Never A Dull Moment

We arrived at the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic at 8:00 this morning. It started out very routinely. They always take Jerry's vital signs and then draw blood to check his blood count each day.

Then we have to wait until they get the counts back. He had to have two transfusions of magnesium which is a normal everyday happening. Also they had to give him a bag of platelets to get his platelets up over 50 for the procedures. They always give him tylenol and benadryl before a platelet or blood transfusion, so he slept most of the day.

Then the shuttle took us over to Duke Clinic for the procedures around 2:00. They were able to do both procedures today which was great. 

They got him ready and I went back out into the waiting room.  About an hour later they called me back to the recovery area.  They had sedated Jerry and they were having a problem getting his  blood pressure to come back up.  They kept trying different things.  They gave him fluids, lowered his head, raised his head,  told me to try to get him excited about something hoping it would raise his blood pressure. I told him Kentucky got beat and wouldn't make it to the Final Four.  It didn't help.  Finally it started coming back up and they decided I could take him home.

Well our car was over at the transplant clinic and it was close to 6:00 when the shuttle quits running.  The nurse said hurry and go downstairs and try to get a shuttle to the other clinic. She said she would have Jerry waiting in the lobby when I got back.

So I ran down the halls of the clinic and got the elevator and hurried to the lobby. Thankfully they were able to get a shuttle. So I went and picked up our car and got back to the other clinic, but Jerry wasn't waiting in the lobby. I sit there about 10 minutes waiting and then I started getting scared. I just knew something had happened and his pressure had went back down. Your mind can imagine all kind of things after a long day.

So I parked the car in a place I'm not suppose to and ran inside the clinic and went back upstairs and here he came being pushed down the hall in a wheel chair.

I got him in the car and burst into tears.  Like I said it was a long day.  From all the good medicine they gave Jerry - HE DOESN'T REMEMBER NONE OF IT!

We know it's a lot that we have been through the last few days, but really we are excited. Hopefully next week they will have all the results of the biopsies back and the blood tests and they'll be able to get Jerry feeling better.

We love you and please continue praying.

The Road to Triumph

Joe Scriven was a missionary to the Iroquois Indians in Canada. He and his fiance were both from Ireland. She had just joined him in Canada so they could be married. The eve before the wedding, she was killed in an ice accident. Joe buried her with his own hands and with a broken heart. A year later, he wrote his mother a letter that included this poem titled "Pray Without Ceasing".

"What a friend we have in Jesus,
 all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer."

The poem was later set to music and named "What A Friend We Have In Jesus".

Joe was on the road to triumph, even though there were times when the road was rough.

I believe that we're on the road to triumph. We have setbacks and rough times, but we have a Friend in Jesus who is always there and hears our prayers.

One of the procedures they will be doing on Jerry will be tomorrow, Thursday. They will do the other scope next Thursday. They could not get them scheduled on the same day.  They did 3 different blood tests yesterday to find out why Jerry's blood counts are dropping. We have not heard the results yet. They believe it might be some of his medicine. He had to have a platelet transfusion yesterday and will probably have to have one tomorrow also before the procedure. This is just one of those bumps in our road.

We are so  thankful for prayers.

Our Hope Is Still In The Lord

Psalm 31:24

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

We had an anxious week waiting on the results of the peripheral blood smear.

The last smear showed that one side of the smear was perfect and the other side showed that 32% of the cells were still Jerry's. The smear this time showed that 26%  of the cells still belong to Jerry.  The physician's assistant said it was good news because it is improving, but it's still not where they want it to be. They still want the donor's cells to finish destroying the rest of Jerry's cells. The leukemia can be hiding in that 26% of cells. But the good news is that the smear did not show any leukemia activity. Between day 90 and day 100, they will do a bone marrow biopsy.

They are concerned because Jerry should be feeling stronger than he is and his appetite should be improving and he should be gaining weight. He has been losing weight each week and he is still very shaky and weak most of the time.

They are afraid he might have Graft Versus Host Disease. It is a common complication sometimes after a stem cell transplant. Immune cells (white blood cells) in the donated stem cells (the graft) recognize the recipient (the host) as "foreign". The transplanted immune cells then attack the host's body cells.

They will run a scope down Jerry's  throat and check his stomach and do a biopsy on his stomach and also scope his intestines and do a biopsy.  If it is the GVHD, they will treat it with steroids.  The procedures will be Friday (if they can schedule it) at the hospital. Please be praying.

We know we still have a long way to go and the battle is not over yet. We are so thankful for family and friends and their prayers, love, and support.

Journey of Faith

Journey of Faith

The road stretched out before us

As we started on our way

Not knowing what we’d face

Or what would come each day.

It’s a road we had not traveled

And so we started it with fear.

