Day +16/update

Hello Friends,

It's Bill here....Erin continues to experience abdominal pain and had a fitful night last night unable to find a comfortable position. They increased her basal rate for the pain med overnight but it does not seem to have helped much. She slept on and off through most of the day yesterday and struggled to get 2 laps in because the doctor had stressed the importance of getting up and moving around. We should hear results from the MRI and the X-ray of her abdomen today. We are just praying that they will indicate no major issues but provide clarity in what is required to alleviate Erin's pain. While she is getting nourishment through her line, she still has only been able to drink water and juice. She took one pill last night and threw up 15 minutes later. The good news is that her numbers look good. Her counts are all holding their own and the numbers associated with her liver and kidney functions are good. That is a great praise! Now if we could just figure out what is causing her pain.

Yesterday evening we were informed that the emergency room here at Emory had received a number of patients with Swine Flu and that they were implementing increased precautions on the transplant floor requiring masks and gowns for eveyone and limiting visitors to 2 persons in the room at a time. They also indicated that no students including high school or college were allowed to visit. This of course means Laura cannot be around Erin now and although they said teachers were okay, Amanda and Kyle are afraid of bringing anything in that might be contagious. Please pray for all those affected by this Flu and that it's spread can be contained.

At this point there's not much more to report. We'll update when we get further results from the doctor. In the meantime, thank you for the continued prayers and support!

"O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. "Selah" Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant." - Psalms 143: 1-12

Blessings,

Bill

Update, The results are in, there is no VOD or obstruction of any kind. Halleluia, lots of happy tears here. Thank you Lord!! There is some inflamation in her liver and gallbladder and lymph nodes but they said that it is drug related and will fix itself. The fluid shift she is experiencing with the ascites is common after transplant and will take time to balance out. All good news. Thanks for the extra prayers. We are humbled each day by the love and encouragement of the body of Christ. blessings, janet

Sunday Day 15

Good Morning Prayer Warriors, Thanks for the coverage. We have just seen the Dr and they don't have any answers on the MRI yet but they have ordered another x-ray of her abdomen. She has ascites and her liver enzymes are going up. They said her BUN is going down so that is good but they can't really say what is going on yet. So we are still praying it all goes away on it's own. Unfortunately, Erin is miserable. She hardly slept at all, she just kept changing positions and hitting her pain button. She has her big bag of IV food up and we have come up with many possible white foods it could contain...Lobster bisque, Fettucini Alfredo, Mashed Potatoes, Vanilla milkshake... Anyway, she doesn't act like Superman yet. They are giving her another liquid to drink that is supposed to help pull the fluid off of her abdomen. Thankfully, Erin is still so full of pain medicine she probably won't remember it. So here we are, waiting on pain relief, waiting on test results, waiting on a return to something close to normalcy. But we know God is working while we are waiting, just like Cindy said yesterday. One praise is that her WBC continues to climb, it is 4.8 today and her platelets are holding their own. Anyway, thanks for your prayers. This has probably been too much info again but I don't know what else to do. blessings, janet

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.'"Isaiah 35:3-4

Day +14

Good Morning Prayer Warriors, Thanks for all your prayers. We are in a bit of a low this morning. All the IV meds Erin has been taking were converted to pills yesterday and she has thrown them up twice. She also still has a lot of stomach pain so we are converting back to IVs and adding TPN, which is food, through her IV. She hasn;t eaten more than a bite of anything in 9-10 days. I am praying this will turn things around for her. Her GI system needs some rest, but her body needs food. They were hoping we would go home early this week but now I doubt it. Erin needs to be able to eat well and take pills before we go anywhere. She still has not had the MRI of her liver. It is to be done today but the results won't be in until Monday. Please pray for good results. VOD is a possiblilty we don't want to tangle with. She has been through enough and we want to avoid any other complications. On the positive side, her WBC is 4.4 today which means her donor cells are doing their thing!! Graft baby graft!! Also Erin walked 5 laps yesterday and has already done 3 laps today because Amanda forced her at 6 a.m. Go sis! We are thankful for Erin's progress and are eagerly anticipating more healing! So please help us out with some serious prayer time. We are overwhelmed. blessings, janet

"Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul." Psalm 86:1-4

Day +13

Hello Friends....it's Bill here,

Erin continued to do pretty well yesterday which is a huge praise! She was able to get a shower and walked 5 laps. The doctors reduced the basal rate (steady delivery) of her pain med by half yesterday and are wanting to continue to reduce it. They said they think the worst is over and if she can eat and swallow pills then she may be able to go home by middle of next week! That would be earlier than we were expecting and a huge blessing!! Her counts continue to climb and her WBC today is 2.8. She will be getting more platelets today as they continue to be low. The doctor ordered an ultrasound of Erin's liver which they did around 10:00 pm last night. It came back clear this morning but because Erin is still experiencing abdominal pain, they are scheduling an MRI today to get a better look. Evidently, it is not uncommon for chemo patients to develop a condition called VOD in the liver which is treatable but will normally clear itself up.

