Good day!!! :)

It has been a good day and past 24 hours!! YEAH!!! Eric has been sleeping better, no fevers and his breathing good. They took Eric down this morning for a chest x-ray to see if his pneumonia and infection on his lungs has improved. Eric and I found out some AMAZING GOOD NEWS! If Eric goes all day today and through the night still with no fever and keeps doing good he can get DISCHARGED FROM THE HOSPITAL INPATIENT and GO TO OUR APARTMENT TOMORROW!!! WOW- YEAH!!!!

Even though he would go to outpatient and we still have to be here within 10 miles and stay in Houston, TX for another 72 days which means we will not be home until the week of Christmas around December 18th , 2009- we will take this! We will be coming here to the hospital everyday 7 days a week for 8 hours all day for his appointments and IV transfusions of some of his antibiotics and medications, blood transfusions. So really we will still be here at the hospital all day and then just go home to the apartment at night to sleep but to Eric that is SO WORTH IT! The freedom to walk outside, feel the sunshine on his face, be part of the world - that is so exciting!

I am kind of scared a little, we have fought so long and hard to get out of the hospital. Eric has been in here 7 weeks at the end of this week!! It is weird, it's kind of like that feeling when you have your first child and you want to go home but then when they come tell you they are discharging you and you think " Are you sure I am ready to go home? You think I can take the baby home and be okay?" It's a little weird you then start to worry and think " Am I really ready to go home?" There are so many worries, precautions and limitations that Eric's life depends on so I find myself thinking " Am I going to be able to care for Eric good enough and keep him safe? " With the Lord's help I know we will get through to this next phase of our journey.

It's overwhelming all the things a bone marrow transplant patient has to worry about. I have had to go to these discharges classes and get signed off on all things to make sure I understand what we need to do and can't do for Eric to survive this and to make sure we are aware of the signs of rejection and GVHD (Graft Vs. Host Disease). No crowds, stores, church any where there are groups (well that's not such an easy task now is it), no eating out at fast food or restaurants, no pets or flowers or plants near Eric (wow- I love flowers as you all know- I can have them outside just not inside the home with Eric), no buffets, no fruits, no vegetables, all foods have to be cooked at a certain temperature, only meat cooked well, well done, only things pasteurized, no flying or diving (like we were going to attempt that), no swimming, no sun exposure, no wearing contacts only eye glasses, only wear long sleeves, wear mask and gloves at all times, no fevers above 100.5 OR back into the hospital. WOW! It can get all so overwhelming but some of this we have already been used to before since this is Eric's 2ND cancer and he has been critical immune suppressed and ill for the last 2 years. I asked the discharge nurse how long we will have to worry about these things and take these pre-cautions and she said really probably forever but most critical time is the first year and then after that some of these pre-cautions will decrease or go away but some will be a life change as a transplant recipient.

Even though there are all those things to worry about and restrictions it is a blessing to be alive!! To be able to say that he is grafting and that we have made it through the first hurdle of our journey. Bring on the second one -right? That means we are one step closer to coming home to our children and being a family again! We prayed today with the hospital Chaplin in Eric's room, we thanked the Lord for his love, strength and guidance through our journey and thanked him for this next step in our process. We thanked him for all our blessing and knowing we are not over the journey or trial yet and still more bumps and hurdles to come but thankful for it is with him we can bare all things!! How blessed we are to have the Lord and church in our lives as a constant compass and reminder of what life is all about and what really matters. Again, I find myself thinking of the words of " I Stand All Amazed".