We’ve had an exciting couple of days since Caleb came home from his hospital stay. James and I did what we thought would be impossible… we snuck away to Nashville!!!
A couple months ago James bought tickets to a concert in Nashville. But not just any concert, a benefit concert put on by Bobby Bones featuring many of our favorite country artists, with all proceeds going to St. Jude! So, with loving the lineup of the show, and the cause being near and dear to our hearts, we really wanted to try to make it there. When James purchased the tickets we knew there was a chance we wouldn’t get to go, and with Caleb inpatient last week those chances seemed really slim. The last piece of the puzzle was finding someone to watch Tyler and Caleb, and Grandpa and Grebbie changed their plane tickets from a trip they were already on so they could be here to cover for us. At the last minute Caleb got better and it was like the stars all aligned. We felt comfortable leaving, especially since Nashville is only a 3 hour drive, and so we hit the road.
I’ll have to admit we got to Nashville and didn’t know what to do with ourselves. It’s a strange feeling to be out with no kids, no bed times, no getting woken up on and off all night, and no getting up early in the morning… So it took a minute to let that all sink in. We went out the first night we got there, slept in the next morning, went out to some more bars during the day, and then went to the concert that night. We had a blast and we can’t wait to go back and explore more of Nashville. The concert was also one of the most awesome and fun shows we have ever seen. If you know Bobby Bones or country music, you know he has his own band plus a lot of friends in the industry. The show featured Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Cole Swindell, Jon Pardi, Gavin DeGraw, Kristian Bush (from Sugarland), Lindsey Ell, Brad Arnold (from 3 doors down), and a bunch of other up and coming Country Artists. Everyone sang a few songs each and so the show just felt like one big party. Even Sharna Burgess, Bobby’s Dancing with the Stars partner, came out on stage, and at the end all of his special guests sang a song together. The whole show from start to finish was so much fun. Bobby Bones has been putting on this show for 4 years, and has raised over 10 million dollars for St. Jude in that time! We hope they do the show again next year so we can make it an annual Nashville trip!!!
Meanwhile, back at home, the kids were spoiled by Grandpa and Grebbie. They had a bunch of fun new toys to play with and Grandpa cooked dinner for them too! We were also spoiled as Grandpa kept up with the laundry for me and Grebbie kept the apartment sanitized and clean.
We are so grateful they stepped in so we could get away for a couple days. It’s hard to be able to disconnect from what’s going on. We try to go out sometimes at night in Memphis when family is in town and we just don’t feel like it. Getting away to Nashville was the perfect escape and we feel refreshed and ready to tackle Chemo Cycle round 2. But as always, getting home and seeing the kiddos is the best feeling ever!
Speaking of Cycle 2, we are hopefully going to be able to start that tomorrow. We drove back from Nashville early this morning to be at St. Jude for Caleb’s clinic appointment today. They checked his blood counts, and although they are on the rise they aren’t quite high enough yet to start Cycle 2. This is ok, as they expect there to possibly be recovery time in between cycles. We want to keep the gap between cycles as short as possible, because that means getting home to Florida sooner. He has to do 5 chemo cycles no matter what, so the faster we get it all going, the better. His Hgb and Platelets looked good today, but his ANC was 500. This is just getting out of the range of neutropenia, but according to their protocol Caleb’s ANC count must be OVER 500 to start the next cycle. So, we will recheck blood counts again tomorrow morning and hope that we can get started on Cycle 2. We definitely feel as though Caleb is back to himself. He is eating really well and playing, and overall being funny and adorable. He does still take some pretty long naps in the afternoon, but this is good in terms of helping his body heal and recover. So, I’ll update everyone again when we get the go ahead on Cycle 2!
I have worked with Grebbie (Ebbie Sue) for 32 years she is a awesome person. You could not have a better Grebbie for your babies. It was so nice to read that you guys were able to get away and just relax and have some special time together. Lots of prayers and thoughts going up for all of you.
I look forward to meeting you next time you are in Florida. We love your mom and Bruce here in The Groves. She is always so upbeat! It sounds as though you had a wonderful and relaxing time in Nashville. It’s a fun place. I have a team of Sisters in Christ from church and my sorority praying for Caleb and his superheros. May God keep you all in His loving care.