Don: Karen had it a little rough on the day of Dec 1 and then rougher still on the 2nd. It is the morning of the 3rd and she really had trouble during the very early morning hours. Lots of tests yesterday. The last one was a CT of the lungs and where she only had a little in one lower lobe, she now has some in both. Her heart rate runs high, usually over 110. The monitor starts beeping if it goes over 125. Later evening it was beeping a lot as she stayed right around the border. With the issues she was having this morning, they have decided on more tests. She had a surprise bone marrow biopsy yesterday and we should get some results this afternoon. We need those before they can make a complete game plan. There is a lot to take into consideration but we must know whether we have leukemia cells trying to come back before we make any decissions.
Please Pray for comfort, peace, healing and that the doctors make the best decission for Karen.

Don: Today they delivered fresh fruit to Karen for the first time in over 3 weeks. She didn’t eat it but at least it is now available. Tomorrow’s breakfast is going to be yogurt with fruit. Yogurt has also been restricted until Karen got over 500 again. These little things help us to know that she is improving. We love the feeling of security that you get in this environment but the goal has always been to get back to the world and life. We are getting closer. We know that your prayers have helped tremendously in getting this far. Today Karen is feeling very weak. We have not been getting in her daily walks for 3-4 days. We went out this morning and only made one lap around the floor. Prayers for continued growth in WBC and RBC while keeping away any growth in luekemia cells are greatly welcomed. It is also time for her to gain strength and she is no longer on the automatic pain medication so we need prayers for comfort as she starts taking pills to contol the pain. When you start growing cells in the bone marrow it makes you ache, alot. Thank all of you for what you do for her.

Don: We just keep praying and moving forward. They removed the automatic pain medicine delivery. She can still push the button if she needs it. This is really a great step towards being able to be discharged. Her oxygen level is holding pretty good at 2 liters, so we just turned it down to 1 to see how she does. She cannot be on pain pump or oxygen when they release her. She thinks they might be as close as two days away from release. We won’t be able to go back to PC for a little while though. Her counts are at 588 today. WBC and RBC both moved upward slightly. That’s another good thing. More later.

Don: Guess who has counts of 500? That’s right. Karen. White blood cells have been at zero for 3 weeks and started moving up two days ago. First to .1, then .2 and now they are at .5. She is getting platelettes tonight because she was all the way down to 5. The normal range is 150-450. They don’t have to jump too quick usually not gving them until she is under 10. Anyway, we are moving in the right direction. Just have to start getting her off of oxygen and pain pump. We have already been working on that, too. It won’t be long before they discharge her, this keeps up.

She has had two full days of visits from the Fantastic Four. The kids have been just great. All hanging out with their Mom in a crowded hospital room. They brought our Wii from home, another computer of mine and two computers of Heathers. We never had just one kid here at a time, but with all the distractions that were available she still had some one-on-one visiting with each of them.

Don: Karen just said a prayer of thanks to God. Her counts finally came up off of zero! She is at 180. Both she and I are afraid to celebrate, for fear that there may be some mistake (already happened once this cycle) but having reviewed all the data more carefully, it appears that this may be real.
What makes us even more happy than having a few white blood cells is that the kids are here! All four of them came together. This is going to really be a great Thanksgiving weekend. We will have 3 days of visits with the kids, they will get to have some sibling bonding time (xbox, wii and two TVs in their room), Lisa M is trying to come by, Lisa S also plans to be here, Karen’s parents are still here with us in Gainesville and then let’s not forget those counts are finally on the rise!! Thank you God for all these blessings and more. Amen.

Don: Who knew that we would still be hanging around Shands for over a year? I never noticed that this particular Word Press theme did not have an Archive widget, until I went to review year old messages. It made it just about impossible for our visitors to get back to the begining of the blog. Well, I looked around and read some documentation and have added the monthly archive. If you have been wanting to review some of the older posts, this should help.

Don: For those of you that have followed us through any of our past treatments you know that blood work counts always go down to zero. Under 500 you are neutropenic. That means no immune system and you just have to be extra careful. No sick visitors allowed and no fresh fruits and veggies. We are watching the counts everyday and it is about time for them to start coming back up. I should be any day now. Let’s have a little pep rally and cheer those White Blood Cells back into existence.

Physically Karen is doing very well and we take regular walks. When we take walks they are 30 minutes to 45 minutes long. Considering we are just walking around in a circle, I am real proud of her sticking with it. They are so important. Between prayers, Shands staff and Karen’s efforts, she is moving forward once again. She is uncomfortable but they manage the pain very well so it is tollerable. We will let you know when the counts start up!

Don: The doctor was in. He said the results from Karen’s bone marrow biopsy were that she basically was empty in the bone marrow. There was not enough cancer cells to count. Nothing to count really. That is good news. They got more results from the endoscopy they did a few days ago. They had biopsied a couple of places in her esophogus and stomach. They have determined that she has stage 2 GVHD (graft vs. host desease). That is not a bad thing, though it might sound like it. They are treating both virus and fungus in that same area already and Karen has been responding favorably. What they do not want is to give her any drugs that surpress the graft. They want the graft to figure out that this body is where it belongs. Then they want it to learn that the only thing it should be fighting is Leukemia cells.

I am no doctor so I may have misunderstood a little of this stuff or messed up on my interpretation of what the doctor said. I am sure that Karen will be happy to give us all a better view after her nap! “Thank you God for getting us this far. Please continue to work on Karen’s body and cure her of the cancer. We pray to you day by day, as we follow the instructions of our doctors and nurses, for our need but understand that it is your plan, in your time. Amen.”

Don: Early this morning Karen got a big surprise. They decided to do the biopsy. She had about 10 minutes from that announcement till they showed up with all their goodies and got started. She is very happy that it is over. It did not hurt at all. She takes that as a good sign. The only times it has hurt is when she was full of cancer cells. We think no pain equals no cancer. Sure will be nice to get the official word later tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned and keep praying for a cure! Thanks.

Don: They noticed a little redness around Karen’s central line. (That is the tri-port in her chest that they use for all her infusions.) They checked some blood and found a little infection. They are giving her extra goodies to knock out the bug before they do the biopsy. We will let you know when it happens and the results.