Sunday at the clinic

Hello and thanks for the free time suggestions. Sounds like fun. We had a clinic appt today and I am so glad we did. Erin was feeling short of breath and tired, pounding headache and pale last night and this a.m., which means she needed blood. Two units later and she feels so much better. It is amazing how quickly that helps. Her platelets were up on their own a bit from 31 to 40 and her white count crept up to 0.6. Every little bit helps. So, she isn't climbing fast, but it is a start. Our next appt is Tues for labs. Until then, a few movies, some card games and rest. Thanks for checking in. Thanks bunches to those of you able to give blood this morning at church. We love you for helping us with prayers!! God is infinitely pleased to hear from you! Blessings, janet

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer..."
1 Peter 3:12

saturday

Hello Prayer Warriors, We are so thankful for you all. Yeah for more map stickers in Asia! Thanks Amy. Erin is doing well this morning. Last night she got nauseous and couldn't take her nighttime bucket of pills. That's probably why she feels o.k. this morning. Sometimes you just have to say no. Bill, Amanda, Laura and I went to clean out Erin's room at school. We have never seen so many pens and paper clips in our lives. Erin was so sad that we had to move all that stuff out. She really wants to be able to go back to teaching this year, but the Dr said no. As a matter of fact the Dr said we have to treat Erin like a newborn baby when she has her transplant. She can't be exposed to anything until she is reimmunized 6 months after the transplant. She will have to have all the "childhood immunizations" all over again. Anyway, lots to learn. We are eternally grateful for your company on this journey and blessed by your love, janet

Not sure this scripture matches the note today but I couldn't get it out of my head, so here goes:

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Matthew 18: 3-5

clinic day

Bless you Prayer Warriors for keeping that pager buzzing. We feel your prayers every day. We just got back from the clinic and the big orientation meeting with our transplant Dr. She was very thorough in her explanations and patient with our questions. We are set to go as soon as Erin's numbers come back up to normal. Her counts were a little further down today, we will recheck on Sunday. This waiting game is hard. As soon as her counts are up, they will do another biopsy to check on the leukemia. If it is gone or nearly all gone, they will start the transplant chemo. On the transplant day, they retrieve the cells from the donor and transport them directly to Emory. She will receive them on the same day they are collected unless they are from a donor overseas. The next 3 weeks are the miserable period of time in the hospital. Please pray for easy side effects at that time. After she starts to recover from that, we will be watching for graft vs. host disease. That could last from 3 months up to 3 years until her donor cells and her body come to a truce. It is all quite scary but we will just take it one day at a time. That is probably more info than anyone wanted but we want you all to know how to pray. Blessings on you for your faithful concern and prayers!! love, janet

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

A good day for movies

Thanks for all the prayers. Davis informed Erin last night that someone in Uganda is praying for her. We will get the world map back out and put a star there. Thanks Davis. We will take all the prayers we can get. We need to keep God's hot line busy 24/7. Erin feels well today, so far, praise the Lord. Hoping tomorrows numbers will be up. I know she would like to get out of the house a little before we go in for the long haul. We are supposed to meet with the transplant Dr. tomorrow and get details. We are anxious to get this process started. The sooner the better. Please continue to pray for our donor. I know this must be a little scarey for him/her as well. We have a huge praise that we didn't even know we should be praying about. Bill's company was having lay-offs today and Bill did not get laid off. Wow, God is so good. He is covering all the details around us. Can you imagine how many things He takes care of that we don't even know about every day?? Glory! love, janet

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34

Friend Day

Thanks for the prayers dear friends. We are so blessed by your thoughtfulness and faith. Erin seems fine today and is currently playing cards with her friends. Yeah for friends who can play in the middle of the week. Last night she didn't feel too good and added to Bill's incredible throw up stories. If you know Bill, he is always full of great stories of people throwing up. Andrew Cioffi at Glisson for instance, sorry Brent! Anyway, poor Erin. But she did get the giggles afterward, so it wasn't all bad. Unfortunately, today is the day Erin's hair decided to give up hanging in there. So Laura cut most of Erin's hair off. Let's just say, we told Laura not to quit college!! Thank the good Lord it happened on "friend day" so she hasn't spent too much time thinking about it. God is good and His timing IS PERFECT!! Blessings, janet

"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

Clinic Day

Hello Prayer Warriors,
Thank you so much for the prayers!! Erin had been feeling good the last couple of days and then last night she started feeling dizzy and weak. We just figured she needed blood products today. When we go to the clinic she was feeling so bad, they rushed her back to a recliner to draw her labs. When the results came back, there didn't seem to be a need for blood. Isn't that cool how God just fulfills our needs before we even know we need something? Anyway, they gave Erin some IV fluids since she was symptomatic and she felt better quickly.
When we got home, the cable guy was here fulfilling Erin's dream. We got "real" cable instead of the $10/month kind. She figured that if she was going to be housebound for a year, she would need more "serious" entertainment. All in all a good day. Thanks for your continued prayers. We go back to the clinic on Fri to meet with the transplant Doc to get more details on timing etc. Praising God for people who devote their lives to helping others fight cancer!! love, janet

"May my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word. May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me." Psalm 119:169-175

Good Monday

Today is a good monday. Erin is feeling well and we are praising God for that. We go to the clinic tomorrow for labs and a Dr visit. Hopefully she won't need any blood products since she is feeling well. Thanks for checking in, I am so glad I don't have anything to report. We are thankful for some "down time" as we just wait for the next thing we have to do.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14