Hello prayer warriors, thank you for keeping the vigil. Erin is still in need of prayer. We spent the last week at the lake and had a great time except for the fact that Erin couldn't get wet. She was a good sport and sat on the dock to talk to us, drove the boat and played all the corny family games we love so much. She never complained that her vacation was not what she hoped for. Unfortunately we had to return to Emory 3 times over the week. She needed platelets Monday and Today and she needed blood on Wednesday. So the vacation was pretty broken up because going to Emory takes all day. We tried to go to the little local hospital in Clayton but the Drs at Emory didn't want her to get transfused anywhere except Emory, so it didn't save us any time. She has several large bruises on her from "whatever", they were probably minor bumps that grew large due to the lack of platelets. All in all she feels well, just very tired. The big bummer right now is that she can't go to Campmeeting, unless her numbers skyrocket. And school is only a couple of weeks away and she needs to be recovered by then. So please pray for numbers and energy. Thank you again for your continued perseverance on Erin's behalf. She is so blessed to have such a fantastic team of believers rooting for her. We all are grateful for all of you!! love, janet
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him." 2 Cor 2:14
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Sat 7/12
Dear Friends, Thank you for your prayers this week. It has been a busy clinic week for Erin and Bill. We are continually amazed at God's presence in our lives. I ran into a nurse yesterday who said she had been praying for Erin all along. She and I rarely see each other at work because she is in the float pool. It is so encouraging the way God places people in your path at just the moment you need a lift. We are very blessed. One of the Drs I work with even took the time out of his busy day yesterday to call and encourage Erin. Each step of the way the Lord gives us just what we need. So today we start the weekly blog. If we can survive without you!! Please continue to pray for Erin's numbers. She still is anxious to get her central line out. Also she needs energy. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with us through this ordeal. It has been a tremendous support, more than I can even express. May God bless you for loving us. You have been great Disciples, obedient to His word. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And Love your nieghbor as yourself." Blessings on you and your family. janet
Friday, July 11, 2008
Another Long Day At The Clinic
Hi Guys....Mr. Bill here,
The clinic is starting to feel like home....except for having none of the comforts...because we have been spending so much time here this week! Erin is fine except for the boredom. We got here at 10:30 this morning and I am writing this at 6:00 pm...and we have 30 minutes to go on her transfusion. She had her labs done and her WBC is still <.3, platelets were at 30, H&H was at 23.8, so she definitely needed a couple units of blood. We finally got blood at 4:15 which is administered over 2 hours! How do you spell FUN?!?!?! The good news is no allergic reaction today. We must have made an impression yesterday, because the nurses we had today were well aware of yesterday's complications. :)
I did manage to scrape out a Skip-Bo** victory to reclaim a little self-respect and Erin has been watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Monk on the little one-person TV next to her chair in the transfusion center. Forgive me if I'm getting a little stir-crazy here. We saw the doctor and he said we needed to wait on getting the central line out (sorry Ken...I know how much you wanted to put another notch in your doctor kit).
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** Erin here - Dad "conveniently" forgot to mention my 3 game streak over him (2 of which I won yesterday during my "hive spell" while I had 100mg of Benadryl - that's a TON of Benadryl - normal dose = 25mg - needless to say, it did not impair my card skills). So, I think I am still champion of Skip-Bo (he's got us all beat in Backgammon). :)
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Okay...so much for getting a little self-respect back....well must close for now as it looks like Erin is just about topped off. Thanks for checking in with us. You all have truly been a blessing to us and the journey would have been so much harder without all the wonderful support you have provided. God is good...All the time!
Bill
The clinic is starting to feel like home....except for having none of the comforts...because we have been spending so much time here this week! Erin is fine except for the boredom. We got here at 10:30 this morning and I am writing this at 6:00 pm...and we have 30 minutes to go on her transfusion. She had her labs done and her WBC is still <.3, platelets were at 30, H&H was at 23.8, so she definitely needed a couple units of blood. We finally got blood at 4:15 which is administered over 2 hours! How do you spell FUN?!?!?! The good news is no allergic reaction today. We must have made an impression yesterday, because the nurses we had today were well aware of yesterday's complications. :)
I did manage to scrape out a Skip-Bo** victory to reclaim a little self-respect and Erin has been watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Monk on the little one-person TV next to her chair in the transfusion center. Forgive me if I'm getting a little stir-crazy here. We saw the doctor and he said we needed to wait on getting the central line out (sorry Ken...I know how much you wanted to put another notch in your doctor kit).
