Life in the waiting room

I’d like to share these observations from Gretchen, who spent a lot of time in the hospital this past weekend. She is the mother of one of Alicia’s good friends and responded to my request for help generating posts and content for the site. I think it nicely captures what it was like waiting in the ICU, where only 2 people were allowed in at a time. One visitor compared Alicia to a “midnight door buster” – leaving people waiting at all hours.

Saturday, April 10, 2010 10 am

Sitting in the waiting room has been an amazing experience. Alicia has so many wonderful friends who care so much for her.  Most people started hearing about her condition on Thursday. By Friday, when I got here from Reno, many friends were already here. And, they didn’t just come from San Francisco. They are already here from Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, Boulder, Colorado, Lexington, Kentucky and Sacramento, California. They are reaching out to her circle of incredible network of friendship. Another friend is arriving from Germany today. There is a cruise ship somewhere that has a crew member who is leaving her job on the ship to fly to see Alicia.

And, it’s not like they are just friends that haven’t seen her in a while.  As we talked and reminisced in the waiting room, they kept mentioning things like, “I just talked with her on Tuesday”, or “When we talked two weeks ago…”.

This morning more friends came from LA and Reno (leaving at 4 am to get here for the day). Even though it’s very tough, it’s also comforting to be able to talk with each other and share our bonds with Alicia. It just re-confirms what a wonderful person she is.

12:13 pm

Well, the waiting room is packed, not a seat left in the place and we’re all here for Alicia. That means that there are about 18 people here already. Everyone knows that it may be several hours before they get to see her, and that’s just fine with all. Shannon is managing the waiting list for Alicia and giving any updates that come from Alicia.

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