4 months plus one day

We went to Harry Potter. He is the masked arcade bandit.
This is his summer fun. Hangn out poolside.

Pool side again. Its gonna be a long summer.

Notice the hair.

My Lily!!! She is growing up too fast.

Cole and his friend at the arcade. He is so focused.

Yesterday was Clays four month BMT birthday. Man how time flies while your having fun.

We celebrated by doing nothing. It is nice to do nothing. Its nice to curl up together and just relax. It has been tough getting back into Mom world as well as germ nazi and food preparer and nurse. Some days I'm on top of it and the clothes are washed the meals are made and the fighting is not there. Other days, well, its not as pretty. I love every minute of it but sometimes it is over whelming. From the message boards I am on, all I need is time and patience. As, most of you know I have neither of those qualities. So I, like most, am a work in progress.

I have gone back to work. It is nice to escape and feel needed. The store staff have been amazing and they did such a good job of giving me job security. haha. I'm all honesty they did awesome and have made me feel good about coming back. I love my company, I work for the greatest company with the best boss. My boss was transferred while I was away and his official last day with us is coming soon. Doug, the boss, is solid as a rock and could not be better. I will miss him but also know this is better for him. Our new boss has some big shoes to fill but I know he will be just as great.

Clay has been doing amazing as he has been doing. His hair is growing so much. It is coming in strait and black. Everyone wants to touch his hair and feel how soft it is and he hates that so much. He always tilts his head to one way or the other. I think its funny to watch him run and hide from people. We have been lucky enough to go back to church. He wears his mask through sacrament and then goes home. It has been nice to see him there and feel uplifted by the spirit.

We go to the doctors in Utah this weekend for our monthly follow up. The docs here are saying he is doing great but wont take out his line until he hits the 6 month mark which is September. Hopefully it can be sooner but we are not holding our breath. The bummer is since he still has the line, no swimming this summer. Talk about a bummer summer. Oh well there is always next summer and we plan on taking full advantage of our summer next year.

So, other than the normal family issues all is good at the Shurtleff house. We are all happy, healthy and full of love and craziness. We fight, we play, we tease and we fight some more. So normal.

Love to all,

Tabitha

4th of July as a family

Lily, Clay, Cole

4th of July
Clay and his friend Fidel lighting fireworks.

Cole and Jake.

Fireworks group.

Shurtleffs, Ludwigs, Ludwigs neighbor

The kids at fireworks. I love that our families get along so well.

Thanks Ludwigs

We had an awesome 4th of July. We went to see Transformers and Clay had to wear his mask the whole movie. He loved the movie, hated the mask.

We had a great weekend with the Becks, Ludwigs and us. This holiday has a special meaning to us. It is the start of something amazing, it is the start of time. We have nothing but time.

I got a message on face book from a special friend I met at the hospital who lost her son in May. I was grateful to hear from her and know she is doing well. I miss her and love her. Keep moving forward Kristi, Tanner is pushing you every step of the way.

I love being with my family. I hate that the kids fight still and that I have to be Mom and be responsible. I love that we can argue over where we are sitting on the couch or in the car. I love that Clay is here to push buttons and tease his siblings. Being together is awesome and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Love to all.

Tab, Tad, Cole, Clay and Lily

Home Sweet Home

Clays buddies came to his suprise welcoming.

There was alot of people there. Thanks everyone!!!

Nate, Elloitt, and Clay

Nate and his bone marrow donor and Clay with his bone marrow donor. Friends for life.

Those two had so much fun together.

The host with th most and the hostess who has the mostest.

The awesome and famous Grandma and Grandpa D. Thye hosted my family since Feb.

Lily planted potatoes with Grandma in the spring. She is proud of her plant.

My true heros. Brenda and Hilary. Our Nurse Practitioners. They helped him and me through some long days and long nights. The best!!!

Dr Paul. He kept Clay sain or insaine, depends on how you look at it.

I have been so good about posting but this week we have been so busy. Oh well you will get used to it. Now I am home I get to be a working Mom again. I also hope that there are not very many changes and not much to update. I will do my best to update as often as needed. My mom always says that sometimes no news is good news. So here is the update from the last week....

