Day 80, Happy Campers:)

You could not keep a smile off our faces after our clinic visit today!  Hunter's liver enzymes were down 25%, his blood counts were stable, his steroids reduced to once a day, and we don't have to come back to clinic until next Monday.  A few more weeks of steroids decreases, and we could be home!  Considering he's only been out of the hospital two weeks today, this is nothing short of amazing.  God has been good to us! 

Hunter's strength is slowly returning too.  He is getting tons better at going up and down the stairs and moving around the RV.  It's nice to see the beginnings of muscles where there used to be none:)  Our nutritionist said that healthy weight gain would be one pound a week, so Hunter is figuring he's got the next six months to make up for what he's lost.  All the extra calories he's been eating while on his steroids can't hurt as he gained 1.7 lbs. over the weekend.  Hunter is THE MAN! 

 It's been raining off and on the past couple days, so we've enjoyed the cooler temperatures.  Mentally, the old Hunter is coming back too.  He's spend the past few days "trading" as he likes to call it.  He has sold his boat, guitar, and bow that he doesn't plan on using this next year.  In turn he's got a few firearm purchases up his sleeve.  I can't complain as he's bought me a sewing machine and a new pair of shoes in his internet surfing.  Hunter will be the first to admit that he just checked out mentally during his second hospital stay.  He wasn't able to stay in touch with what was going on outside his hospital room and doesn't really remember a lot of June.  I sure am glad to see him back to his old ways.  Our doctor and nurses get a big kick out of him at clinic visits too, as he's been negotiating his way out of medications and restrictions.  They've all said they wouldn't want to be a car competitor in his area!

Just a few nighttime snacks...don't you eat almonds, cereal, clif bars, and crackers all night long?

I don't know why it took us so long, but we figured out that we could listen to old sermons on our church's website.  We are missing our church friends like crazy, but it wasn't too bad to drink coffee and hear God's word in Houston!  It will be a happy day when we are allowed back at Southern Hills.

Bean dip and fritos.....nutritionist orders!  No thank you for me.

 Our kids had a fun weekend.  They had a sleepover at Honey and Poppa's house Friday night.  They had a ball with their cousins and wore themselves out swimming outside.  I think they're all still and quiet because they're watching a "backpack."

busy group, this 6

Nana shares their love of snowcones, so it doesn't take a lot of convincing her to get a treat.  I have a feeling when we get home there will be some good natured teasing from Nana blaming Honey for our rotten kids and vise versa.  I've seen plenty of Poppa and three little boys eating ice cream too.  Hunter and I give them a hard time, but we consider ourselves extremely blessed that we have parents that consistently uproot themselves from their house and move in to take such good care of our guys.  Benton, Caleb, and Clayton have made tons of good memories with family while we're been gone.

long sleeves in July and loving library story time

 Hunter has a lot of recovery still in front of him.  All along, our doctors and nurses have said that it takes your body 90 to 100 days to work out the kinks of something as major as a bone marrow transplant.  We hope and pray that we have all the setbacks out of the way and that Hunter can slowly rebuild his immune system and strength free of infections and complications.  Specifically, we ask for prayers for Hunter's liver, for his hemoglobin to recover to normal levels, for his body to continue to get stronger, and for protection from infection.  We are looking forward to a boring week in the RV!