Karen got platelets last night and they are giving her blood now. Counts are down to 120 and will need to hit zero brfore they come back up. It’s all part of the plan though. Just watching and waiting for 11-15-2010 so that we can get the next Bone Marrow Biopsy that will tell us if she is in remission from the luekemia. She has eaten a little bit today. That beats not eating, which is what she has done the last few day. Now that she is on the pain pump she is much more comfortable. Guess what she is talking about, even in her sleep. FOOD! Not just any food. She keeps talking about how we have to get some nice food. That we need to go to a nice. In her current state she doesn’t mean to go later. She means right now! It is going to be a little while before we can even get a day pass. It gives her a nice goal to shoot for though.

Don: Karen has been uncomfortable for a few days. If she got some pain medicine she would be able to sleep but then by the time she woke up she was hurting so much that it was hard to get relief very quickly and she would hurt for a while. This was really taking a toll on her mental ability to keep up the fight. Camille suggested that it might be time for a pain pump. Not a pump to give you pain but one to give you pain medicine. These things are computerized so they can give any amount that is programmed in continuously and also a little extra on demand by pushing a button. She made that happen for Karen last night. It really has made a difference. She slept through the night. This morning she ate some breakfast. Now she is resting again. It is going to be a better day. Thanks Camille.

Don: This seems like we are climbing a mountain. A mountain that disappears into the clouds as you look up. It makes it very hard to judge how far you have to go to reach the top. People try to explain to you how tall it is. You know that there really is a top up there somewhere but you have a rough time getting it into perspective. You don’t know how far you will climb each day either. So now you don’t know how far you must go and you don’t know the speed you are going. Each day you keep going and sometimes you see an obstacle or barrier that you must get over. When you do get passed it, you feel a little sense of accomplishment but then you realize that you still don’t know where you really are in your journey. You just know that you must keep going.

We completed Karen’s 36 hours of chemo yesterday (Thursday) at about 2:00. All of her counts are coming down. There is a number that they give us each day based on a math formula of some of those individual counts. Today it is 360. Anything below 500 means she can’t eat anything that is not cooked or processed. This is exactly like how her very first month and treatment started out last year on Oct 14, 2009. You can read from the beginning by going to https://karensday.com/?paged=17. That is pretty close to the beginning of our stay in Gainesville. You can back up to older messages than that if you like. I direct you there because we really are starting over now and we explained the process in more depth back then. For now we just want to end this note with a request for continued prayers.

Don: When you are going through something like this, you tend to mark off every little step you take. It is almost 1:00am at the end of Day 3. The night time bag of chemo is a very slow bag though. We won’t be done until around 2:00 in the afternoon. The chemo will continue to work on her body for a few days and then her body should start trying to recouperate from what it has been through. The blood work they do daily indicates that things are going very well in regards to cancer cells lowering in number. The real measurement is still 11 days away though. She still faces a lot once we reach that point but we must first get into remission!

Thanks for coming by and the notes you all send her.

Don: Night number two went much smoother than the first night. No high fever and the blood pressure stayed acceptable. Blood work results indicate that the bad cells are already going down. We won’t really know any exact numbers until the bone marrow biopsy on 11-15-2010. We are taking things one day at a time while keeping our eye on that biopsy. Results will probably take two days after that.

Thank you God for the easier night that Karen has last night. We pray for even more peace for her as we continue down this path. Amen

Don: Karen has just been hooked up to her first bag of chemo. We have 3 days of chemo. In fact we will have 4 different chemotherapy drugs this round. We used 2 drugs during the first induction a year ago and they were given over 7 days. So things are different this time. There is also less chance of things working the way we want so lets continue to pray and let God know exactly what we want. “Dear God, please bring Karen through this relapse of Leukemia. We love her and need her in our lives for many more years to come. Remove the cancer cells and keep control of the fungus in the lungs until her bloodwork counts return to normal so that it can then be cured also. That will only be the first steps of the needed treatments. You know that we will be praying everyday for the needs we have now and then we will have new needs and new prayers soon. There are many of the steps that will be challenging to the doctors and Karen’s body. We will only make it through this with your healing hand and ask that you take care of her. Amen”

Don: It did not take long for me to fall in love with Gainesville. That might seem strange on the surface. It doesn’t have a beach. My family doesn’t live here. Karen’s family doesn’t live here. Our horses aren’t here. I really could go on and on about how this place is not Panama City! No matter what PC has though, it does not have a few things that Gainesville has.

