blessings from the Lord.

By far, this has been one of the best days we have had here.  I am SO grateful for all of the blessings that God has given us and all of the prayers that have been answered!

Today we learned many wonderful things from Joshua's team of doctors!

- Fever has been normal since 6:00pm on Wednesday
- After re-doing a biopsy of his skin, the rash is not due to graft vs. host disease (a complication of transplant), it was just a result of inflammation and should go away within a few days
- Mouth sores are less prominent
- Josh's kidneys showed signs of recovery, so he was switched to intermittent dialysis instead of continuous
- Oxygen is no longer needed as Josh is able to maintain a good saturation level without assistance
- White blood count has started to increase showing signs of engraftment (the new cells are settling in)

- IV nutrition/food is no longer needed as Josh is eating well

- Another ultrasound of his liver was completed and it was re-confirmed that he does not have VOD

I was filled with joy!  Bursting with Joy!  We made it through the past week of darkness and are beginning to see the light!

Josh getting his ultrasound.

Luckily for us, we got to share the news with several visitors today!  Josh's Dad and step Mom came to visit in the morning, then my Mom showed up this afternoon with a surprise visitor!

Grandma Tadlock came up from Illinois!

Lucky for me, Grandma and Mom decided to treat me to dinner so that I could get out of the hospital and into the sunshine.  We went to an Irish Pub in downtown Ann Arbor and sat outside on the patio.  It was amazing!  I do not think I have eaten that much in one day since I've been here!

When we got back to the hospital, Joshua's Mom had arrived and we walked in the room to another fantastic surprise!!!

Josh was out of bed and in a chair!!!

For the first time in over a week Josh was up, out of bed, and on the computer!  God is good!!!  Furthermore, Josh has been disconnected from several of his annoying lines and wires because they no longer need to monitor him so closely.  He will surely sleep better tonight than he has since he's been in ICU.  There will be much less beeping from all of the machines and wires and the nurse will only come in 4:00am to take vitals!

In the morning, Josh will have a CAT scan at 9:00am to confirm there are no further issues.  He will have a couple hours of dialysis.  Then... we should be headed back up to the 7th floor again!  Good bye ICU!!!

Thank you family and friends for all of your prayers.