Hey Everyone,

As Eric said before, we got some good news today! I’m going to quick recap his video in case some of you can’t see it. When he came in Wednesday for blood work, they told him he had about 50% of leukemia blasts in his blood. Today we got the news that since he’s started chemo; he is down to 9% blasts in his blood. That’s AMAZING. I got that news this morning and felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. I was sooo excited. Granted, I want to hear NO leukemia blasts in his cells, and we are unsure of what’s going on in his bone marrow right now. Knowing that it went from 50% to 9% in his blood, we decided a celebration was in order. So we went on a “date” in the cafeteria. I busted him out of his room, and we walked down there and ate dinner together. Even though we were in a hospital cafeteria, it was a darn good date night.  The hope is that there is a direct correlation between the blood blast count and the bone marrow blast count.

I also wanted to say thank you personally to Jenny Laurent, Tabitha Seefeldt, Dayna Jaeger, and Christy Jaeger for all their efforts at 141 speedway Saturday Night. They walked around all night selling 50/50 raffle tickets at the races, as well as selling bumper stickers and window clings with the life logo. By the time they were done, EVERY racecar driver in that race that night, had put Eric’s logo on their car. They also during the national anthem waved a L.I.F.E. flag to show support for Eric. I got the news that this had happened, and literally sat at the computer and cried. I tried so hard to write a journal but couldn’t. The amount of support that has come from so many people out there is almost overwhelming. (In a good way of course)

We’ve had tons of visitors come and say hey and show their support.Larry Hisle has been here almost every day. He always brings a smile to Eric’s face.Eric, another friend of Eric’s has shown up a couple times to bring the most random presents he can find.My favorites so far are the Justin Bieber singing toothbrush (Eric better watch out, I might steal it!) and the nerf basketball hoop.I told Eric if I’m ever sleeping and he feels the need to wake me up throw the ball at me.I woke up cuddling with it the other day, he says he didn’t throw the ball to wake me up, I must have just really wanted to cuddle with the nerf ball.

Steve, Ashley, Ava, Mary, Brian, and Lindsey have also been in to visit.Lindsey and I actually went to buffalo wild wings for lunch. Took our mind off things, and we had a blast with her friend Amanda.My whole family also came down. My mom, dad, sisters, and my nephew Owen came to visit, and took me to the cheesecake factory. It was good to see them. Big thanks goes out to Jason who has let me shower at his place, drink his last soda, and bring Eric and I things when we need them.We’ve also had Eric’s cousins, some aunts and uncles, and other friends who have stopped by.Eric played poker the other night with some of the guys. He’s got an amazing group of friends and relatives around him.I look at other rooms and see almost no visitors, and part of me wants to go in there and give every single one of them a huge hug.

Sounds like Eric’s busting out of this place Wednesday for a little bit. They’ll let him recoup at home, and get a biopsy in a couple weeks so we can see where he stands, and then we’ll go from there.

One last thing I wanted to say in here.I’ve been asked over and over and over how *I* deal with this. Truth is, I would do anything for Eric.He says jump, and I’ll do the coolest jump I can think of.No questions asked.All of the love and support from you guys out there keep us going also.I know he’s going to beat this again, but I’m also scared as heck over here.There is no use in me sitting around and crying about it, so I’ve been here with Eric, just keeping him company, trying to keep him smiley, and knowing that he’s so determined to beat this helps. He’s also the most stubborn guy I know.He won’t go down without a fight. He refuses to give up.His determination to continue fighting this amazes me. When Eric is passionate about doing something, he does it.He’s passionate about beating this again, so he’ll do it.

There’s nights that I’ve woken up, just to make sure he’s breathing.One night earlier in the week, Eric had this really bad chest pain.For real we both thought he was having a heart attack. The nurses didn’t seem to be doing anything (now that I look back, they totally were) but I was scared.Amber who was also referred to as “Hazmat Nurse” was his nurse again, but off duty, and actually sat on Facebook with me and told me he would be fine and I should just go to sleep.But prior to that, I jumped into bed with Eric and wouldn’t let him close his eyes. I was convinced that if he closed his eyes, He’d be gone, and I’d never get to look into them again.I even went down to the nurses’ station to try to get some answers on what was happening, and they said they’d test him again in a couple hours and they’d know for sure.If you know me, you know I don’t threaten, or confront people ever.I actually said, “Fine, but if I wake up without a husband in the morning, you will be hearing from me and my lawyer.”I got back to the room, looked at Eric, and then realized I need to find a lawyer if I’m going to threaten it.

I get through this because I know how many people out there are keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. I’ve learned in the past couple weeks that if you stick together as a family, you can conquer anything. We’re very blessed that my parents and Eric’s parents have grown close. It really helps to know that our families are there, and would do anything to make us happy, while standing behind our decisions 100%. All of the random facebook messages, text messages, and phone calls have helped us stay strong like you wouldn’t believe. Somehow, every time I start to think I’m going to break down, one of my sisters will text me something funny to make me smile. It’s like they have ESP or something, because it never fails.

Thank you guys again for all your love and support, honestly it means the world to us.

Cari