Week one of BMT

     Things have been going really well for Eric. The nurses honestly tease him because he is an easy going patient and never needs anything. They always ask, "are you sure there isn't anything we can do for you?"

     Monday and Tuesday were Eric's days of rest. Nothing too exciting there. One of those nights his brother Russ brought him dinner which was nice! The hospital has the same menu for lunch and dinner so he has eaten every menu item a few times now. I brought up a box of his favorite Cinnamon toast crunch cereal so he could have that instead of the plain cereals that the hospital provides. I've also tried to make Eric sandwiches if I'm coming up to visit him early enough in the day.

     Wednesday was Eric's 'new' birthday!! He received half of the stem cells that were collected. They started at noon and I got to the hospital about half way through. When I walked in he was in the middle of throwing up! :( I felt bad! It's normal to feel that way while getting your cells back and they were able to get him some medicine quickly to help with it. He also sucked on Jolly Ranchers (his choice from a bag of many different types of hard candies) to help. To help the stem cells stay together they put a preservative in them. So when Eric was receiving his stem cells back he got a bad taste in his mouth. (And he also smelled of cream corn) Eric received 4 bags similar to the picture below. Things moved along pretty quickly. It was hard to tell exactly how the guy from the Red Cross would pull out each bag from a small freezer container and thaw each one out when it was time. One fun thing they do is when you get your stem cells back is they give you a birthday cake. Eric's good friend TJ and his wife visited Eric and brought up his favorite pizza. The nurse said that Eric could eat whatever he wanted today since it's his 'birthday'. Unfortunately he wasn't able to keep it down.  :(

Eric receiving his soldiers.

Eric's banner for week one. It's hard to get it to stay up! With the way the air flows out the door every time it's opened it's a lot of pressure and they have been falling down a lot.

BTW if you ever come visit Eric you should leave a love note on the white boards in the hallway so that when he takes his walks he can read it :)

Sorry it's not a great picture of it but I made a collage of some of Tayvia's one year pictures and our recent family pictures. 

Chillin like a villain. Despite being told before coming that he can't leave the floor. As long as some of his counts are good they said that he can go outside for a little bit. It was pretty bright so we didn't stay out long but I think he enjoyed it..

 Eric's brother Brian brought up a game last night that looks fun! It's A game of Thrones the card game. So we will have to YouTube how to play and try it out. Eric's parents went on a little road trip this week but have called him everyday to check in. 

My front door had a heart attack. We have the most thoughtful neighbors. I have also received many nice notes in the mail almost everyday and we have both received texts & phone calls. It means a lot and we send out a big thank you to all of you that are praying for and thinking of us! We couldn't do this without you all behind us. 

Miss Tayvia has been doing pretty good. It's probably hard for her to not have a normal predictable routine like she is used to and I'm sure she wonders where her dad is. The day that Eric was admitted to the hospital poor little miss came down with a cold which means no visiting her dad. We have tried to at least video chat everyday so they can see each other.  I usually spend the mornings with her then go up to see Eric in the evenings except Wednesdays and Fridays I switch. On the weekends I'll stay with Eric and go to my parents (who are helping take care of her) in the evenings. This schedule has worked out pretty good this week and I'll keep doing it until he is back home. I promise that I'm finding time for myself in there as well. It's amazing how much harder it is to take care of yourself than it is to take care of others but I'm doing my best not to forget about me.