Day 100 Is Here!

It is with great thankfulness that we are happy to report Mom has reached day 100 since her bone marrow transplant. This is a huge milestone and we are so thankful to the Lord for His guidance and care through this journey.

Day 100 is the beginning of her medications being reduced. Daily she is on a whole variety of pills, so the less pills she needs to take the better! Reaching day 100 also means her diet can return slowly to normal.  Mom continues on average to go to the hospital once a week to check her levels and to receive magnesium. Her team is very impressed with the progress she has made so far. Her white blood cell count has actually reached a level it hasn't been at for 10 years! If things continue as well as they are going she will only go to the hospital once every 2 weeks.She will continue on anti rejection medication, since like any transplant her body can still reject the transplant. So far we have seen no signs of rejection. 

We are so thankful for all the love and support Mom and Dad have received. The visits and meals have been very much appreciated! We are so thankful to the Lord for His care over Mom, and it is amazing to see His guiding hand over this journey for Mom.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see"

Hebrews 11: 1

Welcome Home

Good morning! I am happy to write Mom has returned home! Her counts continued to rise to a level where the doctors were comfortable discharging her. After a busy day she arrived home late yesterday afternoon. She was very happy to be home and was excited to sleep in her own bed in the comfort of her own home.
 This comes with mixed emotions for her and us as a family. Her being discharged by no means indicates that she is "better". She is just at the point where her counts are high enough to go home. She will still be very closely monitored, as they look for signs of graft versus host. Mom now has a minimum of three appointments per week, which can range from 1hr to full day visits. The same rules apply for her as they did in the hospital, restricted diet, no new live plants/flowers in the house, and no sick visitors.
Mom is still very tired and will have to adjust to living back at home. Dad has taken some time off of work to help her around the house, which is great. It will be an adjustment for us all as we hope to help out as much as we can.
We are so thankful to the Lord for his continued care over Mom. All things considered she is doing well, and we pray she continues to stay strong and continues to recover. Please keep her and Dad in your prayers as they adjust to life at home, and the busyness of her many appointments.  

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of all those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Praise The Lord! Engraftment Has Taken Place!

With pure joy and nothing but thankfulness in our hearts to the Lord we are happy to report that Mom's bone marrow transplant has engrafted as of this morning! She was awoken by a team of very happy nurses at 5:30 this morning who were elated to tell Mom her white blood cell counts have reached .7 which is the point of engraftment! It is clear to us the Lord has His guidance and providential hand working in all of this as it has only been 19 days since the transplant took place! 
She was able to leave her room this morning for the first time since the transplant. She was very excited to make the journey down to the cafeteria. Later today she hopes to venture outside for some fresh air as well!
If things continue as they are, she hopes to return home this coming Wednesday already. We are so happy that she is able to go home and recover in the comfort of her own home. She will even be able to spend Mother's day at home, something we didn't think would be possible.
We know her going home will have a whole set of new challenges and life will be busy with many appointments. She is still awaiting the 100 day period to be over. During this period her nutrition is carefully watched, and she is not able to eat certain foods as her immune system will still be very weak. For the foreseeable future they will also be closely monitoring her for signs of graft versus host disease. We will continue to pray that she will not suffer too much from the side effects of this.
Thanks again for your continued prayers and support. Please continue to hold her up in prayer as she begins this new part of her journey.

"Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion". Psalm 103:2-4

Indeed Not A Hair Can Fall From My Head

I am happy to report that Mom is doing so well! The nurses keep commenting how proud they are of her and her progress. Her counts continue to sit at 0 and we are still waiting for the day they begin to rise. We are also happy she has had no fevers recently. She is dealing with a couple of painful mouth sores, which are a side effect of the chemo. Thankfully she is still eating well, and the nausea has stopped. She received her last dose of chemo today! Mom is so thankful that part is over.
This past weekend her hair began to fall out as a result of the chemo. Since all her hair would fall out on its own over time and become very uncomfortable she decided to shave it off. Krista cut her hair for her during her last chemo treatments 12 Years ago, so Mom requested she help shave it again. Sunday was the big hair cut day! They buzzed it right down to the scalp. Mom's head is really soft and fuzzy, and she looks super cute with no hair! I went to see her today and she allowed me to take a couple of pictures of her.

