Friday, June 5, 2009

Light at end of the tunnel

Hello All,

The boys have no idea that in a week, their mommy will be home!

Well the end is near. No matter what I say, don't tell the boys, we want to surprise them.

The last week has been interesting. Without us even knowing, Sally has been doing discharge tests, exams, and meetings. Don't ask how, but we never knew till yesterday. To sum it all up, the bone marrow results from last week are completely negative, which is good. That means there are no traces of the leukemia in her bone marrow and is considered in remission. They (SCCA) tests confirm that she is making male cells. Weird but cool.

During the meetings etc, the bloodwork shows no damage to the kidneys or liver etc. Blood counts look great and no signs of GVHD except for a small bit in the esophagus.

She is fighting a cold right now that is lingering and kicking her butt. She forgets she has new bone marrow, white blood cells, and an immune system of a 3 month old. Like most 3 months olds, they get sick alot....which should be fun to see her get frustrated over that. She is taking antibiotics and resting.

The stomach issues have drastically decreased since stopping the pain meds they had her junked up on. All narcotics slow gastric motility, (makes stomach empty slowly) and cause constipation---which in turns slows down the stomach. so eating a meal and letting it sit in the stomach for several hours was causing her pain.

Yesterday we found out her discharge date is June 10th. So again, we want to surprise the boys either on Thursday or Friday.

It has been a long, challenging, frustrating, interesting, and yet joyful journey. Those who have helped be a cargiver for Sally, visited Sally and/or I, watched the boys, picked up the boys for school and activities, allowed me to vent, sent cards, picked and dropped me off at airport, watched the house, fed the pets, mowed the yard, helped upgrade the house, allowed me time off work, let us borrow things for the apartment, supported us in any fashion needed, donated money for the journey, and gave love and prayers to our family, I want to say THANK YOU!. It was difficult to leave behind aspects of our lives that we love and need. But without all of you it could not have been done. THANK YOU again.


It will still take 6-9 months to get her full immune system and energy back to normal, but will take it day by day

Craig

7 comments:

Angie said...

Praise God!!!! What wonderful news!

OkCynic said...

nicely written, craig :)

don't worry, i won't be spilling the beans . . .

give sally my love when you read this.

casey

Katy said...

God is so good! This has made my day. It is a great feeling to want to cry tears of complete joy!!! Love to all.

Chris Minerd said...

What a long journey with a sweet ending, Thank God.
You have all conquered this together and truely anything is possible.

brandy corbin said...

Congrats to you all!! That is the best news ever. I'm so happy that you will be a family again, and that you are fighters. Please give Sally a big hug from me and love you all.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful news!
I hope the best for all of you!

Katy said...

Thinking of you all right now, and hoping that the transition home is going well.