Three Years Post Stem Cell Transplant - Happy Birthday EZ!

August 25, 2010 is a day we will never ever forget. This is the day EZ got a new lease on life with his stem cell transplant at Duke.  We will forever celebrate each year we are given, and never forget the difficulties EZ faced, and overcame, to get here. Click the titles on his One Year Celebration and his Two Year Celebration for a look back.

We had a wonderful, fast paced celebration with the Dew Crew yesterday after church and before Awana. EZ planned the menu of French Dip sandwiches, kettle cooked chips and pretzels, and cookies & cream ice cream pie with Oreo crust. (For all the food critics out there, I KNOW this isn't the healthiest menu...it was his birthday, so we indulged! Back to leafy greens, veggies, fruit, lean meats, and much less sugar tomorrow:-)

This year we have been heavily involved with downsizing and moving to a new home that requires much less maintenance on our part. We sold our house of nine years, and moved to our new home on August 9th, which is the reason I have been absent from the blogging world. Now that we are somewhat settled, I hope to do alot of catching up. 

Once again we have so much to be grateful for. Here are just a few things that come to mind:

1. No hospitalizations or major illnesses this year.
2. EZ can sit for longer periods of time and we have enjoyed dinners out.
3. EZ flew for the first time! Six hours from Charlotte to Seattle, first class, no problems.
4. We were able to take a cruise to Alaska, courtesy of my sweet mom. Amazing!
5. EZ almost single handedly packed up our entire basement, making multiple trips with his trailer to
    a storage unit to unpack. His physical stamina and ability to build and work on projects has
    greatly improved.
6. He remains on 10 mg Revlimid daily, and continues to be in complete response with no detectable
    M-spike.

When you live with an incurable cancer, you never know when the tables will turn, so for now, we celebrate special 'anniversaries' such as this, with much joy. Sleep remains elusive, peripheral neuropathy wreaks havoc in his legs and feet, he lives with pain every day, and fatigue hits pretty hard sometimes, but he copes, never complains, and carries on.

(Can you tell Samuel wasn't too happy about this picture?)

We don't ever want to take this day for granted and thoroughly enjoyed planning and celebrating! We are grateful to be in our new home, creating new memories, and remembering God's goodness to us.

(Our daughter, Leah, created this housewarming sign for us!)

Thank you so much for stopping by to rejoice with us!