Today’s the Day

Well today is the big day for Laura, and the rest of us.  We are going in the hospital at 11am and Laura will receive her bone marrow sometime from 12pm on.  We’re not sure of the exact time.  The doctor said it would take around 2 hours to receive the bone marrow and then Laura needs to stick around for another 2 hours as they monitor how she’s doing.  Your prayers would be greatly appreciated today.

Laura got up and said that today was her last day of having cancer.  That kind of threw me for a loop because it seems like the norm living with cancer now.  But I thought, “She’s right.  This could be the last day of her having cancer.”  Amazing to think this way but awesome also!  Thank you all for your faithfulness at supporting us in so many ways.  A couple of friends sent some checks this week and this helps out tremendously.  Thank you for your incredible generosity during very challenging times.  It really makes me think of those going through cancer who don’t have a good support system.  I don’t know how they do it.

Love,

Brad

A Big Day Tomorrow for . . .

Our donor!  Yes, tomorrow Laura’s donor goes in for his surgery.  We would like to ask you to pray for him.  He will unfortunately have to be sedated and they will puncture his hip bone around 20 times.  They will keep him overnight in the hospital for observation as well.  We are so overwhelmed that someone who has never met us would go through the pain and sacrifice his time and health for Laura.  So we ask for you to pray with us that God would bless him and that all will go well for him at the hospital.

Many of you have asked if we are able to have contact with our donor.  Last week, a staff person with the bone marrow center came in and shared with us that we ARE able to have contact with him.  Initially we cannot divulge any personal information like our names or where we live.  He said we could write as many cards and notes to him as we want.  After a year, then we can determine if he is willing to meet with us in person.  If he is open and we are, then we can arrange to meet.  We were thrilled to hear this and hope that this day will come in the future.

Some of you asked about specific gas stations close to us as well as any fast food restaurants.  The gas stations closest to us include Citgo, Shell, BP and Marathon.  Fast food places we go to include Subway, Arby’s and Wendy’s.  Thanks so much for your generosity.

Today was another one of those days for me where I’m amazed that life doesn’t stop just because Laura has leukemia.  Our air conditioning blew out so we have to have this repaired.  Tonight in particular while I was with Noah at soccer practice, Micah’s power strip in his room blew up and shot sparks everywhere apparently.  All of the sockets in his room are not working at this point but I believe the breaker is only tripped so we’ll deal with that tomorrow.  But we may have lost a computer and a DS so that is yet to be seen.  I’ve had my own problems with tendinitis and have had severe pain in my left arm for a couple of weeks.  Isn’t it amazing how life doesn’t stop because you’re having a difficult time?  I just have to laugh and say ‘oh well, what can you do?’  You know that’s amazing progress for those of you who know me well, the Griping Champion of North America.

Well, I need to get some much needed rest.  Micah has to be up at 6:15am to get to school by 7am for a field trip.  Laura has to be at the hospital at 7am.  This will be her last day of preparatory work before the bone marrow transplant on Wednesday.

We did hear today that the bone marrow is supposed to arrive on a flight at 9am.  They will bring the bone marrow to the hospital and process it.  Bone marrow comes with red blood cells but when the donor’s blood is a different type than the recipient, then the red blood cells need to be removed from the marrow.  So that process takes a few hours.  Laura’s supposed to receive it sometime in the afternoon on Wednesday.  As always, your faithful prayers are especially needed during these nerve-racking days.

Love,

Brad

A Rough Day

Today was a tough day for Laura.  She is receiving thymoglobulin as well as cytoxin.  The cytoxin makes her feel nauseas.  They give her anti-nausea medicine but I think they are giving her such high doses that she still feels sick.  She has felt discouraged as well, as any of us would feeling lousy most of the time.  Please pray for encouragement for her.

After I spent the morning with Laura, I took Noah to a soccer game and then picked Micah up from a friend’s house.  By the time I returned home, I was completely exhausted physically and emotionally.  I had to bail out of church because I was so wiped.  All I could think of doing was crying.  I went to the store instead and walked like a zombie through the store.  I think I paid for my groceries but I’m not sure. 

I know many of you have asked what you can do to help us out.  Many of you have felt helpless and don’t know what to do.  You have all been such an encouragement and I apologize for not always knowing what to ask for help in.  However, I do have some requests for help.  I’ve been apprehensive about asking for it but a friend I met with for breakfast recently (who has also battled cancer for a couple of years) encouraged me to do what he did.  So I’m following his advice.  We have been driving non-stop to the hospital/doctor’s office/infusion-center/everywhere, you name it.  We have been on the road constantly every day and the gas prices are definitely accumulating.  Gas cards would be very helpful during this season of time.  As long as Laura is doing this outpatient, we go to the hospital every day.  And when she is in the hospital, I’ll be driving there each day to see her.  This will probably go on for at least 2 months straight.  So gas cards would be of tremendous help.  I tried to look on one gas station website and couldn’t figure out how to purchase a gas card so I’ll leave that up to you.

Also, and this is what I’m embarrassed to ask about, but my friend admonished me to ask without shame.  So here goes.  I would love to receive some more Starbucks cards.  So many of you have blessed us with them and they are awesome!  I finally ran out this week and could use a boost.  There is a Starbucks across the street from the hospital (PRAISE GOD!!!) so this would be a great encouragement, especially for those arrival times of 5:30am and 7am.

Thanks so much for all the ways many of you have helped already.  I appreciate you always encouraging me to never feel embarrassed about asking for specifics.  Please pray for us as the days are getting rough now.