All in all, Erin is doing much better. The doctor gave her a goal of 7 laps today and she told him she planned to go for 10 laps. Her voice is getting stonger and her sense of humor is coming back as well. She had severe stomach pain about 4:00 a.m. this morning and required some additional pain med. This led to some interesting E.U.I. conversations and at one point she stood up and said she was going upstairs for something and I had to convince her to go back to bed (I think that may be something she inherited from me and is completely normal behavior!)

"Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard." - Isaiah 58:8

May God bless you and keep you in his steadfast care - Bill

Progress!! Day +12

Praising God this morning for yesterday's progress. Around 3:00 yesterday Erin got out of bed and said I want to play cards. Well O.K.!! She hadn't even sat in a chair in days. So we sat down at the table and she asked for water and took a swallow. Then she started crying with joy and said "Call Everybody!" Well we were truly celebrating...then she beat me at Gin Rummy! She also took some sips of chicken noodle soup and ate some canned sliced peaches. Can you believe that?? It was a miracle plain and simple. Thank you Lord!! WooHoo!! We had a nice visit after that from 2 Amandas and learned how to make Origami Lilies. How fun. Great Day!! We are hopeful that today will also be a day of Victories.

Erin seemed to sleep well. She got platelets at 4 a.m. but I don't think she needs blood today. She got both yesterday. She is getting her color back but she still has stomach pain. The decreased PCA was good for her obviously but she still needed her button occasionally. They just told us that her WBC is 2.4 today and her ANC is 1100 which is huge!! God is so faithful!!

Thank you again for all your prayers. We still have a long way to go and need your continued prayers. They are a true blessing to us. hugs, janet

"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary." Psalm 96:1-6

Day +11

Good Morning Prayer Warriors, WooHoo for Day 11!! Erin's WBC is 1.4 today which is more than double yesterday. Grafting is happening!! Thank you Lord!! Erin still has not swallowed anything but I am very hopeful for today. She walked 5 laps yesterday. It took all her willpower! She had a blue kind of day. I can't decide which med is causing that but I can't take it!! She has been so positive until now. But then again, if I missed 6 days of eating and drinking, I would be bummed too!! So please pray for her spirits to soar like her numbers are. They are cutting down her pain med some today so maybe she will be more alert and able to participate in her care. She really has slept 95% of the last 4 days. I think that is an answer to her prayer though. She told me she just wanted to wake up when it is all over. And I don't blame her. But today is a new day and we have healing to do, laps to walk, water to drink and grafting to happen. Praising God that His mercies are new every morning!! Thanks for the prayers. Please keep them up. blessings, janet

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." Psalm 63:1-5

Day +10

Good Morning Prayer Warriors, Hurray for day +10. As you may recall, the Dr said she would start feeling better on days 10-14. Erin is still asleep but I am so hopeful that she will feel a little better today. We had a BIG day yesterday. She actually walked a lap. I know it doesn't sound like much compared to 21 (a mile), but it is huge for her, as bad as she has been feeling. We really celebrated it. She did not throw up last night so that is another praise. Her WBC is 0.6 today which is another huge praise. That means her new cells are starting to provide the needed recovery. Her mouth and GI track should start to heal and then maybe she can swallow. Are you as excited as we are?? WooHoo, thank you Lord!! She is still very heavily medicated and delirious at times, but maybe she can wean off of some of that today. She sat up around 5 this morning and said she needed to go check on Charlie. He is one of the kids she babysits. So "Hi" out there to Charlie, Erin is thinking of you.
Thank you all for your prayers. You have really helped us keep our focus through all this. There has been a peace in my heart for the last week that can only be the Holy Spirit. I know that He is here in this room calming us and guarding our hearts against fear and despair. Only a loving God would do that. And I know your prayers helped sustain us in that peace. We love you for that. Please keep praying for Erin to heal like crazy! blessings, janet

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:4-7