Day -1 |1-16-17|

This past week had went pretty fast, all things considered. Mike tolerated all of the chemo just fine. He is more tired and run down than a week ago, but otherwise feeling ok. We have adjusted to living at Hope Lodge. It sure isn't home, but it's comfortable enough, and there are so many wonderful people here to help us through this. 

There is a learning curve to living here, I think though.... It really is like living in the dorms at college, all over again...

On Friday night Mike was craving a pizza, we picked one up from Papa Murphy's. As it was baking, a woman (caregiver) was asking me several questions about my pizza... where did you get it? Was it frozen? What kind is it?   because she had a frozen pizza stolen from her freezer space. I made it pretty clear that we bought ours, even offering to bring one back for her husband the next time I'm out. She seem satisfied with my answers, but then, when I took it out of the oven, she comes over to look at it and says, "oh, yeah, that's a lot bigger than the one I had." I had to laugh. "Ma'am, I did NOT steal your pizza. I already told you I bought this at papa murphys!" Ok, I didn't say that, but I wanted to! So I texted this story to a few friends and Steve Sodergren responds with pictures of pizza thieves.... Cracked me up!! 

Mike had to get his twice a day chemo on Saturday at the hospital since the clinic isn't open all day. They then decided that they were nervous about the weather so they admitted him to stay through Sunday, too. That gave me the opportunity to go home and see the kids. I spent Saturday and a good portion of Sunday with them. It was so great to be back in my own home, cook in my own kitchen, clean my own dishes and laundry. I picked Mike up Sunday afternoon and the entire drive back to the Hope Lodge (10min) he raved about a nurse, Dusty. He sounds like an awesome guy, and I'm glad he made Mike's hospital stay a good one. 

Tomorrow morning we visit with Dr. Ganguly first thing, then Mike will get his stem cells infused back into him in the apheresis clinic. It shouldn't take very long. So tomorrow is day 0, his re-birthday. Also, the year from the day we got the call that it was lymphoma. I know I'll be spending a lot of time reflecting on this past year. 

Mike is expected to start feeling pretty bad throughout this week. We have ideas of what to expect, but like anything, you never know until you're in it. 

I feel like tomorrow isn't just his re-birthday, but a new start for our whole little family. We will get to do so much more with the kids, in the coming months and years. 

We talked today about not knowing how much time we have left on this Earth and I asked him if he were guaranteed one year, what would he want to do. He said,"Travel wit you and the kids!" I asked, "where to?" He responded, "anywhere you guys want to go. I just want to be with you." 

I think tomorrow, as we start his "new life", we are going to pinpoint a few of those destinations. Starting with- HOME. (Hopefully in  3 weeks!) 

Goodnight friends- excited for tomorrow! Excited for our future. He's my world. And my rock. And I want to see the world with him! 

Xo

Robin