Today was awesome. I ran through a whole list of questions with the doctor first thing this morning and I was pleasantly surprised with all of her answers. As far as how long I will be home for, it could be anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Everything depends on my blood counts that will tested weekly and then they will perform another bone marrow biopsy to see if any of the cancer cells have returned and at what stage. The results of that test will determine the course of my future treatments. I had also been told that I wouldn’t be able to travel at all because I had to stay within an hour’s distance of the hospital in case I started to run a fever or had any sort of emergency. However, she said that if my counts are good, she didn’t see any reason that I couldn’t take a vacation. So guess who’s getting out of town for July 4th? And thank goodness, because we have a family tradition to spend it at our vacation house in the Poconos and Ty has been telling me since I left that we would “pack for Milford as soon as I got home.” Now, not only do I not have to break his heart, but he’s right, we will get packing.

Lastly, I was asking about swimming and yoga and weight training and a lot of the other activities I do that are limited by the PICC line in my arm. She said that if I am going to be home for 4 weeks, we could just remove this when I leave and insert a new one when I check back in. That too, was awesome news. I won’t have to worry about picking up Kieran now or having it flip in downward dog or wrapping it up each time it could get wet. It means complete physical freedom.

More good news? It’s 9 pm and I have not had 1 fever today!!!! I also have eaten 3 rounds of very light solid foods and not had any debilitating cramps or emergency trips to the bathroom.

On top of all of that, I had a great visit with Matt followed by an in-room chair massage from my wonderful sister-in-law, Stephanie. She worked out a terrible pain I had developed in my shoulder from sleeping in awkward positions under the cooling blanket over the last three days. The massage also, of course, generally just helped to decompress from everything. When my brother got here we went for a walk down 8 flights of stairs to go check out the nurses garden across the street. We then came back up the 8 flights of stairs. Unfortunately I’m not quite in Rocky-style condition right now. Soon though.

Before signing off I wanted to share something Kay emailed me yesterday.

Be kinder than necessary,

for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly,

and pray continually.

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…

It’s about learning to dance in the rain.