We’re HOME!
Hello everyone. What a journey this has been. We thank all of you for sharing it with us.
I had an appointment with my bone marrow transplant physician yesterday. My scans showed that my Hodgkin’s continues to be in a complete remission! I am recovering without complications from the transplant and was released us to go back home for good on Monday. Hooray!
To catch you up on the last 2 weeks, all went well after leaving the hospital. We remained in Houston and had frequent lab work and clinic visits, and my white blood cells continued to steadily increase. I felt super wimpy after so much chemotherapy and after not having eaten much (ok- anything) for about a month. I still had occasional nausea, and worst of all I could not taste anything!
Finally late last week my taste and appetite came bounding back and I am SO thankful; I will never take my taste buds for granted again! My strength continues to increase daily and I feel better today than I could have ever thought possible.
Then last friday Matt and I had the surprise of our life!!!
We decided to sneak home for the weekend (I was so homesick!) and headed back to our new home; one that we had less than a month to get settled into before heading to Houston. Matt expected to surprise me when we got there. He and some buddies had opened up a wall between our kitchen and living room to give our house a more ‘open’ feel. This was something Matt and I had many discussions about prior. Matt: “I’m gonna knock out this wall.” Me: “No way, you are not touching that wall.” Lucky for him he was right, for once:) It looks incredible and makes the house more inviting. He also had my new comfy couch, a graduation gift from my family, delivered and set up in the living room.
When we walked in Camie, Dallas, and a video camera were there to welcome us home. What followed was me confused and screaming a lot, as they unveiled all THEY had done for Matt and me. They completely redid our bedroom and bathroom with new paint, lamps, and décor to make an INCREDIBLE ‘am I on HG TV?’ space. Camie has such a talent for interior design (she needs her own show!) and the mission of a creating a comfortable, healing space was defiantly accomplished.
Who did all this? That is when Camie handed me a book of the website she created for us called Healing Jana. With the help of extremely generous friends and family she and Dallas raised enough money to do the remodel for us AND give us a TON of money to help with our medical expenses. I started bawling (and I don’t cry). The work was done by a crew of 8 or so who dedicated a whole weekend of work to help us finish our house. In addition to our bedroom they repainted our guest bedroom and transformed it from a room full of moving boxes into a functioning room, they filled holes and touched up paint throughout the rest of the house. Now I have a beautiful, clean, finished house that I can just heal in. You can check out the great before and after pictures and the newly added VIDEO online at www.healingjana.com. (I don't think I'll ever live down the fact that I had a conversation through the hole Matt knocked out in our wall for about a minute before realizing it was there!)
A few thank yous…….
To those who donated to ‘healing jana’- THANK YOU. I am humbled and forever grateful for your generosity. The money raised for medical bills will be a huge help!
“The Crew” Camie, Dallas, Mama Judy, Suzanne, Ashley, Lindsay G., Jim, Todd, Lindsey S., Tiny, Mom, Dad, Ralph, Red, and the girls- THANK YOU for the AMAZING house remodel. What a team!
Camie- I still can’t believe you did all this! THANK YOU being such an incredible friend.
Ronnie Mac, Pete, and Casey- THANK YOU for helping Matt with the giant hole he put in my wall. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you were the ones there to help, and luckily for you too I love it:)
To the nurses and staff at MD Anderson- THANK YOU for your high standards of care and for the compassion that each and every one of you showed.
Matt- THANK YOU for being there by my side this whole time. We learned the true meaning of ‘in sickness and in health’ much earlier than we would have liked, but we will be stronger together for it.
Mom- THANK YOU spending your summer with us. It was SO comforting to have you there.
Julie- THANK YOU for being here! You are an awesome sis.
Dad and other Houston visitors- THANK YOU for making the trek(s) to Houston, we appreciated the company!
Julie, Aaron, Sarah, Shelley (www.alldogsresort.com rocks!), Bernice, Gary, Sharyn, Camie, Dallas, and The Crew- THANK YOU for keeping my animals fed and safe!
To our CaringBridge cheerleaders and those who followed our story- THANK YOU for your messages, emails, thoughts, and prayers. You gave Matt and I more strength than you will ever know.
So what’s next?
Recovery! My immune system will continue to rebuild in the coming months and thus it will be a while before I am allowed to return to work at the hospital. In the meantime I look forward to hanging out with my animals (all three are laying within a few feet of me now), walks with Red, reading, cooking, making jewelry, watching lots of football, and just relaxing. We can’t wait to spend time this fall with friends and family that we’ve missed so much living in West Texas these last 5 years. I will return to MD Anderson for another scan in about two months, and will update this site again hopefully with continued good news.
Until then, thanks again for sharing this journey with us! We love each and every one of you.
Jana (and Matt!)
