Mom is Home

Allen, Will and I left this morning around 9:00 Eastern, stopped to gas up, picked up a couple things from Food Lion, grabbed some breakfast and hit the road. It was nearly 11:30 when we got to the Duke bone marrow transplant clinic. Dale came out to the parking deck so that we could unload Mom's belongings from his car to ours. Mom was still waiting to get blood drawn, so we went to entertain Will for a few hours. He is not allowed in the bone marrow transplant clinic.

Everyone raved about the Duke gardens, so we set out to find them. We found a school building with Internet access, so fired up my laptop and got directions. Google sent us to the Duke police department. Go figure! We found a parking lot that we thought was at the gardens but it wasn't. A nice man there gave us good directions for getting there. We parked the car, grabbed a map and set out walking. It was really hot and sunny with not much shade and no breeze at all, so we figured we'd find the "cafe" and get Will an ice cream or something. Nothing was labeled and the map was poorly designed, so it took forever to find the place and when we got there it was insanely  over priced, so we grabbed Squirt a juice box and tried to find our way back to the car. We were all overheated and miserable by this point and because of the unclear map, we ended up on the opposite side of the gardens and couldn't find the car. It took forever to find our way back to the car and by then I felt like I was going to throw up. Being pregnant and lost in the heat is not a good mix. We've decided never to go back there again. LOL! After that, we grabbed some lunch and then waited in the parking deck at the clinic until Mom called to say she was ready to go.

Dale and Mom came out of the clinic around 3:00 and we were on our way. Mom looks good: tired but surprisingly well for all she has bee through the past few days. She told me that Indra got back to the hotel room late last night and that she flew out this morning to go back to Kansas City to get medical care where Eric is. She was still in a lot of pain and doesn't have any answers yet, but it makes a lot of sense for her to receive care where Eric is and to be able to stay at home. I assume that she made it home okay and I'm sure we'll be in phone communication.

We made a few stops on the way home, including a stop to get some more cleaning supplies for the house. I have disinfecting wipes and other things for the bathroom to keep it sanitary for Mom. Will is going to be using the master bath for the next few weeks until Mom is over this hump in her treatment.

I think it was about 6:00 when we got home. We are all extremely tired and looking forward to a good night's sleep. I believe that tomorrow we start the every-other-day trips to the doc for blood work. Mom starts her neupogen shots on Tuesday. Side effects will make her feel like she has the flu and make it hard to sleep. She'll continue those and then Marilyn flies in on Sunday (a week from today). They'll go to Duke on that Monday to start stem cell collection.

Off to get my kid tucked into bed. He's pooped and going down insanely early tonight. What a good sport!