Day 31 - Home At Last!!

Courtney is finally home and hospital free – at least for the next seven nights! It was such a great sight to see her and the kids together again after more than two weeks. The look on their faces when they saw her walk in the door was priceless. They all had a nervous look to their exuberance, not sure what to make of a bald mommy. They all quickly overcame the uncertainty of Courtney’s new look, and quickly started showing her things they had made and telling her all they had done while she was away.

As far as Courtney’s physical condition is concerned, the past two days have been superbly uneventful. She did have a couple of fevers Saturday night and into Sunday (none last night or today!), that made us question whether or not she would get to come home today, but, other than that there is really nothing worth noting. Her blood counts are almost completely within normal. Her WBC’s and neutrophils are within normal, as are her platelets and hemoglobin. After more than 30 days of abnormal results, it’s really nice to finally see some normalcy.

Last night was difficult as Courtney had to say goodbye to her sister Tracy as she left early this morning to return to Italy, where her husband Shawn is stationed with the Army. She really enjoyed having her around this past week. It had been over two years since they last saw each other, and they had a good time reconnecting. It’s just too bad that it couldn’t be under circumstances that were more fun. It’s hard saying goodbye to the ones you love, especially when you’re not sure how long it will be until you’re able to see them again.

Tonight will be the first night in over a month that Courtney won’t be woken up at 4:30 AM to have blood taken, nor at 7:00 AM to have her vitals checked. We’re hoping she gets a really good night of rest in her own bed without the disturbances. She’s had a long day and really needs it.

Her main battle this week will be trying to regain some of her strength that she lost while confined to her hospital bed for so long. It’s amazing how quickly muscles atrophy when not used. She was unable to go up our stairs or pick up Aidan today. I think she’d really like to be feeling better physically before starting the next round of chemotherapy. This week she’ll have to balance getting plenty of rest while doing what she can to use her muscles and build them back. I have a feeling this next week will fly by. For once I wish we could slow down the clock – at least for the next seven days.