December 3, 2016: Day 14

Our day started very early on Saturday as we prepared to come home.  The people in the apartment above us decided to party all night long, with loud music and loud voices.  When we left the apartment at 6:30 in the morning they were still partying.  We heard the other HSCTers talk about loud partying, some had even posted videos on Facebook with the sound of the music from the their neighbors.  We had been spared this until the last night.  Apparently, parties in Mexico are best when they go all night long. :)  Needless to say we did not get much sleep.  The alarm was set for 5:15, but at 5:00 I gave up and decided it was time to shower.

Tony, one of the drivers, picked us up for the airport at 6:30 a.m.  When we got on the van there were already 4 others on the van from group 3. We had previously had the opportunity to visit a few times over the course of the treatment.  Karen and Brad are from Benicia, California. They are about our age.  Brad retired from the Forest Service. He spent a lot of his career in Idaho. Karen graduated from Boise High School. The other couple were from New Jersey.  They are in their 20's. It took us about 45 minuts to get to the airport. We all had lots of luggage. With the help of Tony and an airport employee we got everything to the ticket counter.  Even though there are almost 3 million people who live in the greater Puebla area, the airport is very small. Most people fly in and out of Mexico City.  There are only 4 gates at the airport.  When we flew in on November 4, it was 9:00 p.m. and it was dark.  I was mostly focused on the loss of Doug's wheelchair and trying to figure out how to communicate with limited Spanish.  This time at the airport it was much easier.  We were early and had no waiting in line.  The woman at the counter helped to make sure everything was tagged correctly.  We had plenty of time before flights in each of our stop overs and so we decided we would not check the wheelchair and would not need assistance at the airport.

We were on a very small plane with 2 seats on one side and one seat on the opposite side.  We had a great flight attendant with a great sense of humor.  I asked her about the Houston weather.  She said we might not be able to land.  We may end up in San Antonio.  As we got closer to Houston, the flight got much rougher and the clouds darker.  We were all told to stay seated and buckled in. The flight attendant was also belted in.  I leaned into the isle and looked at her just as one of the doors to a cupboard she had locked dropped open.  She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I crossed my fingers and we both laughed.  We bumped our way down to a smooth landing in Houston.  We were all relieved!

We had two and half hours before our flight to Denver.  With Doug needing to be very careful to assure he does did eat contaminated or undercooked food it took away the option of having brunch at the airport. We finally decided that we would have a pizza with no vegetables and no meat, at a nice little restaurant. We asked the waitress if the cooks wore gloves and if it could be delivered immediately very hot.  It was a bit of a risk, but we thought we would be pretty safe. They took extra care when they learned of our circumstances.  After our light lunch we went and sat at our gate. After about 40 minutes, I wondered why no one else was there.  I decided I had better check the monitor.  The woman at the United counter had written the gate number for us when I had decided to check Doug's walker so that I would not have to carry it all day. And so I had not paid any attention to the monitors until then.  Good thing I checked, because the airlines had changed gates and terminals.  We took off.  We got to the gate just in time for early boarding.

My granddaughter, Anna had given me a book she enjoyed to read while we were gone. The book is "Behind Enemy Lines".  It is a true story of a Jewish woman in World War II and her family.  I had only read half.  I though I would have more time to read while in Puebla, but I ended up with very ad little uninterrupted.  So now was my time to settle in and Doug took advantage of the quiet time to nap.

We landed in Denver with 3 hours until our next flight.  We wandered around the airport and took the opportunity to do some shopping in a couple of bookstores and specialty item stores.  We stopped in a sports bar and I got a bowl of Chile.  We bought Doug a banana and he had a snack with the additional items I had brought along. After our long layover we finally left Denver at a few minutes before 7:00.

Doug handled the long day very well.  He was able to get some naps in during the flights.   We had been concerned about the day with Doug's limited immune system. We had to sanitize the seats, seat belts and tray tables as we got on each flight.  He had to wear his mask the full day which was not really fun for him.   We sanitized our hands at least a dozen times throughout the day. But in the end it all worked out. I guess we won't know for sure, but hopefully he avoided catching anything.

My daughter Angie and granddaughter Anna met us at the airport along with our dog Stryder.  Anna was waiting at the top of the escalators with a big smile and came running with a hug.  It is good to be home. Angie and Tom cleaned our car so that it was more germ free then it has been for a long time and Anna sanitized again where Doug was going to sit. We loaded all of our stuff into the van and headed home, arriving about 10:00 p.m.  We had been up since 4:00 a.m. MDT with little sleep the night before, interestingly though Doug was not exhausted.  He wanted to come in and hear the news while I got things unloaded.  Usually, he would be so exhausted that he would be hardly functioning and unable to get ready for bed by himself.  This was a sign of some good news in his recovery.

Now as we have come to end of our this first length of the recovery process, I am reflecting back over the 10 years. A whole decade of our lives. Two years ago, I was a spiritual director for a women's camp at Paradise Point located on the beautiful Payette Lake.  Sometime in the year of planning before the retreat, I heard the song "Draw the Circle Wide".  This particular song resonated with me.  For years, our circle of people had gotten smaller and smaller.  As Doug changed more and more, he was able to do much less and the disease had effected his physical abilities and his thinking. After all, MS is scarring on the brain and the death of neurons.  It can be really hard to explain this to others and often people do not know how to respond to him.  Doug and I both have always been extroverted and very active in our community.  Being more withdrawn and limited was difficult. It was hard to see the future. We cut down and shut down more and more. We needed to open up.  We needed healing one way or another. We needed help and we needed to live more fully.  We needed to draw our circle wider. And so "Draw the Circle Wide" became my own theme song.

Here are the lyrics;

“Draw the circle wide, draw the circle wide. No one stands alone, we’ll stand side by side. Draw the circle wide; draw it wider still. Let this be our song! No one stands alone. Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide!”

Without drawing the circle wide we would never have made it to Puebla.  So many people have supported us and helped us to raise money to help pay for the treatment.  The continuous support and prayers we received in Puebla made the experience not just a medical treatment, but a healing.  And while in Puebla standing with the others going through HSCT we experienced more love and more healing.

And so in giving thanks and prayers for continued healing we pray:

Holy One, we give thanks for all those in our life who have stood side-by-side with us. We give thanks for those who have held the faith for us when we were discouraged.  We give thanks for the people of faith who drew us in and encircled us.  We give thanks for all the people who have loved us just the way we are. Be with us now, as Doug begins to heal.  Strengthen him when he is discouraged or overwhelmed. Strengthen and support our vision of wholeness and healing.  And in this second week of Advent give us peace in accepting your timeline of healing.  Give us peace in knowing that you are doing better things for us and this world than we can ask for or imagine.   Amen

I will continue to update the blog weekly with news of Doug's continuing treatment and his progress in recovering skills.  Thank you all who have read and traveled with us on this journey.  

We are home, after a very long day yesterday.