Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! I hope that everyone is able to enjoy the sunshine like we are in Omaha! Things continue to go well, and I continue to feel great- praises!! I think the shots are making Keith a little sore, but he doesn't complain so we don't really know. Tomorrow morning, 7-12, is the first (and hopefully last) day of stem cell donation. Should know by tomorrow evening if we got enough.
Our days are in your hands...

A busy, fast week

It's been a busy and fast week in Omaha- lots of visits with ancillary hospital staff for both of us and several trips to the lab for Keith. I received all the final results on my bone marrow and everything came back completely cancer free!!
Last night we went to the Omaha Royals - a "normal" activity!! For the next several days, we're "free" except for Keith's daily shots to stimulate his bone marrow. Still praying that the donation process will be quick and painless for him - done in 1 day! In the meantime, the only thing on my agenda is to continue getting stronger, enjoying having my appetite back and cherish the sunny days of feeling good!
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure. ~Psalm 16:9

"Schedule"...

Sorry that it’s been a couple days, but I’ve been very busy enjoying the sunny weather and hanging out with friends – it’s been great remembering what it feels like to feel good! Praise God! I originally wasn’t happy about the delay in getting my transplant, but having a few weeks to regain strength is probably a good thing. I’m glad He’s in control.
Here’s our schedule for the next couple weeks:
5/25 Keith starts lab work, meet doctors…
5/26-27 Random appts for me with specialists…
5/28-5/31 growth factor shots for Keith
6/1 Labs and start stem cell collection (this will be a long day, please pray for Keith)
6/2-6/3 continued stem cell collection if needed
6/4-6/7 weekend at home!! :)
6/8 I get admitted to hospital
6/9-6/12 Scheduled for final round of chemo to prep for transplant
6/14 TRANSPLANT DAY (if all goes according to schedule)

Thanks for all your continued prayers and special thanks to everyone that was able to attend Saturday’s prayer service!

Answered prayers!

After a long day of testing yesterday, I met with Dr Vose today and they can't find any signs of cancer! I'm officially in remission!!! They have a few more tests to run on my bone marrow but said that even if they see microscopic evidence of the lymphoma, we'll still be moving forward with the transplant. They were all very optimistic with where I'm at after all the chemo. So, as soon as I finish getting a couple units of blood, (they weren't impressed with my anemia), we'll be heading for home! Going to be a long day full of sitting on a sore bum after yesterday's bone marrow. Later this week I'll send out the schedule for transplant preparation.
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" ~Jeremiah

Prayer Request for Tuesday

It's been a good couple days - over the weekend the rain dampened some of my plans, but I was still able to see some friends and family, felt decent, no fevers! Praise God!
Tomorrow I head up to Omaha for restaging and would love any prayers that you can send my way. It will be a day full of testing to assess the effectiveness of the 4 rounds of chemo. We're praying for remission of the cancer. After the testing on Tuesday I'll meet with Dr Vose on Wednesday to find out if everything is "a go" for the transplant. At that point I'll have a slightly more definite time-line of events (which I'll share in a future post) and hopefully answers to some of my many questions.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Glad that's over...

Yesterday was a bit of a scary adventure. After going to the clinic for a seemingly innocent fever on Tuesday afternoon, by Tuesday night I wasn't feeling well and by Wednesday I was light-headed/passing out, still running fevers and feeling kind-of like I did when in the hospital. (Thankfully, Tues night the symptoms were feeling similar to past experiences so I had restarted some antibiotics for GI infections). Mom took me to the clinic Wednesday afternoon where they gave me steroids, IV fluids and more antibiotics. After going to bed at 7:30p, I woke up feeling much better and am so grateful that I was able to get the Flagyl started Tues night otherwise I'm sure I would have been toxic by Wed. Not exactly the week I had expected, but each day is a gift and today is better than yesterday.
"Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you hear me always" ~John 11:42

Each day is an adventure

Fever is back today, back to the clinic...

Well, today is a little step back from yesterday, but I'm praying that it will be short-lived and a result of my bone marrow rebounding. I really don't feel too bad but back on IV antibiotics until cultures show negative.

Still thankful for a new day!

A new day, another gift

You’ll have to bear with me on this one because I have a feeling that I might start to ramble, but it has a happy ending. In all honesty, this weekend was rough for me. I was at the 2 week post chemo point, blood counts were in the toilet, still sick and fatigued, started running low grade fevers and was really starting to drain mentally. Got word from Omaha on Friday that my transplant won’t actually happen until mid-June which is when the “100-day” countdown starts. And to top it off, it was cold. So frustrated, tearful and afraid of what the future holds, I shared my state of mind with our heavenly Father and headed to bed. Middle of the night, I wake up with “The Words I Would Say” by Sidewalk Prophets running through my head. Specifically the lines “Never give up hope… God’s got his hand on you, so don’t live your life in fear”. I’m not a big SP fan, don’t have their CD and actually had to google search these lines to even figure out who sings the song (surprise, surprise). If you’ve never heard it, I recommend it. Anyway, woke up this morning, felt much better than I had all weekend; went to the clinic and all my labs are on the rise – WBC’s went from 0.1 to 1.0, platelets and Hgb are hanging tight. (clinic had me in and out in under 45 minutes – crazy!) I’m not scheduled for anymore labs until next week. Now all I need is for it to stop raining. :)
God talks to us in all sorts of ways and he won’t give us more than we can bear. Tell Him your fears - He might not answer right away or in the way you’re looking for, but He always hears and never stops walking by your side.

Day 12 /4

The clinic was rather uneventful yesterday. All my lab numbers continue to drop but not low enough to need transfusions... I have to go back tomorrow morning (so much for sleeping in on a Saturday) and will probably get platelets. In the meantime, I'll continue to live in my "bubble boy" state.

Final 4 - day 10/ 4

In case anyone is counting, I'm down to the Final 4 eyelashes. It's a good look, I highly recommend it. And unlike other die-hards that I've met, I am NOT applying mascara to the remaining 4. It was over-rated when I had an eye-full.
That's as exciting as it gets in my world the past couple days. I'm tired and my stomach still isn't playing fair, but all is tolerable and I'm able to go to the office. Tomorrow I go back to the clinic to see how my counts are doing. I figure I'll hit bottom sometime between now and the end of the weekend. Praying that my "bounce back" will be quick so that I'll have some time to catch up with everyone before heading to Omaha.
"And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows." ~Luke 12:7

Schedule's set 8 /4

Feeling OK today - my labs haven't hit the bottom yet after round 4. WBC's are in the tank, but hemoglobin and platelets are hanging in there. I picked up a lot of swelling again while in the hospital and in the process of losing that, my potassium has dropped yet again so I'm spending today in the clinic getting K+ (6hours, ughh).
The good news is that we were able to get a schedule set for Omaha. I'll go up on the 18-19th for testing. At that point they'll determine that I'm in remission and everything's a "go" so we'll all head back up on the 23rd to start the transplant process. Transplant probably won't actually happen until the first week of June.
All in perfect timing.

Done with Chemo!!!!!!! day 6/ 4

Hooray, I'm done with chemo as long as everything looks good when I go to Omaha! I finished up Friday afternoon but they had me stay one more night. Seems harmless enough except that it takes all day to get discharged from a hospital so I probably won't get home until dinner time. Oh well, what's 1 more day, right??!! OK, enough of the pity party. I'm feeling pretty good and praying that my recovery this time is smooth and that all my blood counts cooperate. If all goes well, I hope to be back to work by Tuesday - even if my feet are too swollen to fit in my shoes :)
I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. ~ Psalm 121: 1-2