Southern Pearl Cancer Kicker Benefit

What a great night!! On December 10th, McHales on Main served as host for our very first Southern Pearl Cancer Kicker Benefit. Four local bands donated their time for a night of awesome music. Ryan Lewis kicked off the night with his acoustic guitar followed by Fernandina and Bad Elster. Motel Glory wrapped up our event by rocking the house to end the evening.

Ryan Lewis

Fernandina

Bad Elster

Motel Glory

Through door donations, a 50/50 raffle, prize raffle, and Premier's 50% match program we were able to raise $1357.50. All of which went directly to the Cancer Kicker Fund at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center!

Southern Pearl Cancer Kicker Benefit

One year post transplant...

Still Dominating!

Still Fighting Like Girls!

Still in COMPLETE RESPONSE!!!

Day 42: Thankful

It's a special Thanksgiving for us this year. We have quite a bit to be thankful for.

• Hot air balloons named Rosie
• The awesome hotel staff at the Homewood Suites
• Ativan
• ReRe - our housekeeeper for 8 weeks
• Our transplant nurses Carolyn & Christy at the cancer center
• DAB pumps - say no to nausea!
• No mouthsores!
• 76.8 million stem cells collected in 1 day
• Our prayer warriors
• The cards and letters that were sent each week during the SCT
• No hospital stays!
• Our Fighting Like A Girl readers

We've been trying to get back to normal around here. It seems like I have been on the road for work since we were discharged. Momma is recovering at home and doing great. She still can't be out in large crowds. She's been keeping herself busy organizing kitchen cabinets. We'll return to Greenville in late January for her 100 day evaluation. They'll determine at that time what the next steps will be -- maintenance chemo or a second transplant. We're ready to take on either! Happy Thanksgiving!

Fighting Like A Girl

Day 26: DISCHARGED!

We've officially been discharged. More details tomorrow. Is it possible to forget what your forks look like in 8 weeks? Apparently so.

Day 24 : Into the heavens on a hot air balloon named Rosie

Today was one of those days where you know when your head hits the pillow you'll take a huge sigh and realize exactly how amazing the day really was.

Our day started at 4:30 am after a night of crazy heartburn, parking lot fights, and hardly any sleep. Momma loaded up on a few preventative meds hoping Ativan and Lomotil would prevent any potential flight disturbances. We made our way to the Anderson civic center in the dark, got checked in and waited on our balloon pilot to come find us. We were greeted by our pilot Wayne's mom and made our way over to watch Rosie get ready for take off.

Wayne briefed us on what to expect during the flight and the landing. We signed a forest of documents that reminded us over and over that ballooning is "inherently dangerous". Not much different than the pre-transplant documents Momma signed that said "oh by the way, your transplant might not work and you could possibly kick the bucket". We're all about taking risks around here.

The balloon was ready for take off so we hopped in the basket and Wayne's mom snapped a quick photo of us before take off.

The take off was really smooth and we were quickly high above the trees. Lib was wishing she wouldn't have passed up an Ativan around this time but she settled in after about 15 minutes.

A few shots from the air.

We stayed in the air for about an hour and 15 minutes before landing in a paved entrance to an Anderson neighborhood. The landing was alot easier than I was expecting -- well after avoiding a set of power lines that Wayne didn't seem to see at first. After Wayne and the chase crew got Rosie stuffed back into her bag they asked us to help get the rest of the air out of her.

We loaded in the chase car and made our way back to the launch field for a champagne toast. Today was a great day -- a memory that I'll hold on to forever. Thanks to Wayne and his crew for an amazing morning.

Click here for more photos: http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2014515006/a=18679680_18679680/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Day 22

Liver enzyme levels are still elevated but much better than they have been. The transplant nurse still has us scheduled for discharge on Tuesday!
We're planning to check out the Greenville Open Studios event tomorrow and going on a sunrise hot air balloon ride at the Balloons Over Anderson festival on Sunday. Great way to wrap up our stint in Greenville!

Fighting Like A Girl