This will be our final post from Mayo this trip. In 4 days we completed 13 appointments and 1 surgery. I am continually amazed at the efficiency, professionalism, and wisdom found at this place. [...]

Hi family and friends. Thank you so much for all of the encouraging texts and comments and especially all of your prayers. You’ll never know how much it means to have you standing in the gap for us![...]

First I want to say hi to all of our followers on this blog. It has been many months since I posted. I want to thank my beloved and best friend for carrying the load of posting over the the last many many months. I never dreamed I would be so sick that I couldn’t write and reflect. Steve has valiantly stood in the gap for our family and kept you up to date. I love you babe![...]

Good morning all,

Just wanted to offer a quick update that Lee did indeed get to come home from the hospital last night.  Her blood cultures from the implanted port had cleared up so the infectious disease doc was comfortable allowing her to resume usage of the port and continue her IV antibiotics at home.  We are so thankful for the answered prayers to save her port and avoid additional surgeries for its removal and replacement.[...]

It’s hard to believe it’s been well over a month since our last update but quite a lot has transpired, so I wanted to bring you up to speed.  First, Lee’s bowel blockage I had shared about in mid-June did resolve over the course of about two weeks and the majority of July went according to plan as we settled in to the daily home infusions and weekly labs with port and dressing changes.  While Lee had fully intended to personally post to both thank everyone for your prayers and update you on her progress, we had a fairly significant and unexpected life change pop up in early to mid July.[...]

The picture above was taken while Lee and her mom enjoyed their final afternoon together before Martha headed back home on Saturday morning.  Friday had been a fairly uneventful day marked by continued progress in Lee’s healing.  Within a few minutes of taking this pic, Lee heard a rush of air and a strange sensation causing her to look down and realize that her new feeding tube had completely dislodged.  [...]

Just wanted to offer a midweek update since Lee made it home for the weekend and his been settling in and trying to catch up on a major sleep deficit.  Her first four days at home have certainly had their ups and downs with several recurrent bouts with the nausea and vomiting interposed with some precious time to hang out and watch movies with her mom.  The most encouraging parts for me have the gradual but steady return of her spunk and wit in the midst of tough circumstances.  [...]

In case you can’t see her in the picture because of the camouflage leggings or her attempts to hide behind the beautiful hibiscus plant that has nearly doubled in size while sitting in the window sill of Lee’s hospital room for the past four weeks, that is indeed her making the great escape on Friday afternoon.  While we would have preferred to have the nausea and vomiting completely resolved before she left the hospital, Lee managed to convince her doctors that continuing to battle those challenges would be less traumatic if she could do so curled up inn her own bed and PJs.  Thanks to all of you who were praying for Lee to reach this huge milestone![...]

I wasn’t sure how to title this one so I am just sticking with the “road home” theme, but it has taken a few unexpected turns over the past 12 hours.  As they worked to transition Lee from her IV meds back over to exclusively oral or “other” routes of administration she had an unfortunate return of the reflexive vomiting and chronic nausea that had plagued her a couple of weeks ago.[...]

Several important milestones were reached yesterday on the path to getting Lee home for the weekend.  She has now transitioned off all IV antibiotics and is on track to be on all oral medications other than her nutrition formula by Friday morning.  They will also remove her secondary central line and return to just using her implanted port, which removes another potential source of infection (and several fairly annoying additional tubes that tend to get caught on everything).  [...]