Please continue to hold her and Dad up in prayer. We are so thankful for the progress she has made so far, and we pray the Lord continues to bless her healing, and Lord willing she may return home soon. 

"He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation." Lord's Day 1

Taking Each Day As It Comes

We are learning to take each day as it comes. This week started off with Mom battling a major headache and really bad nausea. Tanya spent the day with her on Monday and it was a rough day for Mom. By Monday night she asked for no visitors so she could get some much needed rest. Thankfully her doctor was able to switch around her medicine and she is finally feeling some relief. Her headache and her nausea have subsided for the time being. Thankfully as this week went on she has been feeling better and better! Her counts are continuing to drop, but her appetite has returned a little. She was being fed through an IV for one day, but since she started eating again and keeping it in they stopped feeding her this way. She has started having cravings again for certain foods which is great! Anytime she asks for something we try and get it for her. We usually end up sharing her food with her, but let me tell you it is not easy eating with a mask on!
Today marks two weeks already since she was admitted to the hospital. Her spirits are still up and she is eagerly awaiting to return home! We know the road will still be long and we may hit a few bumps, but Mom has been taking everything in stride and is doing so well! We thank the Lord for His amazing faithfulness and providential care. We truly see Him working in her life and granting her all the strength she needs to battle through each day.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you not forsake you." Deuteronomy 31: 6

Patience As a Patient

Alex and I just returned home from a very nice visit with Mom. The past few days have been especially hard on her. She has been battling a very bad head ache and has been dealing with nausea. She has been very restless and also not able to sleep well. Yesterday she was taken out of her room to do a CT scan of her head to rule out anything serious causing the headache. We were nervous about her leaving her room, but it needed to be done. Thankfully the scan came back clear. The nurses now believe the headache is a result of the drugs and that her counts continue to drop. Each day her blood counts are dropping, which is expected.  They will continue to drop until the point when engraftment happens. The nurses stressed again the need for her visitors to be healthy and have no cold or flu symptoms. At this time mom has requested that only her immediate family visit with her. We are thankful that as a family we have a range of different schedules so we are each able to visit with her separately as well as together. Today Tanya was able to spend the morning with her. Dad was able to spend most of the afternoon with her, and Krista could have dinner with her. Tomorrow Shawn hopes to spend the morning with her listening to a sermon.
Visiting with Mom this evening she reminded us that when you are in the hospital you are called a "patient" for a reason. You need to be patient as a patient. She wants us all to remember that the transplant will take time and that it has only been a few days since the transplant. Yes we all want to see immediate results, but we know this is in the Lord's hands and when the time is right we will begin to see the healing take place.
This evening Mom was not restless, but she was tired. She had been suffering from nausea most of the day, but thankfully it had subdued by the time we visited. It was very nice to just sit quietly with her.
As the days continue I will do my best to keep you all updated. Mom, Dad and the whole family thank you very much for all the continued prayers and well wishes. It is wonderful to be surrounded by such a loving community.

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130: 5

The Beginning Of A Long Journey

Today marks the beginning of a very long journey for Mom. The transplant took place at 11:30 this morning and it took 1.5hrs to complete. Mom was surrounded by her brother John and his wife Amanda, her sister Jackie as well as Tanya, Krista and Melissa. This evening Dad, Shawn and myself had a nice visit with her. She is still dealing with a fairly bad headache and is fairly nauseous.
The transplant day itself is fairly anticlimactic. The next few days, weeks and months are when we will begin to see the results. From here on out the doctors check her counts daily to see when they begin to go up, this marks the beginning of the engraftment process. Starting today Mom is also on a strict transplant diet for the next 100 days.
We thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for today! It was another long day but the Lord continues to hold each of us in His loving care.

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Isaiah 30:22

Here are a few pictures from the past couple days.

Mom's brother John going through the process of harvesting the stem cells. Thankfully he was able to donate all the cells needed in one day.  

 Always smiling!

 The amazing machine which makes this possible:

Here is Mom receiving the stem cells today: