Dear Friends and Family -- January 4, 2000

 
Dear friends and family...

Rachel came home from Children's Mercy Hospital yesterday. Diana came up from Topeka and picked Rachel and me up. There were lots of instructions, medications, etc. but we left the hospital with a good prognosis. Another minor miracle... we were able to come home to Topeka rather than setting up a temporary apartment in Kansas City so we'd be closer to the hospital. We have an emergency kit with us to take to the local hospital if Rachel suddenly gets sick and we are not sure if we can get to the hospital in Kansas City soon enough to treat her.... a little scarey but the hospital staff said we'd do fine.

It is amazing how we've come to learn so much about medical treatment of leukemia patients... at least ours! Children's Mercy Hospital is a "teaching hospital" attached to a medical school in Kansas City... but they do a lot of teaching of parents too.

Last night the home health nurse came to our house and showed us how to set up the only I.V. we'll be using for now here at home... Rachel's supplemental nutrition... officially called T.P.N. at the hospital... unofficial name is "Taco-in-a-bag". Right now it's supplying about 50% of Rachel's needed nutritional intake... during the bone marrow transplant it supplied about 100%.

This morning for the first time in quite a while Rachel had a bowl of cereal... and then another this afternoon. We've been encouraged to get all those cereals your dentist tells you to avoid.... so Rachel had Cocoa Crispies... of course I had to try a bowl to make sure they were up to snuff myself!

We'll avoid fast food for a while so we can be sure we've cooked things well.... and the big rule is the one everybody's mom and dad yelled at them over and over again before meals and after trips to the restroom... WASH YOUR HANDS!!! Our hands have become raw and cracked over the last four months due to constant handwashing at home at hospital. We now use a medicated hand lotion when we wash.... makes things less painful!... Four months ago I would have thought this a bit obsessive... but I've been doing some reading on this lately and it really does make a big difference in preventing the spread of disease.

Rachel's mood and spirits have been slowly rising since returning home... (although right now she's ticked off at me because I won't let her go outside and play in what's left of the small snowfall we had yesterday). It's an amazing thing to see this transformation. We hope and pray for continued improvement and good health and cure.

Thanks for your prayers and good wishes

Bill and Diana Sowers

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