No Place Like Home!

Yes... We're home! And oh how wonderful it is :)!!

Yesterday we got some good news while in the hospital. Abbey does not have swine flu and the several blood cultures that they did on her were all negative. We can be pretty certain at this point that she had some sort of virus that was causing the fevers and her bone marrow to be so wiped out. She still has a cough, but we are amazed how quickly her body was able to fight off whatever this was.

So as of yesterday she was not running a fever, but her numbers were still very low and we knew it was just a matter of her numbers to start to go up for us to go home. Last time her ANC was this low, it took her body two weeks to recover. Her doctors told us that it would not necessarily be that long. It could take two days or two weeks.

This morning the doctors did their rounds pretty early so we were both still sleeping when they came around. I quickly got out of bed to go into the hall to hear about Abbey's numbers. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that her white blood cell count was up almost double from yesterday. Although her numbers are still considered very low and she's still neutrapenic, her numbers are on their way up so we were able to leave today :)!

I hadn't even mentioned to Abbey yesterday that it was a possibility that we would be leaving today. Since we had no idea how long this stay was going to be, I didn't want to even give her the hope of us going home at this point. So when she woke up this morning, she was more than excited when I told her daddy was on his way to get us!

We will not take her out of the house until next Friday when we will go back to clinic for her number check, MRI and IV chemo. If she would get another fever we would be immediately admitted back to the hospital. This admission was unfortunately a sign to us that with cold and flu season here, we will have to avoid doing too much outside of our home. And to be completely honest, being home today has been so wonderful that I really don't feel like I want to leave again for a long time :) I do know that eventually we will start to get stir crazy, but being in the hospital and seeing her so sick this week is something that we will avoid at all costs.

Thanks for everything this week! We knew so many of you were lifting Abbey and us up in prayer and were comforted to know that many were thinking and praying for us. Thanks too for many encouraging comments on all the last posts and the video slideshow :). You all are so good to us!

Yesterday we couldn't celebrate the way that we had planned with our whole family, but my dear friend Melissa came up to the hospital with lots of goodies for Abbey and I. She was very thoughtful in everything she brought from orange cupcakes and cookies (orange for leukemia awareness) to very meaningful gifts for us to a number 1 candle to celebrate our one year anniversary. I wish I had my camera (I didn't have it the whole week so have no pictures to share from the hospital) so you could see our mini celebration. I also got to take a long, hot shower and go down to the cafeteria by myself for a little break from our room. It was a blessing. Thanks Melissa!

We are praying for an uneventful week here. Hopefully the next time we head to the hospital for an admission is for baby Colberts arrival :) This coming Friday (the 9th) is Abbey's MRI to check for the clot. Please continue to pray that it's completely dissolved and that we will be able to stop the shots. And also for her ANC to be back above 750. Today it was 130 so it still has a ways to go...

Thanks so much.... and a quick pic of Abbey at home tonight :)

And another of her sleeping soundly in her comfy, clean, warm bed :)

And now off to mine... Goodnight!