New Job

A lot of neat things have happened in our home recently. Kade got a new job! This job is one that he has wanted for quite some time now. If you have seen my facebook page you know that Kade got hired with Utah Highway Patrol. He got sworn in on November 18. Kade turned 25 the day before, so we pretty much had a week to celebrate Kade. What a wonderful week it turned out to be. On top of all that, Kade and I headed to Hawaii on November 19.

Here are a few pictures to show how Kades day went...

This is a Picture of Kade saying the oath

You have to love sisters Playing games with you right?

Kade never would be where he is without his mom and dad!

I am so proud of him! I am excited to learn how to be a cops wife!

Disney Land/ Las Vegas

For Kade's Graduation I planned a trip to Disney Land for him. Disney Land is his happy place so what better a place to take my recent graduate? Our first stop was in Vegas where we stayed at the Hampton Inn. We took that first evening to play with my twin sister and her Husband. :) It was Cody's Birthday so we went to dinner and then went to Fremont Street. It was tons of fun. To be honest, it was the first time that I had ever gambled. I decided to try out the penny slots (cause I'm a wimp and did not want to loose that much money)
My first time Gambling. See my cute sister and her husband behind me.
We got a fast pass for Peter Pan!
Thunder Rail Road- I really like this ride!
Kade and I with Mickey Mouse
Karen, Mark, Kade and I waiting to ride the Toy story ride
Picture moment
Tom Sawyer's Island
Kade and I got our own boat during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Kade talked me into going on Grisly River Rapids... Needless to say I got so wet. I am lying on a concert bench trying to get dry.
Kade and I on the Alice in Wonderland ride
Kade and I taking a moment to just be us
The Lions at feeding time
The Lions at MGM Casino in Las Vegas
I am so glad that we had such an awesome vacation. It ended up being like 10 days in all. It was fun to see how different our two family's are. We spent the first half of the week with Kade's family and then the last half with my parents in Las Vegas.

Kade's Graduation

Kade graduated from the UVU Police Academy on May 18th. I am so proud of him. The ceremony was fun and we all got to hear the little bloopers that happened during the year. To be totally honest, I am so glad that he is finished. It will be nice to have him home with me again at night. We are currently just waiting patiently (not) for a job to open up. Kade has some applications out and we are hoping one or two will work out. My husband is so amazing. He was the best shooter in the class and received a reward for it. I am excited to display it on the wall. I think every great accomplishment should be hung up in plain sight for everyone to see.

Kade receiving his certificate

Kade receiving the "Top Gun" Award... That means he was the best shooter in the class! He beat the next classmate by .3 points. :) Not to brag or anything!
Mel, Jake, and Kade
The whole family
Bari, Kade, and Brad. My parents
Chad, Gabbi, Kade and Lisa
Me, Kade, James, and Brittany
Kade opening some of his gifts
I would like to thank everyone who came to make this event such a wonderful experience.

ONE- Year Anniversary

Kade took me to the Cliff Lodge to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was such a nice surprise. He would not tell me where we were going or what we were doing.
Kade's grandparents are sending us to Hawaii for a second honeymoon, and so while we were at the lodge I took some time to do research for our trip. We are both so excited and thankful.

Even though it is warm and there is no snow where we live, the ski hill is still working and people are still boarding and skiing. I wasn't prepared for that. I was only told to dress slightly warmer than I had been. I don't think Kade was ready for all the snow either.
We had dinner reservations at the steak house. It was so good; however, I only had flip flops on and the pathway to the restaurant was not plowed. I walked the whole way barefoot. By the time we got to dinner my feet were numb. Not from cold but from the pressure of the packed snow. I wasn't too excited about it, but I'm glad Kade can look at a situation and decide that it is picture worthy. He loved documenting our vacation.
This picture is to show that I was a good girl and never went in a hot tub until I was allowed to do so. When my central line came out on April 7th Kade made sure to ask if I was now allowed to sit in one. When he made reservations he made sure that we had a hot tub on the balcony. It was so wonderful and romantic. I just am so grateful he is so thoughtful and wonderful. We had such a nice time remember our first year of marriage. Our real anniversary isn't until April 24, but Kade has school that night so we decided that this was a great time!

















Kade and I getting ready to head out and to have a great day!
Kade's favorite animal at the zoo!
Kade and I each took turns taking our picture by one of the animals that was actually awake.

Kade and I both loved spending some quality time together alone and away from the world! We are looking forward to a more normal- or just less stressful and a more healthier second year of marriage. Thanks again to all our friends and family for their love and support!

GOOD NEWS

I had my final exam done about two weeks ago at the hospital. It was to see how my bone marrow was responding to the transplant. The results that we got were amazing. I am 100 % my bone marrow donor's marrow. So i'm no longer really me... lol

The hospital was excited. That's exactly what they were waiting for. I am getting more leeway now; which helps a lot. I know only have to go to the hospital every 2 weeks, but I think that will be moved to monthly quickly. I am so excited for the good news.

