Progress

Anna's continuing to make progress with her recovery. She's managed to put some weight back on, and is increasing her strength. She no longer needs to administer the IV fluids at home, and some of her meds are starting to decrease. This past week, they cancelled one of her appointments, as they thought she looked pretty good. She has had a little bit of a rash again, which is certainly the GVHD acting up, but it doesn't seem to be spreading. It looks like she'll wind up dealing with chronic GVHD for a while.
 
We went to the Light the Night kickoff last weekend. It's a pretty emotional experience. One of the executives with the foundation was giving a speach and referred to the fact that this pretty much would have been a death sentence about 30 years ago, and now the survival rates are just above 50%, with things trending positively every year. There's still a long way to go, but the progress really has been pretty amazing. There was a young woman, maybe 23, who spoke about her cancer and how she's doing these days. She's a few years removed, so her hair has grown back and she looked pretty good. They also showed a video that was really touching. They show quite a few family members talking about loved ones that they've lost, and then some folks talking about how they are alive today because of the Leukemia Society and the funds that have been raised. Really motivates you to get out there and start collecting your donations.
 
We sat at a table with a woman who had lost her husband a few years ago. She was really sweet and shared details of her husband's battle, and some of the tough decisions she was faced with. Her husband had been treated by the same doctors who treat Anna, and she wound up writing a letter for Anna to give to the doctors. It was a pretty emotional experience all around. Unfortunately, I didn't see the woman who gave the "warrior" speech from the prior year. I was really hoping we would have seen her, as Anna and I talked about her speech every day when things were at their worst. At the time the woman gave the speech last year, Anna was still in remission and I had no idea who often that I'd think about her words.
 
Everything else at home is good. Anna's mom has been with us non-stop for the past few months and it's really worked out well. She has to go back to work in another week, and I think we're definitely going to miss her. Next week my mom is down, and then after that, we have someone new lined up. TJ received a letter from his future pre-k teacher about how excited she is to meet him. It's pretty cool. I can't believe my little boy is going to school already.