What smells provoke your memory?

Have you ever been somewhere or done something where it immediately reminded you of a place in time you have been before. This happened to me this morning and it brought back a rush of memories from eleven months and four days ago.

Over the weekend, I received a bill in the mail from North Austin Medical Center asking me to pay $19,212. Upon inquiry, if I were to pay this amount in the next ten days I would only have to give them a check for $3587. I would have to say that the medical industry has pretty good margins on their services. After six more phone calls and people in four states later, I determined that the claim for Reece being in NICU was denied due to not having the proper medical records sent to the insurance company. Now............in order to have medical records released, you must request "in person" the release at the hospital providing the service............meaining I have to drive at lunch today across austin to show that I am a real person.

I told all of that to say this.................

Upon stepping ten feet inside the doors of the hospital, it was like the eleven months since I had been there last were erased. The smell of that place.........good or bad........reminded me of the ten days I spent there in May of last year. I think most of all it is the smell of surgical scrub. In order to see and hold Reece, we had to scrub our hands and elbows for six minutes with a special soap and sponge, only after we went thru security to get into the NICU. That place was like fort knox. The entire event came back to me as if it were yesterday.

Getting the call from Jaime six weeks early and not being able to get a flight home from Madison WI. Finally getting home to be with Jaime and having to sleep on a couch in the hospital that my feet stuck past almost to the knee. Finally going home for some sleep only to have Jaime call two hours later to say it was time. Thinking I was Jeff Gordon on the way to the hospital. Reece coming via emergency C-section. Jaime and I in recovery trying to figure out what we were going to name him. Luckily.... moments before she went in for surgery, Jaime saw his name on the credits of a movie she was watching. Getting to see Reece for the first time and thinking how lucky we were. Not being able to take him home immediately because he was so small. Thinking how lucky were were that he was the most developed baby in the NICU. Getting Jaime home after a few days recovery. Having to drive the long way to the hospital to see Reece three times a day due to limited visitation times at fort knox. The heartache we felt for Reece when his circ bled for 8 hours. The tests..............all of the tests. Laying at home in bed at 3 am when we got the call from the doctor that he had Hemophilia. Thinking how scared we were. Getting to bring him home and not knowing what to expect. There was a whole lot going on in between these things, these were just the immediate thoughts that came with walking in to the hospital today.

If we only knew then what we know now, I am sure this would have been a little easier. Education over the last eleven months was the key. At the end of writing this, all I can think is.....................How Lucky We Are.