time....

There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day lately to get everything done. My work schedule has been crazy for the last couple of months, so I haven't had time to update everyone lately (nor have I had enough time to sleep, spend time with the family or drink beer).

It's amazing how fast time goes by. When Anna was first diagnosed, we really had to take everything day by day and the emotions rarely allowed us to look beyond the present. I do remember though looking at the treatment schedule at least once and realizing that when we got to mid-May, she'd be in maintenance (assuming all went well). Well, she's made it! Over the past eight weeks or so, she went through another intense round of treatment. She managed to do it all as an outpatient and didn't need to be re-admitted back to the hospital. Overall, her body held up real well, her weight is good, and her numbers have been manageable. She lost her hair again, and that was a bit difficult to handle... but if that's the worst of it, then I'll take it.

With maintenance, she'll still go see the doctor about once per week for a checkup and then the treatment is one week out of the month. This program will continue for the next 18 months. Although, that seems like forever, the treatment is much less intense that when she's been through and I'm sure we'll get to the end before we know it.

She had another bone marrow biopsy last week, and that confirmed that the cancer is still in remission. This is really the best news we can receive. She'll continue to get tested for quite a while, but everything really does look good at this point.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed a real significant increase in her strength. She's constantly driving around somewhere, shopping, and even doing quite a bit around the house. Although, we still have family with us most of the time, she's taken a very active role in taking care of TJ again. She does pretty much everything with him these days. She still does get tired and need the occasional nap, but who doesn't? She's not quite to the point where she can take care of him for a full day alone, but definitely for a couple of hours.

We had her family from Orlando up with us for most of April and that was a big help. It's always good to have the extra hands around, and I think she really enjoyed spending time with them. She hadn't seen them since the beginning of this, so it was good to spend that time with them. Now we're back to the rotation of my mom for a week, and then being in at her parent's place for a week. Everyone's helping out and we couldn't do it without all of the support. Thanks everyone!