Saying goodbye to a diseased colon...

For those of you that don't know, my wife has been dealing with ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the colon) for the past 7.5 years. It has been the most difficult thing she's ever had to deal with and it has dominated her life for most of the time we've been together. We'll... as of Friday, May 22nd she no longer has that diseased body part thanks to the wonderful surgeons at Piedmont Hospital. This is an account of our last week in the hospital:

pre-surgery visit from Em and the girls



sunrise over Peachtree



happy couple



colon



Liza's colon (pix from her colonoscopy before surgery). White = inflammation



Post-surgery with new hardware (that's an ileostomy bag she'll wear for 3 months). A link to the "J pouch" surgery she had can be found here- great illustrations.



building up that lung capacity!



spit bath



mom visited from Georgetown



first solid meal



first meal dance



Beauty in nature- to say that I was stressed out and worried during the past few weeks would be huge understatements. The little things in life like these beautiful flowers around the hospital grounds really helped me to see the brighter side of things during our hospital stay.







Things get better and better each day and we expect to be back at home within the next 24-48 hours. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts, prayers, help, and kind words. We couldn't do it without our amazing friends and family!!

What I've been up to the last few weeks...

Durkin' out hardcore on some plants in the forest:


32 year old cut poison ivy on a tree


flowering doghobble




HUGE Jack-in-the-pulpit stand


Magnolia tripetala- "Umbrella Magnolia"


mayapple fruit


paw paw


shrine and tripetala


Trillium rugelii- "Southern nodding trillium"


Calycanthus florida- "Sweetshrub"- a great landscape plant in the East


Old doorknob in forest

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Turnin' 29:


birthday lazers



Old Canoe- blew. everyone. away.



the fam



Waller boys


Lionell getting served by Kat


The Starter Kits






Yardwork. God this is your gift to America.

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Durkin' out on the Angel Oak tree in Charleston











25.5 feet CBH kiddo's.


sunset at CUJ and Jessica's wedding. Simply gorgeous.

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Durkin' out at Jake and Jessica's wedding:

....soon.....