A Good Day....

Eric has had a much better day! Yeah! He jumped also higher on grafting he went from 0.4 to 1.2- WOW!!! They said that is very good! He has been able to drink a little bit of water today which is a good sign, throat pain still there and coughing up blood but he at least drank a little dixie cup of water. ( That doesn't sound like much I know but it's a start and for someone who hasn't been drinking anything or eating for 3 weeks it's good!)

Eric is more like himself today and I love it! His jokes are starting and he even made the team of doctors and nurses laugh pretty hard this morning when they were looking at him! If you knew what an accomplishment that was- a few of the doctors don't ever crack a smile, very straight forward and serious. It was funny cause one doctor actually seemed stunned for a minute that Eric was joking and then he started laughing hard. I love it! That is my Eric!!!

We were able to get Eric up to walk 4 times yesterday!!!! He said after 4 days of no walking he needed to make up for lost time. It is a long story to explain but basically they have this walking incentive here they really push hard from the day you get admitted on! It seems a little pre-school and funny but after what we have been through and the 4 days not able to get up at all and walk we now see why they have this in place and push it so much. Basically every time you get up and walk you get a "paper M&M guy" (no one wants the real candies here they don't eat around here) they look just like the M & M guys/ cartoon. The goal is for every 15 M & M's your get placed on your door, you earn a BANDANNA to wear for your no hair look- funny huh? There are 4 levels/ bandanna's to earn. A red, orange,green and then blue. Eric made a joke and being the competitive guy he is he vowed within the first week he would get his "RED BANDANNA". So off he went and sure enough he did that! Easy at that point but then the chemo and bad days really started kicking in, at first I would here Eric say " I need to get up and get some more M & M's, have you seen how many some of my roomies next to me have- they are kicking my butt" "The guy over in room #1152 already has two bandanna's and I came in 2 days before him!" He was so funny, Jodie Clark and I would laugh at Eric and his competitiveness to get those stupid M & M's and earn more bandanna's. Eric doesn't wear them he proudly ties them and displays them around his famous wonderful new best friend- HIS IV POLE.!

So to update you we had lost a week of that drive for the bandanna's ( he has earned the first 2 before the last bad week knocked him down) but yesterday he wanted back in the game! We walked 4 times and not just ten minutes, 25 minutes each time! He was making me laugh and said " Ok so here is the game plan, if I walk 4 times tomorrow, then I will have my third bandanna. Then if I walk 5 times a day for the next 3 days I will have my 4th bandanna- just in time for my target date I wanted which is 9/30/09!" Haha... he is so funny- the things we do to amuse our selves. I am glad he is getting back to the old Eric- humor in all, I missed it! He looks alot better today, more color, more life in him...I thank the Lord every minute that he is carrying us through this and helping us with strength. We are so blessed, we have had countless blessing, mini miracles and BIG miracles along the way that we know are from the Lord. Tender mercies, comfort and blessings from the Lord. I have always had a strong belief in the power of prayer and prayed often but I have developed that even more through all this. I have be able to relate and have so much more love and appreciation for what the pain the Savior suffered for us. In the book I read "When you can't do it alone Take the Savior's Hand" by Brent L. Top I love this part: ...."Only the pure love of Christ will see us through. It is Christ's love which suffereth long and is kind. It is Christ's love which is not puffed up nor easily provoked. Only His pure love enables Him- and Us- to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.I think a scripture that says so much is " I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things." Alma 26:11-12