Saturday Clay had his 100 days cancer free. We celebratied with a party at Nick and Heathers. It was nice to see all the family and some friends. Clay had a nice suprise, well not a suprise he knew about it. Nathan, the boy from the hosputal that Clay was a penpal with, he and his family came all the way from Ogden to celebrate with Clay. Nate is a little short of half way from his 100 days and I am glad he is healthy enough to play. The kids jumpe on the tramp and played like kids. I loved seeing two recent BMT boys be normal boys. They are amazing kids and we can all learn a lesson from thier resilncy. Thanks Nick and Heath for being the hostess with the mostess.

Sunday we came home. Aaahhh, It is so nice to say I am home. Clay is healthy enough to be home. Our family can be one again. It is going to be quite an adjustment to get back into reality for both Clay and I. Also Cole and Lily need to get used to Mom being here. Dad can be some what of a push over in the punishment dept. Anyway, The ward/neighborhood planned a huge welcome home thing for Clay. They filled the park with cheers and laughter. There were signs made and balloons. My Bro in law Dave said he stopped counting at 125 people. It was a complete shock to Clay. All he could say was holy crap are all these people here for me? Tad couldnt stop the car fast enough. Clay was greeted at the car door by a million little kids and his two buddies. Gabe, Clays best friend was there to hug him. Clays soccer coach and family came over too. I have a great pic of Clay and Cody giveing each other the man hug.

I am so grateful for an amazing ward, great friends, family, and some people I dont even know but follow this blog. I started this blog as a way to release and keep in contact with some people in Vegas. I didnt know how many lives Clay would touch. He is a stud and he has handled this trial like a pro. I am honored to call him SON.

Thanks everyone. See ya all soon.

Tab

Love and good night. Im going to sleep in my bed tonight.

Tab

A Week of Lasts

This week , I have decided, is going to be weird. It is going to be a lot of lasts.

Today was our last appointment at Primary. Well, its hard to say last because it really isn't our last. We still have to come up once a month until March for follow up care. But last as far as this long stay. Clay had an amazing appointment today. We got some awesome news. I will start with the best and go down.

1. He can eat out again. We still have to be very cautious but yummy. He wanted an In & out burger. We got it with no lettuce or tomatoes and a chocolate shake. It was heaven.

2. He can get his line out as soon as he can prove he is drinking and eating enough. That means we can go swimming as soon as it is healed.

3. He can go to school in the fall. He should be off all his meds and be "normal" again by mid September.

With all of this there are still several risks and worries. We still stay away from sick people and still have to wear a mask out in public. He still can get GVH but his risk decreases the farther we get away from transplant day.

I am so excited for him. He has a little bit of weight off his shoulders today. This has all happened because of you guys, the ones who have fasted and prayed for his match, recovery and over all happiness. I feel truly blessed by all that the Lord has given us. He held our hands the whole way through. He picked Clay up and carried him through treatment. We are so lucky to have an awesome group of people to lean on for help, love and support.

Thanks for being so amazing.

Tab

One week left

Almost There

Okay, lets have a visual lesson today....

Look down at your fingers. How many do you have? (fingers and thumbs, I know some of you to well) You have 10. That is how many days we have left. We are almost there!!!!!!

A short Clay update

He is getting anxious to go home. He has had fun playing this week with Alex. They went toad hunting. We found out from the docs on Monday that he WILL keep in his line when we go home and he WILL stay on fluids while he is on the anti rejection meds, so next Marchish. He will be on a 6 month taper of his anti rejection pills and then have another 3 months for the pills to get out of his system. Once he has done that he can get his vaccinations again and go to school. So we are looking at March until he is "out of the woods". He had the biopsy on Monday and we get those results back this coming Monday.

We miss everyone and cant wait to sleep in our own beds.

Love Tab

13 Days Left :)

We only have 13 more days. Can you here my jubilation. The days are starting to drag a little but I keep us busy and entertained.
Today Clay has his final bone marrow aspirate. This will be number 6. He had 4 at home and 2 here. Lets hope its his last forever. They would only have to do another one if his blood work ever comes back with elevated white blood cells like in the beginning. But that's not going to happen. We will get the results from this bma next week at our final consultation and lab work.

We have planned the party for Clays 100 days celebration. I sent out a facebook message and Nicki and I are calling the heads of families. I know there is a wedding for our family that weekend so if some cant make it that is fine and we wish Dave all the best. So here is the info. Please rsvp to me so I can get a fairly good head count so we don't have a lot of left over food or not enough....

Saturday June 25, 2011

4pm-8pm

Nick and Heathers House

13993 S Corner Ridge Ct

Draper, Ut 84020

RSVP to Tabitha 702-413-2285

leave a message or send a text

Love to all,

Tabitha