11 more hours to go

As I write this, I have 11 more hours until my surgery. It was moved up to 7:30 a.m., so I'll have to report to the Mayo Clinic Hospital at 5:45 a.m. (yikes, that's early!) The time change has made me more nervous, but I will survive. I'm so tired, I'm going to go to sleep here in a little bit.

So the trip was interesting. Drew and I woke up at 5 a.m. in Atlanta to make it to the nearest MARTA station in time. We got to the airport at about 6:45, and we checked in right away. Since Drew's flight left so early, I was going to follow him to his terminal and see him off. I was behind him going through security, BUT I was one of the lucky people to be herded off to a special part of the airport to wait in line for 30 minutes to be searched and frisked. Lucky me. So I never got to say good-bye to Drew and he had to run to catch his flight.

My flight was supposed to take off for Phoenix at 11:30, but at 11:15 when we hadn't started boarding yet, the lady at the gate counter announced that we couldn't take off because our plane was fresh off the Airbus assembly line and didn't have the manufacturer's sticker on it to be FAA-approved for the flight. We eventually got special permission from the FAA to board at 11:45. Then we had to wait another half hour to get special clearance from the tower to leave the gate. Wow. I've never had so much trouble flying. There were a lot of angry people.

I landed in Phoenix at about 1:15 p.m. Pacific and Drew, Annie, her husband Kendall, and the reporter and photographer from the Yuma Sun met me outside the terminal. When we went down to get my bags, they never came. !!!! So when I went to investigate, it turned out that since I had checked in so early in Atlanta, my bags BEAT ME to Phoenix by getting on the 8 a.m. flight. I couldn't believe it, but I was happy to see that they made it safe and sound.

While waiting for my parents to arrive, I got phone calls from my brother Michael, and my friends Claudia, Kristen and Leah. It was so good to hear from them. :)

So now I'm sending this report from the Mayo Clinic Transplant House, which is at a fabulous ranch in Scottsdale that was donated to the Mayo Clinic a few years ago. There are only seven rooms and it's specifically for Mayo patients. Just a few minutes ago, I met a man named Dennis from Oklahoma (he was watching the A&E channel in the living room where this computer is) who donated part of his liver to his wife a year ago. They were here for a few days for their yearly checkup. He told me not to worry: That once I got there, they'll get me all fixed up with the drugs, and before I know it I'll be waking up after the surgery. There was a couple from Puerto Rico that came in a few hours ago when we checked in. When they arrived, they had a flat tire, so Kendall, my dad and Drew put on the donut. The atmosphere here is just so friendly. I love it.

Plus, it's so beautiful here. :) I can't wait to take pictures.

Well, I think I'm going to sign off. I'm not sure when I'll write next. I might have my boyfriend Drew post a message for me or something of the sort. I'll be sure to keep y'all updated. :)

Until then, wish me luck. :)