He's HOME!!!

YAY!!! We are all so excited to have John home :) 21 DAYS! It was a long 21 days. To sum it up John had 2 days of high dose chemo, 1 day of rest, 1 transplant day, then 17 days recovering in the hospital. He had constant nausea and puking, diarrhea, for 2 weeks was on TPN IV nutrients and could not eat anything on his own, he got typhlitis (inflammation in his intestines) and was SO close to having to have surgery for that. I went and saw him every day, most days for about 8 hours. The kids only saw him once a week, on Sundays. Three of my sisters, Emily, Blair and Lauren all came for a week each to help at home. John saw a Doctor every day, a PA 1-2 times a day, a Nutritionist a couple times a week, a RN and CNA innumerable times each day. He had an x ray and a CT scan, he had lab work done daily. His white blood cells were at 0 for several days and at 18,000 when we left. he had 3 transfusions. He lost 10 pounds. I saw the same loved ones walking the halls every day, people laughing, people crying. I saw the same cars in the parking lot every day, we could name almost every nurse and person we saw in the halls by name. I have a buy 10 get one free ice cream card from "The Grove" on the first floor. Some days I even predicted who his nurse would be. I saw people going through worse things than us and am grateful for every moment. We are so grateful for and love all the staff, nurses and Dr's at LDS Hospital East 8 - they are amazing.

We were so blessed with prayers, love, support and fasting. Cards in the mail, dinners, desserts, money, gifts for the kids, gift cards, books. Rides and play dates for kids. Hugs and so many kind works. Fabulous neighbors and friends. Thank you everyone.

John has been home for one day and is doing ok. He is still having some issues with nausea, but is slowly eating more. We are so happy to have him home. He is still pretty weak, but I did take him on a half mile walk today. He is also on an IV antibiotic for 4 more days. But, luckily home health brought it by and I can hook it up to his central line each day. It is expected to take about 4 weeks before he is feeling some what normal. He will go into the hospital out patient clinic about once a week for lab work and a check up.

Currently he is in remission. We are not sure how long his body could stay in this state. Some do for a few months, others can for a few years. John will be having his 2nd stem cell transplant (the allo one which is from a donor) in about 2 months. John is happy to be off of chemo for now. He is still on meds for his neuropathy, an antibiotic, and has several as needed meds for pain, nausea, and sleep. Since neither of his full siblings were a match, we are now waiting to hear what comes from the bone marrow registry. He has 27 potential matches and they take the top 3 and request a blood sample and go from there. And then begin this all again.