Saturday, July 02, 2016

Home for the 4th Independence Day for sure!




Wow.

We are all home.

We moved out of the apartment yesterday, closed the door, locked it up and drove away. The van was full, as was the car, and then we went out to an asian restaurant to celebrate the fact that this chapter is closed. It's gone faster than anyone expected. The launch happened, we had some bumps but today, Abby is safely back to the little slice of this world that we call home.

It's like a really weird dream. All of the sudden I'm sitting on the porch, it's summer (when did that happen?), and life seems "normal" once again.  Abby is at the neighbors playing with her sisters, Tiffany is out at the store, I did a bit of work today and we all had pancakes together at the same table this morning.  Wow. I really can't convey the surreal aspects of this journey -it's been a wild ride.

So, here's a quick update of how we are all doing, plus a bunch of pictures.  Thank you all once again for all of your support, your prayers, your fundraisers, and so much love for our family. Thank you so much for supporting us as we have walked out this crazy last year. You all are such a blessing to our family!

As you will see below, Abby is doing great. She has broken a ton of records for how fast someone can get through a bone marrow transplant.  Out of the hospital on Day 22, released for a weekend visit somewhere around Day 43 and cleared to go home for good by Day 65 I think!  This is not typical. We weren't expecting to get back home until the end of July and instead it was the end of June.

We still have to be careful. If she gets a cold it would probably stick around for a few weeks and not be fun. She still has to wear her mask out of the house (for the next year) and she still has lot of limitations on what she can eat (they let her eat pepper now but no yogurt).

She will have a bunch of test on Day 100: A cancer test of her bone marrow, an engraftment test (to see how much of Anna's blood is there vs. Abby's, an EKG, eye test, lots of imagine, lung function, kidney, and so much more. We are praying that they all come back positive (in a good way). Probably the biggest issue at this point would be that the cancer comes back or that she gets some chronic version of Graft vs. Host disease (she's still on lots of meds to combat that for now).

But, for now we will rest. We will cook burgers, drink some cold 4th of July beverages and celebrate Abby's independence from living in Denver as one big happy family.

Enjoy the pictures, and thank you for our continued prayers for our family!





2 comments:

Unknown said...

This makes me SO happy. We are celebrating with you guys!!!

VITA DVDs said...

You go, Schreibers!! Wow - thanks be to God for bringing all of you through this horrific pilgrimage. Your faith, your love for and support of one another have continually inspired us.

Now, get out there and ENJOY that summer!

Love,
Kathi and Wayne Jacobs