Home Sweet Home

Trish and I were beside ourselves waiting at the airport last night to board our flight back to Florida. We knew it would be a bittersweet trip. We thought about the silly stuff -- like would we be able to find things after the kids an our parents had been in charge of the house for 5 months. We worried about the stuff we would have to do -- doctors appointments, work, fixing things that stopped working during the last 5 months.

Trish was worried about leaving home before we even arrived. She was not looking forward to saying goodbye again and knowing that she would be returning to great tortures for at least another 3-4 months -- all designed to possibly save her life. Than of course she turned her thoughts to what success might mean, seeing the boys grow up and more. She knows her only hope is to return to Hopkins and put her body through one last torture, but she is not looking forward to it at all.

An allogenic bone marrow transplant is the only possibility for an extended life, but it also kills about a third of the recipients.

Over the next almost two weeks, we will enjoy being "home". We will do our best to reset it to being our home again. Knowing that it will go through changes again once we leave as our parents chip in to keep things moving along for the boys.

Trish is excited, she will do lots of baking this week. She is looking forward to seeing lots of folks in a short period of time. Squeezing in two doctors appointments and just being home.

Even though we are home and moving forward in our battle against AML, we think often about those we are leaving behind this week. Joe and Annie are battling AML too. Joe has had an even harder time than Trish in getting a remission so he can move forward to a transplant. Annie and I talked often, how we would be on 5B together cheering on our spouses. We will be praying that the next two weeks will bring some good news for them and they will join us on 5B at some point during our 30 day stay. Michael, the 20 year old college student with ALL, when we saw his mother last she was very concerned. Michael was sleeping around the clock and the doctors weren't sure why. This was a new wrinkle in his struggle and he had been doing so well. He wants to be a math teacher. Having his dreams shattered has been tough on him. We will be saying lots of prayers for him over the next two weeks as well. These folks are all part of a very different sub culture we find ourselves living in. Remember one foot forward at a time.

God Bless and thank you.