10 days in . . .

John has been at the hospital for over 10 days now. Things are going pretty good so far. For the first few days he had pretty much normal energy levels and we were walking a few miles a day outside. It was nice while it lasted :) He had his 4 days of chemo and had some pretty had nausea. It seems to be under control now and he hasn't thrown up in 3 days :) Really hoping it stays that way. He had his 2 days of ATG transfusions (6 hours a day) and that went just fine. That one can be kind of scary and cause really high blood pressure and breathing trouble. John had no issues with it. And yesterday he got his new stem cells!!! He was on pretty heavy doses of benadryl for 3 days. That was pretty entertaining.  For the most part it made him really really tired. It also made him really talkative when he was awake and it made him say lots of things that make NO sense. And then he would get mad at us if we laughed at him. So glad benadryl is done. 

So, now - we wait and see and pray and hope and have faith. His blood counts have pretty much zeroed out now. It takes about a week for the cells to start to engraph and start making their homes. My goal is to have John home by Fathers Day. Every one tells me that is early - I know. But I think it will still happen. 17 days away, he just has to get his numbers back up and not have any infections or any GVHD. I can hope - right :)

Here is John probably about day 3 while we were walking outside. Yes, that pole goes with him every where.

This was on Sunday when Grandma brought the kids to visit. They get so bored and it is so hard for them to really get a good visit. We were glad John could still go outside.

Here is John and his Mom.

Oh - and John's favorite night. Matt and Kanani surprised him with a visit. They are friends from BYUH and live in CA. They are in Utah for some family events and decided to surprise John. He was SO surprised and they visited for about 2 hours - he loved it. I was so sad I wasn't there to see them. 

Here is John and I right before he got his new cells! It was an exciting day.

So a few odd things: One day John has a PA that we had never seen or heard of. (he was just helping out for a few days while the hospital floor was super full). He came in and was talking to us and then says, "Oh - I've heard of you, I know you". He works for Utah Cancer Specialists and even they know who John is - kind of funny.

The hospital also has a Dr. who is from India who is helping out for a few months - We love her. I still can no say and write her name. Dr. S...... :) She just comes in and talks and talks and she and John talk stories for like an hour every day. She loves John. Even when she is not assigned John she comes in after her shift just to talk. To tell us about her family, show us pictures of her daughter, tell us about her dog, her garden, stories form her practice . . . She is hilarious. She came in this morning and then said when she was done with her patients she would come in just to talk! I think John loves having there there to just talk to. 

This time John gave the charge Nurse his "favorite nurses" list. Kind of fun and they have been super good about giving him his favorite nurses. His nurse today - Becky (who I think has now been with him 4 days) is new to us but we really like her. Well, Joy spent the afternoon with John today. Becky came in and was talking to Joy then asked if she knew so and so (can't remember the names). Joy says "yes". Turns out Becky married their son and her mother in law lives with them. Her mother in law got a christmas card from Joy and Becky saw it and ready the newsletter because it mentioned having a son with cancer who was being treated at LDS hospital. Becky put 2 and 2 together, so my in laws know her in laws :) 

Overall I am doing ok. It is so hard to do this and I am exhausted. But so so grateful for all the help from family and friends. Joy is here this week and my Aunt comes next week. So good to have there help with the kids. It is so hard on me because I want to be every where. I want to be with the kids and with John. It is nice having Joy spend her 2 Saturdays here with John so I can be home with the kids. I have my moments and the other day I really really missed my mom. I just was wishing she was here and helping. I cried all the way home from the hospital one day. Right now all we can do is pray that this works and that takes a lot of faith.