Remission

Wow! I have a lot to catch up on. We have been home from Utah for two weeks now. Eric's srugery was an absolute success. The morning of surgery we were both in good spirits, but nervous. I was so grateful when we arrived as sweet Aimee, Emma, and Mila were there to greet us upon our arrival at 5: 45 am. The staff was prompt to get Eric back and prepared for surgery. When we had to say goodbye he looked back at me and said, "See you on the otherside". To all of you reading this, that is not the best thing to say to your loved one when you are going in for a major surgery, he thought he was pretty funny! Aimee and the girls were so nice to have there waiting with me, it was nice to have someone to talk to and distract me from my emotions and worries. He was in surgery for about 5 hours, and the doctor removed 25 lymph nodes. Only 2 of the 25 were cancer, and thankfully turned out to be teratoma cancer which had to be surgically removed.
   The weeks following surgery were tough, but good. We spent five days at the hospital, the staff and everyone at Huntsman were great. They were very caring and did an exceptional job to keep the pain as minimal as possible. He went about 3 days without food and water, they had him on an IV and he was able to spounge his mouth as needed, but had to wait patiently for his bowels to wake up before he could have any food. He absolutley loved having an epidural, it kept his abdomen numb so the pain was easily managed. The most painful part was driving from the hospital to Eric's parents home where we would spend the next several weeks recovering.
   The recovery was slow, but enjoyable. It was nice being surrounded by our families and getting the extra support. It took about two weeks for him to feel well enough to get up and moving much in the day. He would take short walks in the hospital and around the house, but within about two weeks he was to the point that we would take a short walk outside, or he was able to sit up at the dinner table every once in awhile for a meal. By the time we returned home, he was getting around a lot better, but was still needing a lot of rest in the day. He started to cut back on his pain pills as he was looking forward to returning to work and getting back to normal life.
  We were on a high of excitement hopeful that they got all of the cancer, and starting to feel like life was getting back to normal. Our return home was a quick realitly check that we still had to get the final word on the success of his overall treatments. We prayed fervently that the news would be good, and for the time being were just happy to be feeling good. We met with the doctor the Monday after we got back and by Thursday the results were in on his blood work and all of his hormone levels were normal! What great news! He is in remission! He was able to get his medical back at work and just recertified so he can start controlling planes again! He will do blood work and a chest scan again in November. So for the time being we are taking in every moment of this beautiful life we have been blessed with and are so grateful to be enjoying the simple things of life. For me waking up to a sweet baby boy knocking on his door calling for mama (he learned how to climb out of his crib, so we upgraded him to a twin bed...but had to reverse a lock on his door to keep him in there!) seeing the furry man laying next to me, getting a lunch packed and kissing my husband goodbye, spending the day with the cutest little boy in the world teaching him new things, and listening to him walk around all day asking for Dada as he has now spent the last 5 weeks seeing him every day, watching him greet his Dad as soon as the garage door opens, kissing my husband with the baby boy in his arms, dinner as a family, nightly bubble blowing outside, scriptures and prayers, singing and relishing in the small moment in each day that my baby boy wants to cuddle in my arms, tucking him in to bed, and enjoying a few hours each night with the most amazing man in my life. This is what makes my life worth living each day.