1. Shands. Nurses, doctors, PAs and all support staff.
2. Pastor Calvin Carr at the North Central Baptist of Gainesville. www.GatorChurch.com

The first gave us this whole last year of memories and the second has really helped keep us in God’s hands. Pastor Calvin was here today with his son, Jerre. Now that was uplifting!

Don: Karen’s cancer is back. They were starting to suspect as much last Saturday. They did the bone marrow biopsy on Monday and we had official results on Wednesday with the final report on Thursday. The Leukemia is aggressive so we are taking an aggressive approach to treatment. It does give us hope for a good outcome but it is sort of a Hail Mary play at the end of the game. The good news, in Karen’s view, is that we will know within about two weeks if this is going to work. She has committed to fighting hard during this time.

She has an issue with her lungs and something not quite right with the digestive tract. These things add a twist to the plan that Shands would otherwise do. The bottom line is that Karen’s main goal at this time is not very far from what she has always told me that she wants. Peace and comfort. We ask for more and continued prayers for the cancer to go into remission, her own immune system counts to climb quickly (10 days after chemo would be great), the plan to work, peace and comfort for Karen and all her friends and family.

We love you all. Your support means a great deal to us both. We haven’t given up and need your prayers. Chemo starts Monday.

Don: Did you watch the movie Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? Karen and I are starting our own list and want to encourage all of our friends and family to do the same. We would love to see some of the things that you have on your own list. There are a few things that we already know but we are going to try and build a list of the top ten. She is sleeping now but let me tell you some of the things I already know are on her list.

1. Live on our horse property. We had just gotten proposal’s from several builders to build the home of Karen’s dream on the Hwy 388 property when we found out that she had leukemia. At least we didn’t have a foundation poured and then find out! Now we would settle for a camper! (Well, I would anyway.)
2. Go on a cruise with family and friends. Doesn’t have to be a long one or even go to distant lands. The family and friends part is a must!
3. Go for a trail ride at Pine Ridge. Family and friends required!
4. Shipwreck Island in the summer of 2011. It is a Brunty family reunion week tradition when her one sister that lives out of town comes down with her family. That puts 17 of us just having a great day together.
5. Continue to build our relationship with God. (This should be on everyone’s list.)

I know there are other things that are special to Karen that will make this list when she gets up and we put together the official list. I really do expect you guys to comment with one or two special things from your own list. So get going!

Don: Karen had a bronchoscopy done once before while at Shands a few months ago. She did not remember the procedure while it was happening and was not uncomfortable afterward. She had another one this morning but things didn’t go as smoothly. They gave her a minimal amount of sedative and she ended up being aware of the entire procedure and it was not pleasant. Her oxygen level was a little low (83) so they did not feel it would be a good idea to sedate her any more. She doesn’t think she would want to have to have another one, ever again. Now we wait for the results of that test.

We are also waiting on the results of a bone marrow biopsy that they did yesterday. So she is hurting a little from that, too. The parts of her body that are achy or hurting at this time seem to out number the parts that feel OK.

That isn’t the end of her fun. 8-( They put a tube in her nose so that they can give her some medicine that will clean out her tummy and guts so they can scope her tomorrow. Basically, by late Thursday or Friday we should know what we are doing here and what their plan is to take care of her. I am sure that my description of the past few days is not the same as hers would be. She is pretty miserable. Thank you all for coming by and keeping Karen in your prayers.