Who's afraid of a little surgery?

Today was the day. We got up at four am, and gathered our bodies together and drove down to the Kaiser Hospital on Morris in Sacramento. Alena, Bill, Ruth Ann, and I(sam) arrived at about 20 after 5 am. After waiting for awhile, Alena was admitted and we journeyed upstairs to the pre-op area, where we would be separated from Alena. First, here is a little background. Alena was scheduled to have her surgery at 6:30 am. They said that she was probably going to be out of the hospital at around 12 noon. That was pretty amazing. Well, back to the story. We were kind of sad and emotional to be all of a sudden separated from Alena. We went to the waiting room and anxiously paced and tried to get comfortable, but we couldn't do that very well. I was ready for her to be done as soon as we got to the waiting room!!! 15 minutes later, a nurse came out and said that since it was Saturday, we could break the rules and come into the pre-op area and see Alena. We went in and she was laying a gurney, getting ready to meet the staff that would be assisting the surgeon with her surgery. Now, there have been an army of prayers to Heavenly Father for Alena, and I know that they were being heard and answered. The nursing staff at this Kaiser was incredible!!! They were very kind and funny, with great senses of humor. They put all of us at ease, and made us very comfortable. We could not have hand picked a better group of people. Alena was in the operating room for only an hour and fifteen minutes, and she was in the post-op room by 8:45 am. Ruth Ann's mom came around 8 am and joined us, which was very pleasant. Her smile and faith and great sense of humor made me smile. At nine o'clock we were able to go into the room to see her!! She looked so beautiful!! She was crying, and at first we were worried. This soon changed as she exclaimed, "I am so happy!!." Alena had so much joy and peace. She began to tell how light she felt, and how she could feel the prayers of everyone, and that she was so happy to have the cancer out. This made me laugh a little because the nurses were coming over thinking that she was in a lot of pain. To their surprise, she was saying how happy she was!
One of the nurses said, "whatever they gave her, I'd love to have some of that!" We all laughed a little bit, and under my breath I told Alena, "It's the Spirit." Prayers are answered, and for Alena, she is still doing amazingly well. She needed to rest some more, so we waited 3 hours more. We left the hospital around 1:30 pm, with Alena smiling as we were leaving. She has been sleeping off and on, but has also had the energy to eat, and to have visitors!! She feels so good, even though she is weak and tired, and quite sore. I am grateful that she left the hospital with this experience. I think it is teaching me and her family, and everyone else for that matter, a lot of lessons on gratitude for the power of prayer, and truly why faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. It is very powerful. One last quote from Alena right after her surgery. I don't think she will always think this, but it was quite funny. The post-op nurse was talking to her about her surgery, and she said, "I love surgery!!!" Well, Alena loves a lot of things, lets add one more thing to the list! Heh heh. Thank you everyone, we'll try to keep things updated. Love you all!!!