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Phillip was discharged from the hospital yesterday. To say he was ready to leave is an understatement.

The goal had been to keep Phillip's hemoglobin above 8, but given that this was a chemo week, that target always felt like an unrealistic expectation. By early Friday morning, it had dropped to 7.4, and his care team moved to administer a ninth unit of blood.

But Phillip had enough. He refused the transfusion and told them he wanted to go home. This is considered a "self-discharge" because a hospital cannot keep you against your will.

Ultimately, his attending doctor conceded, discharge papers were prepared and Phillip was out in the wild again by Friday at noon.

We immediately went to grab food since "Operation Fatten Phillip Up" has begun. The blandness of hospital food did not do him any favors; over the course of the week it was noted he had lost 15 pounds. Phillip had gone into the hospital already thin, and losing 15 additional pounds has made his features gaunt. (As a side note: I do not understand why hospitals do not invest more into quality food which supports the nutrition and healing of patients).

Despite how horrific this week was, the timing could not have been better. Lenie was already spending the week with my parents (aka "Meema and Baba Camp") and she was not at home for any of this. In hindsight, Phillip and I should've seen this all coming: without fail, every time Allison and Brent leave town, Phillip ends up in the hospital. If there's anything to laugh about, it's how reliably this pattern is on schedule. We've now told Allison and Brent that we need to go on every vacation with them moving forward.

This past week taught us a lot, and we now know additional specialists will be an ongoing part of Phillip's care team. GI specialists will recommend a cadence for how often an endoscopy will be needed to monitor the esophageal varices. We also have a referral for one of the state's best liver specialists to have focused care and explore whether a stint would be beneficial.

The glimmer of this past week is that Phillip underwent another CT scan. This allowed us an early glimpse into the efficacy of his new chemo regimen. The only good news we received in the hospital was that Phillip's cancer remains stable. Even with the month gap in treatment, the new regimen has already drawn its swords to begin battle. The fight is on.

This week has been an ugly truth of a cancer journey. We had been so focused on the fight itself that complications never surfaced on our road map. We had grown too comfortable in joy's tunnel vision, and somewhere along the way, slipped the grasp of the unknown. Now we know better.

As I write this, Phillip and Lenie are playing card games and I hear their chatter and laughs in the other room. I do not think life could get any sweeter. We are so lucky to have this day.

Thank you all for the support this week. The calls, messages, and offers to help remind us of how fortunate we are to have our family and community.

Kelley