Forever Changed / Forever Touched

Friday - Monday, July 18th - 21st

Camryn has made significant progress the last few days; coming home has tremendously boosted her spirits...and ours. With all of our children at home now, we are somewhat short on beds having turned one of the bedrooms into "mom's craft room" with the marriage and departure of Casey. Had we known that ALL of the chicks wanted to return to the nest this summer, we would have delayed creating "mom's craft room". Nonetheless, we are happy they have been here because their help through all of this has been invaluable. With all that being said, Camryn is staying in Morgan's room (18 year old daughter- the donor) and sharing Morgan's queen bed. Last night, actually it was 2:00 am, they were both still up talking and laughing. Under any other circumstances such an incident would have warranted an angry parental response, but not now, not this time. Morgan is off to college in the Fall and she is creating memories for herself and her sister that will ease the pain of their separation while she is away. Lee Ann did the only thing that any caring, loving, parent would do; she quietly sneaked into the room and merely touched Morgan on the shoulder. That unexpected touch from an unknown hand in the dark elicited a scream from Morgan that would have made the Disney character Sully, from Monsters Inc., very proud.

Camryn is eating, really eating. She is active and her precious sense of humor is in full force. She is also taking her medications, ALL of them. Sometimes the "pill taking sessions" lasts up to 2 hours, but it gets done. The one drug that she absolutely has to take at a specific time, has been one of the easiest meds for her to take. She and Jaime Shae have picked up their "best buddy" relationship right where it was temporarily suspended, with Camryn's hospital admission, 35 days ago. As we, our family, have settled into our new reality of managing our lives around Camryn and the associated risks of a bone marrow transplant Camryn faces, I hear of no complaints among our children. Each, accepting the circumstances as we face them together, and adapting as necessary. Now, a point of clarification before any reader incorrectly assumes that the Rasmussen household has been transformed into the City of Enoch; not so (our house is still here as I type this blog and its not floating up to heaven), however, the usual feline fiasco that accompanies a home of five girls, has temporarily subsided, to some extent. In a sense, Camryn has brought peace to our home, and my reference is not necessarily the meaning of peace referring to silence or quietness, but rather the peace of hope, the peace of faith, the peace promised by Him in the form of the Comforter. These are some of the "intangibles" our family has been experiencing ever since Camryn's GATA2 diagnosis and being informed that a bone marrow transplant was inevitable. So many emotions, so many fears, so much emotional turmoil buried beneath the surface. We were in need of that peace. Shortly after Camryn's diagnosis, Lee Ann and I were privately discussing "the future" of Camryn, you know what I mean. We decided, we were prompted, we choose, that no matter the outcome with Camryn, we would forever be grateful for being so blessed to have Camryn with us for whatever amount of time we had her with us. In her short 11 years she had already taught us much, and we felt that that our education was not complete. So as I type tonight's blog, know this, Camryn has a long way to go to be "healed". Her progress to this point has been nothing short of a miracle. We continue to have hope, we continue to have faith, we continue to be buoyed by the prayers and the faith from all of you. You must know, they are felt by us and especially by Camryn. This experience has forever changed our lives and touched us in ways that words cannot fully express. In fact, writing this blog has been very difficult for me. By nature, I tend to be a private person. For example, I refuse to have a Facebook page because I would rather not have people "sticking their nose in my business". So what do I do? I write a blog exposing my fears, our challenges, our weaknesses, and our flaws. I don't know about you, but I hate feeling vulnerable, which is what I feel every time I write this blog (how is that for honesty). But, I do it for Camryn, I do it for family, I do it for all of you. I do this because so many people want to know of Camryn's progress. I do this because so many people have helped us during a time when we have needed it the most. I do this because so many people have wanted to help but all of our needs were being met by other people. You don't understand how many people from whom we have had to turn down help because others were already there. The compassion and love from so many people have overwhelmed us in an astonishingly way. My "hardened" heart of wanting to keep everything private was annihilated by compassion from the many. I do this because of the gratitude I feel, and what my family feels, for the love from all of you. As Camryn continues her journey of recovery, thank you for walking with us.

As we move forward with the blog, they will be written every Tuesday and Friday. The reason for that is because writing the blog will coincide with Camryn's medical appointments / check ups at Vanderbilt. The information from the blood draws of those appointments will provide a picture of Camryn's progress, and provide for additional whacky stories from the Rasmussen household, I am sure.