DAY 19 (Wednesday, June 12): It’s Philippine Independence Day! (Maligayang araw ng kasarinlan!) It’s also mom’s discharge day. Finally! Her day of freedom from those nasty IV lines, catheters, needles, etc. Time to go home, see the outdoors for real, and lie in her own bed, among many other things. Thank you to everyone who continue to pray for us and send their support.

As many of you probably know, this is only the beginning of a different chapter—her road to complete recovery continues at home We’re all still bleary-eyed and tired from the almost three weeks’ hospital stay. I don’t even remember all the discharge instructions they gave (I had to call our discharge nurse again for some of the info about her medicines). And we’re scrambling to get her an oxygen concentrator, a nebulizer, and a bunch of other things.

CAN’T WAIT TO GET BACK TO NORMAL: She was so excited to be home, she wanted to walk from the door to her room. She wasn’t supposed to exert too much today, but we let her get a feel of it since she had been on a hospital bed for nearly three weeks. Just a few steps left her winded, but it was a good start.