No Title

I tried to think of a clever title for this post but so far nothing has come to me. I am writing this in the hotel across from the hospital. Earlier in the week I kept call the hospital room, the hotel room and vice versa. The hotel room is much better, the one I am in now. The only thing better will be when I see the front of our house!

In staying true to my theme of honesty here I have to tell you, yesterday was a very odd day for me. The end of round one. During the week I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. I was tired of having someone in and out of the room every two hours either poking me, testing me, weighing me, changing my chemo, and on and on. I got very tired of sleeping on the small bed, and not being able to turn over and sleep on my side. Let's face it, after seven days, all of it was getting old. One of the things that Rebecca had to do was learn about taking care of me while at home. I had no idea what would be involved. Obviously my immune system is shot, and will be for some time. So I will have to be very careful when I am out of the hospital. Something like a simple infection could kill me. I cannot shave with a razor anymore, I cannot let my skin dry out, cannot get dehydrated, cannot get a fever, cannot be around large groups of people for very long, and on and on. I guess it was another fall out of all of this I did not expect. When we left the hospital and got to the hotel room I found myself not wanting to leave the room. I found myself wanting, in some ways, to go back to the hospital. As bad as I wanted to get out of there, when I did I realized I had left a comfort zone. But today is better. It's another part of the journey that I will have to be careful when not in the hospital to take care of myself, but find that balance of not going to extremes either way.

I have to say that we are very grateful that things have gone well so far. My body has done well and the side effects, while not fun, have been minimal. I don't feel great, but I don't feel horrible. Rebecca and I went outside today and sat in the sunlight which felt great. For me it was the first time in seven days I have been outside. As I sat on the bench and soaked up the sun and fresh air it occurred to me that this was only round one and there are many more to come. As I started to contemplate how many more rounds of this I will have to endure, I was reminded that all I can do is take this mess one day at a time. If I focus on anything else I won't make it. My little saying that I post at the end of each blog has never meant more to me than it does right now. Literally. Because I have to drink a lot of water, do breathing treatments and walk as much as possible. We will also need A LOT of prayers tomorrow. We just heard from the nurse that we are cleared to go home so we will head out in the morning with my parents. We are going to drive which is normally an eight hour drive. But tomorrow it will be doubled because we will have to stop every hour and a half so I can walk around to avoid blood clots. Please pray for us!!

My family and I want to again say thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers. There is no question that one of the biggest reasons that things have gone so well is because of all of the prayers that have lifted us up and carried us through. We cannot thank you enough. I am living proof that prayers work. Period.

Remember every day to put one foot in front of the other, drink a lot of water, and don't forget to breath...........................