Things about Sam and Leslie

Just Finished Round 12!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now lying on the couch wishing you didn’t eat all those leftovers!  We just finished our 12^th round of chemotherapy.   Sam had five full days of treatment this week.  Everything went as planned and we’re happy to be home from the hospital.  We expect a few rough days ahead but are super excited about celebrating Thanksgiving next week.

This week, it seems fitting to highlight the awesome side to cancer and that is the people we get to hang out with so frequently.  Over the last eight months, we’ve been surrounded by the most devoted people at Vanderbilt Hospital.  Last week, we had three appointments on Sam’s birthday. On two separate occasions at opposite ends of the hospital, several women sang Happy Birthday to him (in a tone deaf but heartfelt kind of way).

THANK YOU!

The cancer clinic can be a heart-wrenching place to be.  Since April, it seems like we’ve lived in the cancer clinic, especially the infusion center.  It’s tough.  The infusion center will crush your spirit and ruin your appetite for several days.  We’re convinced that Vanderbilt only puts the funniest, most charismatic, and loving people in the clinic.  When this whole cancer thing is over, the people at Vanderbilt Hospital will be what we miss the most.  Consistently, from the time we get out of the car at the clinic, till the time we leave, employees go out of their way to talk to us or to ask me how Sam is doing.  A lot of people say something like, “I love you two.  I mean, I hate that you are here so much, but I love seeing you two.”  Little do they know, we love seeing them too.  To everyone at Vanderbilt Hospital, you are all the best part of our days; we consider you family and look forward to stopping by and saying “Hi!” a little less often in 2012. Thank you for seeing us through the good days and the bad days.

Because of our frequency of visits, extended stays, and Sam’s popularity, I refer to him as the Mayor of Vanderbilt Hospital.  We are thrilled that he will be stepping down from this role soon.

We hope to receive treatment on December 6^th and 7^th, so we’ll see you all later that week!  Enjoy the rest of the long weekend and thank you for all of the love and support.

Love,

Sam and Leslie Bledsoe

Happy Friday everyone!  We’re back on track with our chemo schedule.  Two weeks ago, the combination of illness and chemo led to a pretty rough week.  This was preceded by five rocky weeks of either chemo or hospitalizations.  But last week we finally had some pretty awesome days.  In fact, last week was one of the best weeks we’ve had since the beginning of April. The good days seem to have impeccable timing.  Just when we think the days couldn’t get any longer or harder, we’re blessed with several good days in a row.  Throughout this last year, we’ve learned to take the good days and run with them.

Last week, Sam felt well enough to carve pumpkins…

He had a well-balanced diet…

It was nice to let our guard down for the week.  If you’re wondering if BB has gotten bigger over the last few months, yes, BB is huge.  The more we’re away, the more she eats.  Let’s explain:

For Those Who Would Like To See The Proof:

Back On Track

We had to go back to Vanderbilt this week and resume chemo.  We just finished our 11^th round of chemo!  It was a routine week of treatment without many complications.  We’re happy that we’ve made it to the double-digit treatments and eagerly look forward to wrapping up all of this chemo business.  We’ve got a couple of months to go, but we’re getting closer to the beach each day.

We’ve only got three more rounds to go and then there will be…

  A Special Birthday Request! 

Here is Sam getting a blood transfusion in the emergency room.Transfusions make him feel GREAT!

Sam turns the big 28 next week and I was hoping we could all do our part to give back a little for his birthday.  Sam has received multiple blood transfusions over the last several months and we’re extremely thankful for the donors who made them possible – they made him feel a ton better.  I thought we could use Sam’s birthday as a way to motivate and encourage anyone that feels comfortable with donating blood to do so.  A lot of people have told us that they donated blood after we told them how much better Sam feels after a blood transfusion.

We’ve got to send out a WHOOP! WHOOP! to Sam’s uncle Jim who organized a blood drive in Atlanta and gave blood as well.  What a good show of hard work and generosity!  Here is a link to good info for first time donors: http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/first-time-donors, and you can find upcoming blood drives and nearby Red Cross centers by entering your zip code on the right.

Guerrilla marketing. Not to be confused with gorilla marketing.

What’s On Tap For The Weeks Ahead…

Sam is scheduled to get five days of chemotherapy starting on November 21^st, which means we’ll spend Thanksgiving at Vanderbilt Hospital.  The good news is that the hospital will be a lot less crowded because of the holiday week and the better news is that we still get to visit with family and eat a bunch of turkey the following week. We hope that this next week will be drama-free with the exception of birthday shenanigans.

While we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving, we’d like to say thank you to everyone.  Over the last several weeks, we’ve heard from a lot of people that have made us laugh and cry.  Each time we get a comment on the blog, receive a card in the mail, or read a ridiculous email aloud, the author has made our life better.  We thank you so much for helping us smile on a lot of days that we didn’t think we had it in us.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and know that we are so very thankful for you all!

Love,

Sam and Leslie Bledsoe