Abby is looking good...... St. George next week??? I think so!!!

Wow, it's been a while since I've been blogged......but that's a good thing, because that means everything is going really well right now.  Thanks to Ali and Cozz for filling in for me and giving all of you a different perspective at what happens at the Doman house.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about what was being written......it took a lot of trust to let them take over, but they did an excellent job and didn't put any of the embarrassing stuff in!  Thanks Ali and Cozz, we loved having you there with us all weekend and thanks for helping me do some of those things I wasn't able to face by myself, I needed your help.

 Abby's biopsy on Tuesday came back 100%, no problems.  Her levels looked good in her cath, and she feels like a million bucks.  She's still battling pulmonary hypertension a little bit, which means we still lug around an oxygen tank everywhere we go, but that's improving now too.  One other thing is that there's a little sag in her EKG that they're watching closely now, if it doesn't get better next week they'll do a more invasive cath where they measure the levels in her coronary arteries as well as the heart.  They need to find out what is causing the extra strain in her heart.  They're not too worried, just monitoring it closely.  We're not looking forward to this, so we're just hoping it looks better on Monday.  The good news, in fact, the best news, is that....with a little begging and pleading on my part, they are thinking about letting both Abby and I go home next weekend!!!!  We will only get to be here for a few days, and Abby has stay pretty isolated-not a lot of people yet, but I'll be able to go watch Brock's opening football game and Abby will be able to be in St. George for the first time since May 18th!!  We are both very excited and praying every day that Abby continues to feel good.

I also need to get home to see Britt and Brock.  Living apart is the worst, I'm not handling it very well.  It just seems like we're getting more and more distant.......we just have to get back in our house in St. George, soon!!   Now that school is starting, Britt and Brock will be in St. George all the time, unless they can sneak a weekend up to Salt Lake, but Brock plays football every Thursday and Friday night, so that can't happen.  My ultimate goal, which I haven't explained to the transplant team yet, is for Abby and I to be in Salt lake on Sunday night through Thursday after clinic, then traveling to St. George for Thursday night through Sunday morning.  I want to do this every weekend.  I know it's a lot of driving, but it has to happen for my family to stay strong and functioning.  For now, I've just asked the doctors for next weekend, but when they hear how well it goes, I'll ask for every weekend until we can just move home!!!  All of this is just on a day-to-day basis though, if Abby gets sick we could end up at PCMC again, so we can't look too far in the future.  But, here's what I think is going to happen anyway....this is not based on anything medical, just my optimistic predictions:  Starting next Thursday we will be home on the weekends from Thursday night until Sunday morning, this will last until the end of September.  Then, the first part of October, they will let us move back to St. George, but we will have to travel to Salt Lake a few times a month.  I will start back to work on November 1st, so my insurance doesn't lapse and Abby will start back to school on November 7th, the beginning of the 2nd term. I personally think that sounds like an awesome plan, the Doman family will be back in St. George, in their house, as a family the first of October.  Okay, that might be pushing things a little, but it's still my plan, and it could happen.

Abby feels so good right now.  Her new plan is to run a 5K in May, which is the month this all started.  She's already started training.  She can't run for 2 more weeks, so we just go walking around the block.  Her heart and lungs feel great.......but her legs get tired.  I think she's pretty weak from everything that's happened the last 3 months.  I love her goal, and I know she's determined enough to do it.  We're thinking about having a 5K race in St. George on May 19th and call it The Doman Dash.  All of you will have to come and wear your Team Doman shirts and run for and with Abby.  I think it sounds sweet, I can't wait.  Mark it on your calendars now and start training for Abby!!!

Thanks for your continued love, support, and prayers.  I spent the today and some of yesterday in St. George and it feels good to be home.  It's hard to drive by the hospital and the school where some of the worst of all of this took place, but hopefully that will get easier.  It's fun, yet overwhelming to see everybody.  We're not used to being "famous," it's very different for the whole family.  Just be aware that we've had a rough couple of months and all of us are a little broken from it, but hopefully we're beginning the healing now.  It's hard on all of us to live apart, we're all struggling from that too.  We're trying to keep it together and stay strong, but sometimes it's hard and we just can't do it....so don't be surprised if you see us in one of our weak moments, please try to be understanding.      If you didn't see Abby on the Mormon Times, you need to, it was an awesome story.  I know that someday soon Abby will be ready to tell even more about what happened that day, May 18th, when she chose to "come back to save lives."  The link is above, please take the time to watch, it you didn't believe before you watched, you will after.  Thank you everyone for reading the blog and for taking the time to tell me how our story has changed your life, I love that.  I might not be posting everyday now, but I will keep you posted, we still have a long road ahead of us.