and said I would "come back later" (which I definitely plan to before I leave!). We also went to the St. Pete Pier and watched the sunlight cascading over the Gulf of Mexico. There were crazy huge pelicans there and you could feed them (by purchasing fish from a little bait shop on the coastline), but we opted not to. There had to be at least 30 of the birds! They were harmless, but Bradley wanted nothing to do with them.

Right now we are back at the RMDH and Brad is next to me watching some music videos on YouTube, while I am updating this for all to read. He is taking this so well right now. He has moments of fear and worry, but they quickly pass when Hans & I assure him that he is in good hands - God's hands. For now, we are relaxing until two hours from now when we arrive for check-in and the chaos begins. I plan to update more tonight. Until then, please keep us in your thoughts & prayers.

God Bless,
The Rellers (Hans, Kim, Brad, & Jake)