hope turned reality.

Yesterday morning, the doctors came in to take a look at Josh and go over his status.  I had stayed up way too late the night earlier, unable to sleep (as you can see from my 3am blog post).  I was just waking up and a little out of it.  When they left the room, I asked Josh, "Did they just say 4.2 or was I hearing things?"  He said "Yeah."

I jumped out of my couch/bed and ran over to the our daily chart.

2 days ago:
Overall White Blood Count - 3.5
"Fighter" White Blood Count - 0.9

Yesterday:
Overall White Blood Count - 4.5
"Fighter" White Blood Count - 4.2!!!!  It more than quadrupled!

Josh's new cells had officially engrafted in his body and were producing well!  His white blood count was now back in the normal range of 4-11.  AND his "Fighter" white blood cells were high enough for his body to fight bacteria!  Can this be right?!?!  Both of us were a little skeptical considering he has been going up by 0.1 for the past several days.  We called the nurse.

When she got to the room, she confirmed the numbers.  I almost died of a heart attack!  Oh!  Did I mention that the doctors also saw the first signs of rash improvement???

HELLO ANSWERED PRAYERS!!!  This was less than twelve hours after I decided to turn around my way of thinking.  Less than 12 hours after writing my blog.  And less than twelve hours after having a nice long "chat" with God about my prior week of doubt.  SO awesome!

Immediately, I talked to Josh about my late night blog and the devotion I read.  I said that God does not bless those who doubt Him.  He does not bless those who lack confidence in His power.  I asked Josh if he thought that we had lived the past week in doubt and disappointment.  He agreed we had and agreed to make today a better day.

We agreed to ALWAYS find something to be thankful for, even on the worst days.  We agreed to ALWAYS remember that God knows what is best even if we can't see it yet.

Today, we woke up to the doctors again.  We wondered what the numbers would do after such a drastic jump.  Well, let me tell you what they did.  They went up even more!!!  Needless to say, I have been smiling all day.  Do you know how much I love to smile?!

The rash looked a little better to them.  I think it looks the same, but at least it does not itch as much now.  They're primary concern today was Josh's exercise and muscle loss.  He is on a high dose of steroids for the rash, which basically eats up muscle.  He has continued to eat as much protein as possible, but exercise is extremely important to stop muscle loss.

Due to all of his new treatments, he did not get out of bed at all two days ago.  He walked twice yesterday around the floor yesterday, but even then he got light headed quickly and needed to sit down.  Our doctor told him that he needs to challenge himself as much as possible.  If his rash gets better, but he isn't able to walk steady, he would have to stay longer.  Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!!

Loss of muscle

He has lost over 30 pounds since we arrived

Gentleman rev your engine!!!  It is time to get moving!  I had Josh do some stretching exercises to get the blood flowing to his muscles - hoping that this would cause less of a shock when he stands up.  We walked a lap around the floor.  Josh even told me to walk faster!  I've never heard that until today.  When we got back, I challenged him to do some calf exercises (presses).  He was able to do 15.  Tomorrow, we'll try to beat that.  Even better, Josh walked all the way to another building in the hospital and back this afternoon with no help.  Hallelujah!

With God's help, I know he can do it.  In fact, I am so hopeful and confident, that I even started packing up some of our belongings.

Getting ready to blow this popsicle stand!