A Day In The Life of Camryn: Managing the Do's and Don'ts

August 16th - 23rd

Camryn has officially started school again, not THAT school, Woodland Middle will have to wait until January. She has begun her Fall Semester of school at home. Williamson County School District has assigned a "home bound" teacher to Camryn. She will come to the house every Monday and Thursday for about two hours and tutor Camy on her homework assignments and reading. This particular teacher has also been assigned to another student in the school district who had a heart transplant.  Camryn seems ready to ease her way into "normal" aspects of life for a girl her age. The transition to school work should be fairly smooth, we hope, as Camryn begins to live a little like her friends, just not WITH them. She misses them a lot, but does utilize social media to stay in touch, but the interaction just is not quite the same as in person. It's the personal interaction with friends that Camryn misses the most. Speaking of transitioning, Camryn turns 12 on Thursday, a birthday that for us, will be a special one in so many ways, albeit without friends, as she sadly reminds Lee Ann and me. Something occurred on Saturday (yesterday) that is worth mentioning in the blog. One of Camryn's very dear friends had a birthday party on Saturday, a party that Camryn normally would have attended, but because of obvious circumstances could not. The mother of Camryn's friend called Lee Ann to see if she could bring the three girls by the house to see Camryn. Lee Ann and I have been quite vigilant in protecting Camryn from potential "exposure" to infections, but felt this would be a good thing to boost her spirits since her medical check ups have gone very, very well this week. Well, the decision was a good one. Seeing Camryn light up in smiles and excitement to not only see her school friends, but to also interact with them on a personal basis was precious. For 30 minutes, Camryn was a normal kid again, not the bone marrow transplant kid, just normal. After they left, we reminded Camryn that this was a "special" occasion and not something to expect on a regular basis, if at all until she is cleared in December. Of course, that statement prompted the proverbial frowny face from you-know-who. But, for now, this is Camryn's reality for her own protection. During the day, Camryn begs to get out of the house, not just to go into the backyard, but rather to go "somewhere". Lee Ann has been taking Camryn with her on a few of her"errands". She cannot go into the stores but remains in the car (with the car on AND the air-conditioning running just in case you were wondering). Something so simple as a ride to the grocery store is huge to Camryn in reducing her feelings of being trapped. And so it goes, every day, until she is cleared to resume living a somewhat "normal" like.
The medical appointments went very well last week. This week, Camryn begins being weaned from her anti-rejection medication, of which I wrote in last weeks blog. This action is significant as it is a reflection of Camryn's continued progress of her immune system strengthening. Also, Camryn is beginning to get "hair stubble" on the top of her head. Now THAT is very significant progress!

McKay, Camryn's only brother, left this week to return to school at BYU, and Casey, Camryn's oldest sister, left to return to school at Utah State. A special thank you to the two of them for helping in so many ways while they were here. We really needed them while Cammy was in the hospital. Safe travels to both of you and we will see you during the Christmas break, right here in Tennessee.