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** Erin here - Dad "conveniently" forgot to mention my 3 game streak over him (2 of which I won yesterday during my "hive spell" while I had 100mg of Benadryl - that's a TON of Benadryl - normal dose = 25mg - needless to say, it did not impair my card skills). So, I think I am still champion of Skip-Bo (he's got us all beat in Backgammon). :)
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Okay...so much for getting a little self-respect back....well must close for now as it looks like Erin is just about topped off. Thanks for checking in with us. You all have truly been a blessing to us and the journey would have been so much harder without all the wonderful support you have provided. God is good...All the time!
Bill
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday Update
Hello Friends....Bill again,
Today was a pretty long day. We went in to get platelets and about halfway through, Erin started breaking out in hives and feeling itchy all over. Normally she will get one and only one hive and then she is fine. So, they stopped the transfusion and gave her additional benedryl to try to get the hives to go away. After about an hour and a half the hives were still present and the PA prescibed a Hydrocortisone steroid via IV to see if that would settle the reaction down. After being there 4 hours, it was decided just to forego doing any more platelets and they let us go home. It wasn't a total loss...Erin beat me at Skip-Bo twice while we were sitting in the transfusion center.
Erin has also been having some headache pain and feeling a little dizzy if she stands up too fast which is usually a sign that she needs blood. So we inquired about that before the reaction to the platelets. The bottom line is that we are headed back to the clinic in the morning to get labs again and see if she needs blood and possibly additional platelets. Our prayer is that they will give her the blood products tomorrow that will make her feel better and that her WBCs will start to recover.
I forgot to mention that when we were in the clinic yesterday, we had asked about Erin's eye pain and the PA told us that it was a typical side affect of the Cytarabine and that while it was uncomforable it was not anything that would harm her eyes or vision. He said to just keep taking the eye drops which should keep the pain to a minimum until the chemo affects subside. So that is a praise!
Well that's about it for now. As always, thanks for all the continued prayer support.
Blessings...... Bill
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." - 2 Peter 3:18
Today was a pretty long day. We went in to get platelets and about halfway through, Erin started breaking out in hives and feeling itchy all over. Normally she will get one and only one hive and then she is fine. So, they stopped the transfusion and gave her additional benedryl to try to get the hives to go away. After about an hour and a half the hives were still present and the PA prescibed a Hydrocortisone steroid via IV to see if that would settle the reaction down. After being there 4 hours, it was decided just to forego doing any more platelets and they let us go home. It wasn't a total loss...Erin beat me at Skip-Bo twice while we were sitting in the transfusion center.
Erin has also been having some headache pain and feeling a little dizzy if she stands up too fast which is usually a sign that she needs blood. So we inquired about that before the reaction to the platelets. The bottom line is that we are headed back to the clinic in the morning to get labs again and see if she needs blood and possibly additional platelets. Our prayer is that they will give her the blood products tomorrow that will make her feel better and that her WBCs will start to recover.
I forgot to mention that when we were in the clinic yesterday, we had asked about Erin's eye pain and the PA told us that it was a typical side affect of the Cytarabine and that while it was uncomforable it was not anything that would harm her eyes or vision. He said to just keep taking the eye drops which should keep the pain to a minimum until the chemo affects subside. So that is a praise!
Well that's about it for now. As always, thanks for all the continued prayer support.
Blessings...... Bill
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." - 2 Peter 3:18
Wednesday - Reposted
Hi Guys....Bill here,
Sorry for not posting yesterday....I was supposed to do the update and I forgot! Erin is still doing very well. We are on day 16 (from the start of this round of chemo) which is well into the normal stage where she starts feeling bad and no signs of the usual side affects! Hallelujah!! We went to the clinic to get labs and see the PA this afternoon. For your scorecards, her WBC is still <0.3, platelets are 19, H&H is 29.5%, and Neutrophil is 16%. In other words her immune system is still bottomed out. The PA went ahead and scheduled Erin for a bone marrow biopsy on July 23rd which will be the last one that is part of the chemo protocol. Not positive what the routine will be after that but we think it will start out with monthly clinic visits to get labs drawn and if all goes well gradually taper down to quarterly visits.
