Adventure Day One – 40 Days and 40 Nights
November 25, 2008 – In November 2002 our journey had reached a turning point; we were going home for a short reprieve. Usually when you leave somewhere and head somewhere else you know what will happen next – we did not know anything accept we were headed home for what could be our last Thanksgiving – but we still needed to keep the faith and share a positive spirit with our family and with each other – if this was to truly be our last Thanksgiving then we had a tremendous amount to be thankful for, we needed to celebrate life not focus on death.
Sunday, November 24, 2002 10:14 AM PJ writes
Adventure Update - 40 Days and 40 Nights
This is our last transmission from 5 West Room 20, Friday was our 40th day here waiting for the clouds to part and the white dove of freedom to fly into our room and we were given some possibilities for our future…
If we continued with no fevers…
If we continued to walk and eat well each day…
And if our blood counts rose two days in a row….we could go home to continue to gain strength while awaiting our bone marrow transplant.
So, we have not had a fever since the 17th, we walk each day and eat quite well; ordering out from Louisiana Express, Outback and Pizza Castle, and today was our second day with good blood counts. Rickey is looking very good, but still tires quickly. Returning home has been a dream since day one, to sleep in his own bed, to wake up next to the one he loves, to make a cup of cappuccino and sit by the fireplace in our parlor. If only all of life was that simple.
I have been busy these last two days and packed up the room, I have made seven trips to the car so far….we never remembered the room being this empty when we moved in; we just called it home and started decorating. There is a young man down the hall, he is 21. He has had one bone marrow transplant, came out of remission and is getting ready for his second transplant, so we shared our silk sunflower plant with him to spread the cheer we enjoyed in our room.
Our next steps… stay fever free, stay germ free and get stronger! We will be called back for Rickey’s next bone marrow test the first week of December and the team of experts will discuss our options upon those results. In the meantime we are still waiting for Texas to give us an answer on any bone marrow matches. No one here wants to declare any match until they are told by Texas. If we have a match, the transplant will move forward right away. If we don’t have a match, we start searching in the National Bone Marrow Bank, which has been said to take 6-8 months. If the second option is our course, Rickey will undergo chemo to maintain until a donor match is found.
As we move toward Thanksgiving, we are thankful for this time to reenergize and gain strength from our love, our family and our friends. Rickey and I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, your support and your kindness. You are making a difference in this adventure!
The thought for today is…what would you do if you knew you would not fail?
Bunny love and bear hugs,
PJ
Our Thanksgiving in 2002 was thrown together at the last minute; we were released from the hospital on the Sunday before thanksgiving. I can remember telling Rickey I would do all the shopping that night so we could have a traditional meal with all of his favorites; Cajun dirty rice, whipped sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. This was a big deal because Rickey always cooked most of the meal; especially the turkey and he would be leaving that delicate task to my unskilled hands. The results…the most heartfelt Thanksgiving we have ever embraced. There was no stress, no time table, just a focus on the food and our time together – thankful we still had time.
Until our next blog – remember life is an adventure, embrace the journey. You can make a difference one day at a time.
Share your adventure with us!
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