Hi everyone.  Some of us are getting a little stir crazy here in the camper.  luckily we have wi fi and tv and bananagrams, and lots of food.  Momma does a lot of farming on facebook, dad sings and plays the guitar and Don works on the computer.  That leaves me …wonder what I’m doing.   We still have to go to clinic and I will start getting platelets tomorrow.  My white count has made it to zero and my red cells are getting low.  That means we have to be alot more careful about infection.   All in all I feel really good, but am starting to feel a little short of breath when I’m moving around.

Don and I have been taking some beautiful drives through the country here.  It is so gorgeous.  There are some very old neighborhoods with unbelievable old oak trees.  Some of these trees are bigger than a Car at the trunk bases.  they are enormous.  We have gone by some horse farms and antique shops and old fashions creamerys that make icecream from jersey cows they milk themselves.  This area has such an old fashion appeal. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!  I am looking forward to seeing my children soon, and coming home as soon as I can.  love you all.

karen

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!
Karen and Don

Hi everyone,

Don went back to Panama City this morning.  I miss him already.  Mom and Dad spent the day with me and Momma is spending the night.  I am getting my last doses of chemo tonight and in the morning.  I am feeling pretty good.  Just starting to get tired and heavy.  I haven’t been nauseous or having any pain.  We will discharge tomorrow and go to the camper.  Don will come back by Christmas eve.

I am so thankful for my remission, the possibility of a donor, these wonderful Doctors and nurses, all my friends and family, and a God who truly loves me.  keep in touch, and I will too.

love ,

karen

Don: It has been cloudy and gray with a little rain since we got here on Tuesday. Today we had only a little bit of clouds way off on the horizon that helped the sun throw off some pretty colors at sunrise. We are on the eighth floor and get to watch the sun come up over Payne’s Prairie. Very pretty. Of course now the sun is going to shine into the room most of the day. It is a little inconvient. I really had been enjoying the weather as it was. Especially when we stayed the first two days in the camper and you could hear the rain. Though the rain on the window the other day of our 8th floor room was cool too!

Karen is on bag 4 out of 6 in this round of treatment. We went running around a little bit yesterday afternoon. We don’t get to go to church this morning but will get to see our friends there next week and the week after. No chemo tonight or Monday morning. Last two bags are Monday night and Tuesday morning. Check out around noon. I have to be back at work on Monday. Thats all the news of now…

Thank you all for coming by.

We are in room 8220, on the eighth floor.  And we just started the chemo.  I am so thankful to be in remission, and when my blood counts are up,I feel sooo good.  It’s nice to feel normal in between treatments.  It gives you hope. 

I really wish I could have seen all my friends (co-workers) at BMC this last trip home.  I was just so busy trying to get Christmas done and catch up with stuff, that I just couldn’t get by there.  I miss you guys.  Maybe when i come home in January I will get to stop by.  

We will be here until January 6th.  Sorry Tina, but I won’t be home for new years.  We will get together soon though. 

I love you guys,  thanks for checking in.  Mary, we will be praying for your Dad.  May God bless all of you.  Remember to love your life, and be sure to stop and smell the roses.

love karen

Don: Since every thing that we do in the hospital is based what day number we are on, I write the day # on my calendar. We were supposed to have Day 1 on Tuesday. Like Karen told you already, that didn’t happen. So I make changes to my calendar. For those of you who may be doing the same at home, I hope you aren’t using ink. It is Thursday morning and we are still not in the hospital. They bumped us again. Someone else got a fever and had to be admitted. That may be frustrating for us but could have saved the life of the other person.

They have told us that we will get in today. We hope so but will be calm and wait and see. I have really enjoyed the last two days. I can’t remember the last time that Karen and I spent two days together just by ourselves with nothing to do and not in the hospital. Plus, like she told you, she is feeling good. You don’t have to look hard in any situation to find something negative, but I am here to tell you that if you don’t look for the negative, you will find it easier to enjoy the positive moments in your life.

We will send you another note as things happen. We hope the next one will say that Karen has checked in and started this round.

Hi everyone!  We came back to Gainesville this morning.  Today’s admition was cancelled when we got to the hospital, so we will be admitted tomorrow (Wednesday) and discharged on Monday of next week.  Then we will have 2 weeks here in Gainesville, with daily visits to the clinic for blood work, etc.   I feel sooo good!  I am almost back to my old self!  I need to remember that I can feel this good when I don’t feel good!  It’s easy to forget and just think I will never feel normal again.  Chemo really affects the way you feel.   You get “chemo brain”.  It gets harder to think and say things that make sense.  Also you feel so shaky.  And your hands and body actually shake, like your blood sugar is low.  and I think it makes you cry too.  I didn’t used to cry much, and now I cry at the drop of a hat.  These are just a few of the things…but anyway, by day 28 of the “chemo cycle”, I feel pretty normal!!! 