Well, other than that, we have been playing a lot of "Skip-Bo" this week for entertainment. Laura and Erin have been playing non-stop marathon rounds dragging in anyone and everyone they can along the way.
Hope you all are having a blessed week and thanks for hanging with us! We count you all in our blessings every day!!
Bill
"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. " - Psalms 84:12
Sorry for not posting yesterday....I was supposed to do the update and I forgot! Erin is still doing very well. We are on day 16 (from the start of this round of chemo) which is well into the normal stage where she starts feeling bad and no signs of the usual side affects! Hallelujah!! We went to the clinic to get labs and see the PA this afternoon. For your scorecards, her WBC is still <0.3, platelets are 19, H&H is 29.5%, and Neutrophil is 16%. In other words her immune system is still bottomed out. The PA went ahead and scheduled Erin for a bone marrow biopsy on July 23rd which will be the last one that is part of the chemo protocol. Not positive what the routine will be after that but we think it will start out with monthly clinic visits to get labs drawn and if all goes well gradually taper down to quarterly visits.
Well, other than that, we have been playing a lot of "Skip-Bo" this week for entertainment. Laura and Erin have been playing non-stop marathon rounds dragging in anyone and everyone they can along the way.
Hope you all are having a blessed week and thanks for hanging with us! We count you all in our blessings every day!!
Bill
"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. " - Psalms 84:12
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday
Hi Guys....Bill here,
Sorry for not posting yesterday....I was supposed to do the update and I forgot! Erin is still doing very well. We are on day 16 (from the start of this round of chemo) which is well into the normal stage where she starts feeling bad and no signs of the usual side affects! Hallelujah!! We went to the clinic to get labs and see the PA this afternoon. For your scorecards, her WBC is still <0.3,>. Not positive what the routine will be after that but we think it will start out with monthly clinic visits to get labs drawn and if all goes well gradually taper down to quarterly visits.
Well, other than that, we have been playing a lot of "Skip-Bo" this week for entertainment. Laura and Erin have been playing non-stop marathon rounds dragging in anyone and everyone they can along the way.
Hope you all are having a blessed week and thanks for hanging with us! We count you all in our blessings every day!!
Bill
"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. " - Psalms 84:12
Sorry for not posting yesterday....I was supposed to do the update and I forgot! Erin is still doing very well. We are on day 16 (from the start of this round of chemo) which is well into the normal stage where she starts feeling bad and no signs of the usual side affects! Hallelujah!! We went to the clinic to get labs and see the PA this afternoon. For your scorecards, her WBC is still <0.3,>. Not positive what the routine will be after that but we think it will start out with monthly clinic visits to get labs drawn and if all goes well gradually taper down to quarterly visits.
Well, other than that, we have been playing a lot of "Skip-Bo" this week for entertainment. Laura and Erin have been playing non-stop marathon rounds dragging in anyone and everyone they can along the way.
Hope you all are having a blessed week and thanks for hanging with us! We count you all in our blessings every day!!
Bill
"O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. " - Psalms 84:12
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tues 7/8
Dear bloggers, Thanks for all your sweet comments. Erin is doing well today. She says her eyes feel better than they have in days. Praise God once again for His tender care. And thank you for your prayers concerning her eyes. Please keep her platelets and other numbers in your prayers for tomorrow. We are so happy to report that Erin hasn't suffered from her low numbers like she has in the past. No significant bone pain, no nausea, no hives, no stomach pain or mouth sores. She does have fatigue but not as bad as previous rounds. That is a long list of praises!! So clearly God is working overtime to pave the way to recovery. Isn't he something? Thanks again for interceding on Erin's behalf. One day at a time Sweet Jesus! love, janet
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thankgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Timothy 2:1-2
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thankgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Timothy 2:1-2