I get by with a little help from my friends

Hey all, its been awhile since I have updated the blog. Hopefully it will live up to Mike's story telling but that is just a pipe dream.  Today is Day 50!  Half way until I should be able to go home but first, I'm looking forward to be released which should be coming shortly.  What I wanted to focus on for this blog is the ultimate Act Of Kindness, DONATION OF STEM CELLS. Most bone marrow/stem cell donors will come from "strangers".   A stranger had graciously offered to donate their stem cells for me.  Someone that they have never met, someone who they will probably never know.  This is the ultimate act of unselfishness and kindness.   (Refer back to The Process blog if you need a refresh on those details) During conversations, I heard that many of the matched unrelated donors come from Germany.  It was said that all citizens that qualify to join the registry must do so.  I could not find anything to support this so if that is...

  Energy, Momentum, and What Not Have you ever been stuck in the snow?  You got your foot on the gas but you ain't goin' anywhere.  Tons of energy being used but you are just spinning your wheels.  Despite the excessive expenditure of energy (and really expensive gas), you have no forward momentum.  You stop a few times to reassess the situation, maybe change up your approach a bit, you know, rock your vehicle back and forth, stick something under your wheels.  Even though you may advance a bit, it feels like you've gone nowhere.  You may even back up a bit to get a run, but you get stuck again right where you started.  Yeah, I think we have all been there both literally and figuratively. It's been over a week since we provided an update as I really wasn't sure where to start and for that matter finish this post, but here we go.   Get in, fasten your seatbelts, and hold on for dear life.   Now that I have you scratching your heads and wo...

  Finally, A Ray Of Freakin' Sunshine Hello and welcome back. As you can assume my the title, we have been fortunate to have the clouds dissipate  to let some sunshine in both literally and figuratively.  Jackie has had a pretty good week.  Once she started on the IV nutrition, she gained energy and some strength.  The sores in her mouth are pretty much gone, her full body rash is gone and her appetite has returned.  The concern of GVHD in her GI tract (her gut), is still there but we have been seeing some consistent signs that she is slowly improving.   TMI WARNING!!  READER DISCRETION ADVISED! As discussed previously, Jackie had a scope last week where they looked inside her GI tract.  Because she has an extensive history of Crohn's Disease, they needed to determine whether or not her nausea, vomiting and diarrhea were caused by the Crohn's or the GVHD.  The biopsies did come back and confirmed that her issues were in indeed the G...

  HAPPY BEST FRIENDS DAY!! June 8 is national best friends day or more generically phrased, friendship day.  Words cannot properly convey how much this resonates with us this year.  They say "friends" come out of the woodwork when you win the lottery, but I can tell you, true and genuine friends come out of the woodwork when you are experiencing adversity or hardship.  I cannot express our appreciation enough to all of you (you know who you are), for everything that you have done for Jackie, me and our entire family.  Everything from supportive messages, kind comments of encouragement, cute notes and anecdotes to assisting us with day to day care, supporting the kids, auto repairs, yard maintenance and other logistic support.  From the thousands of cranes, gifts and pictures sent to the casual popping by to take me for coffee, breakfast or brunch.  We are so grateful for those who's paths have crossed with ours.  If I could only share with you the...

Ups and Downs   When we started this journey we knew there would be ups and downs, good days and not so good days.   Well, this has definitely held true.   As I mentioned in the last post, Jackie has had her share of the rough days.  She was unable to eat properly for a few weeks and then not at all for about three to four days last week and was placed on a nutritional replacement via her IV.  This also caused her to have next to no energy (calories=energy) and combined with the negative effect the steroid treatments have on her larger muscles, her mobility was very minimal. I am happy to say that Jackie has responded well to the nutritional support and other treatments.  She has been feeling much better the past few days and has even started eating again.  She actually ate toast and jam this morning and the requested some scrabbled eggs.  This doesn't sounds like much, but this is an incredible improvement in a short period.  She's...