I had a wonderful week at home.  I visited with some of my friends, and my family and I celebrated a wonderful early Christmas.  The kids opened their gifts on Saturday, so we had Sunday and Monday to watch them play with their new stuff.  Jake got a long board (skate board thing), and lots of new clothes, and Dylan got lots of games and a marble roller coaster that is really cool!  Heather and Randy both got money (college kids).  We all had stockings full of candy, and grandma, grandpa, Laura, Darren and Kody all came over for our traditional Christmas breakfast.  We love to do ham and eggs, and bacon, and sausage gravy, with biscuits and toast, and dippy eggs.  Then we make room for pies (store bought of course) and egg nog.  We made Christmas cookies this year- wow!  what fun!  What a mess!!  I think Kody really liked it (he’s 3)but we are glad not to do it again until next year!

Also, good news!!  I may have a Bone Marrow Donor soon!  Isn’t that great!!  The coodinator told us today, they have 5 possible matches, they are doing some prelimary blood work on now.  Five potential donors!!  We will let you know when we hear something.

Love you guys,

Karen

Don: Well, it is Christmas Eve for us at least. It is Friday, December 11, 2009. We will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow (Saturday) because Karen and I will be in Gainesville when December 25th rolls around. Karen has done a great job getting the home ready. We have Jacob, Dylan and Heather with us tonight. Grandpa Ken, Grandma Madeline, Laura, Darren and Cody will be here first thing in the morning. Presents are wrapped and ready. Breakfast menu has been planned and food bought. It is going to be great!

God has been very good to us. Our loving family extends well beyond blood and marriage. We are truly blessed by each and every visitor to the site. Karen especially enjoys the comments and prayers of support and they really do help. Thank you all very much for being part of our support family. Sorry we haven’t done any writing since we came home. We hope you understand that we have been busy preparing for this celebration and just spending time with the kids (when I am not at work). It is hard to believe that Karen got home Tuesday afternoon. She has to check in on next Tuesday for the second consolidation treatment. But that is then and tonight is CHRISTMAS EVE!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

hi everyone,

I am feeling sooooo much better!  Friday was my last bad day and its been up hill ever since.  I had Don here for the whole weekend and now I getting to go home!  We will finish up with EKG’s, research drugs,  and blood work tomorrow.  I am so happy and I’m even feeling strong.  I’m going to try not to over doit.  I’m going to have an early Christmas with my boys but I am inviting anybody who wants to spend Christmas day in Gainesville to come on!  We should be admitted again on Dec 15, but only for 6 days so will be out of the hospital before Christmas day.  Don and I are going to decorate the camper some.  We are learning that gainesville has some great shopping and restaurants.  If my little family was here with me it would be perfect.  I think I’d be alot more happy getting my treatments.  O’well this week at home is going to be Grande!

I have made some wonderful friends here.  Patients and their families who are going through this too.  It’s awesome to hear there stories.  Most everyone is so upbeat!! which is really surprising to me, since they are going through the same things I am.  We visit together while waiting at clinic.  

I am also learning to crochet.  It seems to be pretty soothing and not too demanding.  Even coloring can feel frustrating at times.  My insides get so shaky and my attention span seems to be really short.  not sure why.  I feel really bored at times, but yet unable to focus on anything.  weird hey.  I think so too.  anyway, I’m doing great right now. see you all soon

love ya

karen

Don: I worked late Friday. In fact I worked until a little after 10:00pm. Then I headed for Gainseville. Well, I tried to head to Gainesville. I had to mess around trying to make sure my tires were aired up. The first place I went let more out than it put in. I ended turning around and going back a little ways to get air. It was about 11:00 (12:00 Gainseville time) when I was at Hwy 20 and Hwy 231. I got in 4 hours later. Karen was very happy to see me. She had told me I shouldn’t come down since I had to work Monday morning. She wasn’t any happier to see me than I was to she her! I was missing her. The weekend is over and I just got in. Itis 1:30 and I have to get up at 6:00am so I guess you all get lucky and I am keeping this one short!

We went to North Central Baptist again this week. Met more people. It really is a nice church. Pastor Calvin didn’t preach today. The visitor made a good presentation but I look forward hearing Pastor Calvin in a couple weeks. We will both be in PC next weekend. Not sure which church we will visit but I am sure we will go somewhere! Then we did a little shopping and ate dinner tonight at Pizza Hut.

Almost forgot. We moved from Payne’s Prairie today. The new place is technically a little farther down the road but is about the same driving time because of how slow and far it was from the old campsite to Hwy 441. We think we will like it here even better and we really liked Payne’s Prairie.

Karen will be home by Thursday and gone again the following Tuesday. Should be feeling well and counts up. I am sure she will spend most of her time with the kids and doing a little visiting during the day while they are in school. Plus has a stack of mail to go through!!