I just want to thank everyone for the love and support that has been shown towards me and my family. I would never be where I am with out all of you.

Hospital visit

Today being Thursday meant another appointment at the hospital for my mother- in- law and me. We arrived at 9 right on time for the appointment only to find out that the outpatient registration had screwed up something on my account and I had to go down to their office and make a visit. So instead of being on time I was officially 15 minutes late; which means a lot of waiting around.

So finally after getting a room and having my blood drawn the doctor and nurse practitioner came into talk with me. They say everything looks amazing and wonderful. I have been instructed to make sure I wear sunscreen in the sun and be careful. I love it when they say that to a 23 year old... it's like I don't understand that the sun can burn me pretty badly right now. HAHA

So I'm excited that I will soon be able to visit the hospital only once a month. It's nice however to be given compliments up there. They told me that I have a great shaped head and it's looking really nice with all the hair that's growing on it. :) I am so excited that it's finally growing.

Well, Kade is getting closer every day to graduating. He is really loving school especially since they are finally at the fun part of school, the shooting. He's so good and yet so humble about it all. I am so surprised about that! LOL no really, I am :). I had the opportunity to go to class with him the other day and it was a really neat experience. I got to hear a lot of personal stories from the officer teaching. I feel more prepared to be a wife of a police officer.

Well Kade and I are both itching to go on vacation someplace warm. I think my hubby is sick of my complaining about being cold (seriously with no hair it gets really cold!) We are really thinking about a Disneyland trip in May as soon as he graduates. It will be wonderful to go back to the happiest place on earth.

HOME

Well... I am home and loving spending time with my family! I have to go to the hospital about once a week.

So far the Dr.'s are impressed. My blood counts are holding their own! I guess that's what happens when you have blessed bone marrow from a missionary.

Kade is loving school and work. They keep him busy and away from home most of the day. He usually gets home around 10 pm and leaves around 7:30 am to get to work on time. He does this Mon- Friday, and Saturday he goes from 8-5. This makes it so we can at least have a date night. :)
Well nothing much is new here. My two sisters and their husbands are coming to visit us this coming weekend and we are excited to see them. We are excited to watch the Superbowl together and to eat lots of good food.

That sums things up for us. Keep in touch

Engraftment

On day +25 we finally engrafted! That's good news. It means by body has accepted Andrew's bone marrow and it has moved into the bones where it belongs. It has started to divide and I was able to go home. I am feeling great. All I know from here on out is dr. visits with a blood draw. I am so excited that i'm done with chemo and radiation; hopefully for life.

It's wonderful to be home and to be able to see my husband. It's a great feeling!

Update on Transplant

Well,
Since it is 12:30 am I can officially call today day plus 19, meaning that it has been 19 days since the transplant. We are experiencing signs that the engraftment will occur any day now. My long bones have been aching (legs and arms) which means the cells are trying to get into where the bone marrow goes.

Along with that, I have decided that since most of my mouth sores are gone I would try solid food. The radiation that I had burned off my taste buds so everything pretty much tastes the same to me. I eat some solid food but I'm also on IV nutrition that keeps getting reduced. This is good since once I engraft it makes me be able to go home sooner.

The hospital is slowly turning off my pain pump, but they also don't want my body to have withdrawals or for me to be in pain so it's been slow progress. I am managing to take all of my meds orally right now. All that is except the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. Once my ANC (absolute neutrophill count) is 500 most of the anti drugs go away automatically.

Everything so far has been great improvement. The Dr. say that I'm within the top 3 % that they have ever seen. I haven't had any unwanted side effects (yet- knock on wood). I have both good days and bad. Most of all I just really want to go home at this point. I can't wait to engraft. I'm doing all I can the rest is up to the Lord.

Well thanks for tuning in, but that's all for now.

0 + 14

We are officially on day 14 from receiving the transplant. All is well. The doctors have told me that I'm in the top three percent of the patients that they see. I guess this would mean that I have less complications and symptoms or less sever symptoms than the other patients that they see. I was excited to hear that and so was the rest of the family. Like family and friends we have a guessing game going on to find out when I'll engraft. Well, the Doctors are having that same guessing game amongst themselves. One thinks that it will happen at the end of this week, another think the following week. So I'm just playing a waiting game.

I have mouth sores that hurt like crazy, but they seem to be doing better. I could not eat or swallow anything for a while so they put me on IV foods ( lipids, and vitamins mixed with water)

My throat is feeling tons better now I can swallow and I ate my first solid food today. It was jello! I love frozen jello.

My long bones hurt, which I hear is a good sign. This shows potential for engraftment.

Well all is well with the cancer patient- Know an update on Kade's life

Kade started school today. He is in the police academy, so this round being the second round will be more hands on. Kade loves to shoot so this period of school should fly by for him. I also believe that It will prove that he is the best in his class ( no offense guys).

Well enough about us. Thanks for all your love and support in every way possible.