But as our journey started,

We knew that God was near.

He walks each step beside us

And we know He has a plan.

Our feet they often falter

And He takes us by the hand.

He gives us strength and courage

When the road is hard to travel.

And there’s always grace and mercy,

And in God’s love we marvel.

Sometimes the road has sorrow

And we travel it with tears.

And sometimes there is joy

That drives away the fears.

Sometimes it’s dark and lonely

With storms along the way.

But Hope is our companion

And lights our way each day.

Our journey of faith will end

And we’ll finally get to rest.

But for now we’ll keep on going

And we know that we are blest.

-Patricia Rice

Today is Day 64 of the transplant. They told us that even though Jerry's counts are low that we shouldn't worry. They did the peripheral blood smear Monday. It takes a week to get the results. We are a little anxious this week. We know we have a good God and a lot of people praying for good results.

He is also very tired from his red blood count being low.

Prayer Requests:

Good results from the blood smear

Jerry's shingles will continue to heal

His blood counts will start coming back up

We love you and thank you for all the prayers!!

Don't Pass Up the Dessert

Like most people, my whole life has been watching my weight and sometimes passing up the best part of the meal - dessert. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on all the good things in life.

I told my husband on my 80th Birthday (many years from now), I'm not going to care any longer how much I eat. Who's going to care anyway what I look like when I'm 80. I'm going to go to the store and buy all the good things that I don't buy now because I have no will power. I'm going to buy all the butterfingers, bags of crunchy cheetos, tubs of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whip cream, bags of pretzels, a whole watermelon, a dozen of chocolate covered cream filled Krispy Kreme donuts,  and everything else that I deprive myself of now. I'm going to eat and eat and eat until I can't move. I'm going to have fun.

Sometimes now if we go out to eat, I'll eat my dessert first, because I know if I don't I'll be too full and won't be able to eat dessert later. Also I have a motto - "Remember the Titanic." All those poor ladies that probably passed up dessert on that fateful night. They could have had dessert.  They missed out.

I think dessert is more  than a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and extra whip cream. By the way that's one of my favorites.

I think dessert is all the good things in life. It's holding a newborn baby in your arms, a hug from your husband for no reason, watching your children laugh and play, being with friends and family, listening to music that touches your heart, the sound of the rain. It's enjoying all the seasons and how each season expresses it's own talent. Spring with it's beautiful blooms, summer with the warmth of the sun, fall with all the pretty colors of leaves, and watching the snow falling on a winter's day. It's watching a beautiful sunset that says it's been a good day and all is right in God's world.

We need to enjoy all the desserts of life now and not pass them up.

We are so thankful for all the wonderful blessings that God has given us.



Crossing Your Fingers

Monday, February 27, Jerry will have another peripheral blood smear. It will tell us how much the transplant has grafted and how many of Jerry's cells are his and how many belong to his donor. Last time 38% of the cells were still Jerry's.We have been praying that the donor's cells have continued to grow and are destroying the rest of Jerry's cells.

The nurse practitioner said as she was leaving the room today, "Let's keep our fingers crossed."  Really crossing your fingers is an old superstition. It was suppose to have originated before Christ. It was a sign of luck or making a wish.  A wish made on a cross was a way of securing the wish until it was fulfilled.

It originally took two people. They  would cross their index fingers one on top of each other forming a cross. One person would make a wish and the other person would support their wish. It has changed through the years. Instead of friends crossing fingers, one crosses their own fingers, and now people say, "Keep your fingers crossed."

We're not going to ask you to cross your fingers for good results. We have something better than that. We have prayer which we know is better than all the luck in the world. So we are asking that you pray, pray, and pray some more.

We love you!

II Corinthians 1:11

Ye also helping together by prayer for us,

that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons

 thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

The Father of Lights

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

God, the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars. The sun blesses us with warmth and light, but it disappears at night. In the early days navigators used the stars to guide them, but during the day they disappeared and the navigators were left on their own.

But God, the Father of lights, does not move, he does not disappear, he does not let us down, or only gives us blessings once in a while. With God there is no variableness. He shines the light of His blessings on us all the time.

I'm so thankful we have a God who is always there wanting to bless us and answer our prayers.

Our days have gone along smoothly. We have to go to the clinic each day this week. Jerry has a rash on his stomach that they believe is shingles again. The medicine they were giving him was not working and so they had to connect a portable IV pump and inject the medicine through his veins. So each day we must go have it refilled.

Monday, February 27, they are planning on doing another peripheral blood smear to see how the transplant is progressing. It takes a week to get the results back. Please be praying that the donor cells have destroyed the rest of Jerry's cells. The medicine that he is taking is keeping his counts low and that is a little discouraging. But they tell us each day that everything is going well.

Thank you for your love and prayers.