The story of who I am...and who I have come to be... Part Deux

Wednesday was full of phone calls of anyone we could get a hold of. Everyone and anyone was welcome to come to the hospital and Atlanta for that matter. Friends and family flew in from every which way. I only remember my phone call to Jessica. She was sick to her stomach and had left work the minute she heard. I heard relief in her voice after I told her who I was. I went to my sister's room a lot that day. I sang to her, talked to her, and joked with her. Jason went back every time with me.

That afternoon some more family and friends arrived from other places. I went to the airport with the "airport team". My aunt sue, uncle mike, steph's friends, lisa, jason, and mike as well as my aunt carol came for support and to say goodbye.

The hospital staff set us up in a private waiting area. The only problem was that we needed MUCH more space than a 10 person waiting room. We had about 50 people there. If they weren't already there, they were calling on the waiting room phone to get directions to the hospital or updates.


Many people arrived that day. We kept packing them in. I remember collapsing on the floor frequently after visiting in the room. That didn't stop me from going back in repeatedly through the day. Wednesday night I finally slept. My body had had enough. I had developed a sinus infection on top of everything else.
4 of us piled in a hotel room attached to the hospital. We all slept really well that night. We got up and went back downstairs. Mother had put a post out for me so the first person to see me was to send me back to Steph's room. She was ready...she asked me when I was ready, we need to take her off life support. I made her promise she would wait until everyone that wanted to come got there. That morning there were tornado warnings in the Atlanta area so that held things up a bit. We met with the transplant team as we knew Steph was an organ donor. They needed to prep before doing anything. By noon, half the University of Georgia staff, our family, and some of Steph's nearest friends were crammed in the ICU. We waited, prayed, sang (yeah that was interesting!) and prayed some more while the doctors unhooked everything. Then we PILED everyone who wanted to be in there into her TINY room. She took 3 breaths...I told her to let go and to tell daddy hi. She was gone...