The Journey of Hope Continues....

Eric is doing so good! We went into his Cancer doctor appt yesterday and things could not be better they say. They remind us that we are not out of the woods yet, one more year before they can say that but he is doing pretty good. Other than he came down with a horrible head cold and cough that has kept him in bed the past few days. His doctor says since he has not been running a fever he is not worried yet to just have Eric get alot of rest to sleep it off and come in immediately if he starts a fever. Thankfully no fever yet!

Eric's blood counts have been pretty good other than we started to worry cause his platelets went down the last 3 weeks in a row which has happened before and caused us worry (last time that was a sign of his virus he had to have the additional chemo treatments for) but we are so thankful they went up yesterday back to 102. His doctor says he would like them higher but at least they went back up again. Eric's red cells are OK holding at 4.03 alot lower than normal and still in critical stages but holding in there, his white cells are at 3.3 also lower and in the critical marks but they at least want them above the 3.0 so all in all pretty good. Eric has to get all his immunizations vaccines just like a new born baby all over again so they have started that process. His bone marrow transplant wiped all that out, all the good and the bad so he needs to redo them all over the next 2-3 years in stages.

I am so grateful for our blessings the Lord has given us and for how good Eric is doing right now, for his amazing donor whom I can not wait to meet in another 10 months! I am grateful to the Lord for giving us this journey and providing us the lessons and spiritual growth we needed to learn. I am grateful also to Eric's work, his new supervisor Ken whom has went above and beyond to make sure Eric is safe and not pushing it, remembering all his health restrictions and not pushing him to much. Eric has a new case load at work which has been alot for him to learn but also good on him as well, less stress than when he first came back. I thank his co-workers for always being mindful of Eric and that he is still fragile, coming back from his bone marrow transplant and helping him out it means so much to me! When you almost lose someone you become very protective over them even more and you want to cherish everything!

The past few months have been a little harder I think for Eric and I. We have been reliving in our minds alot the stages of the last year and what was going on at each step. It's been a year so I guess it common for people to relive all the steps and hard days but I often remind myself the end result right now and where we are at in the journey and that is important to recognize the mile stones and how far Eric has come. Last year Eric and I were still in Texas trying to get his body to heal, missing our kids so much, worried about alot of things. This year we are still worried but we are at least home as a family with our two beautiful kids, Eric moving forward towards recovery, back to work, getting our normal life back some what.

I am so thankful to the Lord for all he has given us, the blessings, the tender mercies and most of all more time with Eric. Not a day goes by that I do not think of his donor whom saved his life, the sacrifice he made for a stranger, how awesome that is and know the Lord helped guide this miracle! I am grateful for the Lord giving our family strength to get through this trial, the hardest thing I think we all have had to do! I recognize that with the Lord all things are possible. I am grateful for all of our friends, neighbors, ward (HOME WARD AND TEXAS WARD), the Clark family, family, co-workers and even some complete strangers whom helped lift our burden and walked with us throughout our "Journey of Hope". I am grateful to my two amazing children whom have had to bear so much, I am proud of them how they handle it all and conducted themselves. They had to be very strong and we love and appreciate them so much! They are better people for going through such a hard trial and I see such amazing growth from them both through it not only emotionally but spiritually. I constantly remind them and ask them " Do you realize how blessed we are that Daddy is doing good?" "Have you remembered to thank the Lord and Daddy's donor today?"

I know they do I just don't ever want them to forget to be humble, grateful and thank to Lord and Eric's donor. Sometimes life gets so busy we get back to the hum drum of life but after going through what we have all went through I do not think there will ever be a day that goes by that we will not be so grateful! Our journey still continues but hope is also faith and our faith is strong, with the Lord all things are possible. We have always known that but sometimes the faith has been as little as a mustard seed on days, how grateful I am for the gospel and the knowledge it brings us all, the peace and comfort that we get!