DAILY NANCY UPDATE #19

Greetings. 

This is the nineteenth in a series of DAILY NANCY UPDATES I will be posting until the amazing Nancy Neufeld Callaway is in full remission and we have kicked her leukemia on its ass. 

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BREAKING NEWS

She's home. Got here last night after what felt like a marathon move-out. The boys and I were so happy to see her (Clemmy by extension)-- and you should've seen Zingo running around in circles with excitement. It's so wonderful to have her here. But also kinda scary-- just because the last time we were home and everything was "normal," was before we left for Christmas vacation in Mexico. And since then, a whole bunch of things have obviously changed. But at the same time, thankfully, even more things have remained the same. So suffice it to say, we're elated. Exhausted, but elated.

HEADLINES

Sorry this post is coming so late in the day-- but in spite of having just returned home yesterday, I had to turn around and take Nancy right back to UCLA this morning for her first visit to the outpatient oncology clinic. For the next few hours, they did some basic blood tests through her PICC line (she's particularly happy about breaking up with "Clark," the tall, cold, and steel IV stand she was "attached" to for 18 days in the hospital)-- and thankfully, the news was all still positive. Her numbers remain good, though she's still on what's known as a "neutropenic diet," which requires us to be very careful about what she eats in order to avoid harmful bacteria her body isn't currently equipped to handle. That meant we also had to do some special shopping afterward to make sure she's got what she needs to stay healthy. And we'll also be back at UCLA bright and early on Monday morning-- and pretty much every other day until further notice. What's more, in addition to whatever chemo meds they will be administering at the clinic, Nancy also has a massive daily regimen of drugs she has to take at home-- including some self-administered shots which aren't super fun. I'm telling you guys, it's enough medicine to choke a horse...

But you know what's most inspiring about her? She never complains. Okay, maybe just a little-- but nothing compared to me.

TODAY'S HURDLE

Here's the thing. Usually whenever you have the misfortune of finding yourself in the hospital-- when you finally leave-- it's because whatever was ailing you in the first place simply is no longer. YOU'RE ALL BETTER. But when it comes to leukemia, even though we definitely share our doctors' enthusiasm over how amazing she's responded to the last 18 days of intense reduction treatment-- you still eventually go home BEFORE YOU'RE ALL BETTER. So we're all kind of in this bizarre happy-one-minute-not-so-sure-the-next-zone emotionally. So your continued good thoughts and prayers for increased peace of mind as we move forward in the fight would be greatly appreciated.

POSTSCRIPT

Without going into details, I pretty much sucked as a father today. Made the extremely unfortunate mistake of taking out some of my own stress out on the boys (who are already managing more than enough of their own) and it's bugged me ever since. Yes, I apologized. And yes, we discussed it all openly afterward-- because our kids are amazing and still remarkably willing to listen to most of what we say. But I still feel bad about it. So even though they're probably avoiding this blog like acute lymphoblastic leukemia... I want the world to know how much I truly love all three of my kids. We couldn't be happier to have Nancy home-- but we still have a big fight ahead of us. So the last thing any of us needs to be doing is fighting with each other. Because WE LOVE NANCY and... 

ALL IS WELL!