birthday and christmas at home!

well its been a pretty exiting week. i had a fantastic birthday on monday doing nothing but enjoying my time home with my family and a few friends. we also did blood work on monday and my immune system seems to be recovering and doing its job! tuesday was just another laid back day, until the evening when we had the opportunity to bless my nephew jaxon who you see in one of the pictures below. we did it in our home so i was able to be a part of that, and it was a great experience. yesterday was an amazing day as well. i was able to get out of the house and go and visit with my friends and coworkers at lees! it was really good to see all of them and to be able to be out and about. we also made a stop at best buy so i could assist my mother with my christmas list. after that we went to chick-fil-a and i had what i would consider my first full meal in a few weeks. with being out and being able to eat again, it was the first time i have felt a sense of normalcy (i think thats a word, but you get the gist haha) since we started all this. as for today im posting this while i have a minute stuck to the iv pole with what hopefully will be my last antibiotic for a while. they took blood again this morning so it the numbers come back high enough they will take me off of it. we should know by this afternoon.

as you can see from the pictures below, my friends still take great care of me. we also have had some pretty great visitors as well. its great to be home and feeling so good. we have truly felt the real meaning of christmas this year and it will be a very merry one this year.

becoming a patient at primary childrens, especially the ICU where we stay, you join a kind of community with all the other patients. you learn their stories and sometimes swap information and you begin to learn more about each other and this week i have learned of a few and followed a few through blogs who are not as fortunate as we are to be spending the holidays at home. some of these families may even be reading this and to them, know that as we have been the recipients of many of your prayers and thoughts, we are sending them your way as well and hope they will be felt. the tree in the lobby of the ics says "believe in miracles." i am confident they will happen.

also something ive been meaning to throw out there for a while but havent yet, is please dont hesitate to leave your comments! please dont feel like you are interrupting or intruding, because your not. thats why we put the commets section there and its fun for me and my family to read all of your thoughts instead of reading our own over and over.

well i think that about covers it for now, the timeline right now is on wednesday of next week we go down for an echocardiogram and another bone marrow aspiration. that is a fairly quick outpatient procedure and takes a day or two to get results on so they will send us back home until the 31st, when will go back for another month of treatment, happy new year to us, huh? but we are ok with that being home for this week makes up for that and more. thank you everyone for your generosity and support!

-tanner