Happy Thanksgiving!

I just want to say that I am really thankful for this website and for everyone who participates.  I am especially thankful to Jill and her family for dedicating so much time to helping so many MM patients.  

I have been busy playing catch-up with my life after surgery, here in Germany.  I had my surgery at Stanford at the end of September and it went very well and the recovery was amazingly fast.  I was back to working full-time 3 weeks after getting out of the hospital.  I have been feeling a bit guilty for not participating on this site as much as I would like to but I think of this site often and how important it is...especially, for people who are still in the initial confussing stages when first diagnosed.  Now that things are slowly getting back to “normal”, I hope to have more time to log on.

Monica    

So many things to be thankful for this year!  I've said this a million times before, but if anyone had told me 2 years ago what we'd be doing with our time now, I would've thought that person was out of their mind.  This was not in my plan!!!!!  Another reminder that life isn't about what we have planned, right?

In hindsight, this is probably far better than anything I could have come up with on my own.  In the process of trying to help the experts help people who are diagnosed with MM, we are also passionate about helping to educate the medical profession.  I know that every small step will someday add up to the answers!

Monica, don't feel guilty at all about not being here on a regular basis.  You started a new job upon your return to Germany, and you needed to recover and get your life back on track.  I have faith that you will be here and of help to others when the time is right.  In the meantime, I hope things are going well with you, Thomas and your father (I need to call your father one of these days to catch up with him!)

Anyway, to everyone in my MM family . . . Happy Thanksgiving!    I hope you're all eating, drinking and being merry!  I'm grateful for each one of you, and especially grateful to DJ for allowing us to all come together through this site.

Big [smiley=hug.gif],
Jill      

Monica,

It was good to hear from you and know that you are doing so well after your sugery at Stanford.

I too am so very grateful for many things but especially grateful and thankful to DJ for this site and Jill, Tara and Campbell for taking care of me and holding my hand and lending an ear when I had questions while Kevin (Cubbie) had two direct bypasses in May of this year at Stanford. Had we not found this site, we may never have found our way to Stanford nor would we have had the opportunity to meet Jill and family and have such a great people to call friends.  Dr. Steinberg gave Kevin a second chance at life when all other doctors sent him home to live out whatever life he had left. So one can only begin to imagine how grateful we are to Dr. Steinberg, Teresa and the entire Stanford moyamoya/neuroscience team.

I'll be watching for  future posts from you Monica. Especially since you are now settled in with your return to Germany and your new job. I followed your story before and after Stanford and could really relate to all you were going through. When I tell people we had to go all the way to the west coast (almost 3,000 miles) to be treated, their eyes bug out and their jaw drops to the ground. Gives me the opportunity to spread the word about moyamoya and the Stanford moyamoya program.

Take Care,

Lore