Love,

Brad

New Drugs Today

Laura and I are getting ready to head to the hospital.  We have to be there at 7am this morning.  We’ll spend most of the day there today.  The schedule is the same tomorrow and Tuesday as well.  I don’t remember all the names for this drug.  I just remember they said one name is ATG so that’s what I will call it today.  Laura could react to this drug a little they said.  She could get a fever with this one and have other symptoms.  If she gets a fever, then they’ll hospitalize her.  She is starting to feel sad and a little scared again so your prayers for strength and encouragement emotionally would be great.  Thank you as always for your faithful support and encouragement.  We couldn’t do this without all of you.

Love,

Brad

Encouraging Poster

Today Laura had her second round of chemo.  She went in at 4:30pm and returned at 9:05pm.  Prior to this time, Laura had a great day looking at flowers at the IMA and having lunch with her mom.  Yes, can you believe she was outside today?  The doctor said she probably wouldn’t feel too bad this week because the first chemo drug she receives doesn’t kick in until around 10-12 days so we are grateful for every day that Laura feels well.

When we were in the hospital yesterday, the room we were in had a small poster with these words on it.  We were encouraged by it and wanted to share it with you.

WHAT CANCER CANNOT DO

It cannot cripple love

It cannot shatter hope

It cannot corrode faith

It cannot destroy peace

It cannot kill friendship

It cannot suppress memories

It cannot silence courage

It cannot invade the soul

It cannot steal eternal life

It cannot conquer the Spirit

Knowing what it does do can be overwhelming but it was awesome to see that cancer cannot destroy these things listed.  In many ways, this is the true for many of the problems we go through so that’s one of the reasons we wanted to share this with you.  Whatever you are going through, this is what your problems cannot do.

Peace,

Brad

And So It Begins

Today Laura had a physical at the hospital and everything turned out great.  The doctor is pleased with Laura and is ready to begin tomorrow morning.  Laura and I feel so encouraged by even how our doctor talks about the whole process.  No matter what issues may arise, he speaks in a way that makes the transplant process seem routine and manageable.  We feel like we can go to sleep tonight and rest well with no anxieties.  We are very grateful.

Tomorrow Laura will be in the hospital from 5:30am to 2pm.  She will have four blood draws during that time period to check her blood levels after her first dose of chemo.  Her samples will be flown to a major bone marrow transplant center in Seattle.  They will determine if any adjustments need to be made in the amount of chemo Laura receives.  Then they will call us Thursday afternoon and let us know when we go in for our next treatment.  Laura will receive chemo every day until next Wednesday when she receives the bone marrow.  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be all day treatments.

The doctor explained how the process would look more clearly today.  Apparently the dose of chemo Laura receives for the first few days (Busulfan) will not have it’s impact for approximately 10-12 days.  So Laura won’t be feeling her worst until around day 12 from tomorrow.  It’s a slow working chemo.  Then she will have very low blood counts for only 5-9 days.  This is when she will be at risk most.  So you can pray that while she is receiving chemo, before she feels her worst, that she can be encouraged and prepared for those icky days.  Pray for strength for the boys and I.  Pray also for our former housemate Kyle who will be moving back in this week to help us out while we go through the rougher part of the bone marrow transplant.  We are so grateful for Kyle and praise God for how He has blessed us with such great friends and family.

For a little bit of humor, we were laughing today at a sign that was posted at the elevator door entrances. (You know you need to keep laughing at life when you’re going through long periods of feeling lousy.) The sign specified that footwear must be worn at all times in the hospital facility.  Funny how we haven’t seen this sign placed at any other hospital.  We were imagining the hospital (resort) at Carmel having signs by the elevators stating that cosmetics must be worn at all times.  Okay, that was my sick mind thinking these things.  Don’t think Laura is as messed up as I am.  I just thought this was funny.

Thank you as always for your faithful prayer support and love.  Many of you have sent e-mails and called reminding us that you are thinking of us especially during these next couple of weeks.  Thank you so much!

Love,

Brad (for Laura and the boys too)

It’s Been A While

Hello all!  Laura and I realized that when she is feeling pretty good we write less.  We’ve realized from the last couple of days that many are not up-to-date on the changes that have taken place.  Some have given feedback contacting us today thinking Laura started her chemo today.  She actually will not start chemo until Wednesday morning.  The donor’s bone marrow has to be flown to Indy here so there was a plane flight schedule glitch that required us to change the time.  So Laura will start her chemo at the bright and early hour of 5:30am this Wednesday.  She’ll receive chemo for 6 days, get a one day break and then receive the bone marrow on Wednesday, April 30.

Tomorrow Laura goes into the hospital to get a physical to check out and make sure everything is a go to begin treatment.  We so appreciate all of the people who came to the three different prayer times this past weekend to pray for us as we begin this new leg of the journey.  Laura is in good spirits and is going to enjoy her last day tomorrow before she starts treatment.  I’m feeling really worn out so you can pray for strength and energy emotionally and physically for me.  I’m at one of those places where people ask how they can help me and my brain just freezes.  So if I give you a blank stare, you’ll know what’s going on inside of me. :)  Confusion!

Laura will write more tomorrow.  I just wanted to give you a quick update so you don’t feel out of touch with the changes.

Peace,

Brad

Date Update

I am starting the transplant chemotherapy on Monday, April 21 and will get the marrow from the donor on Monday, April 28th. I will be having a bone marrow biopsy this coming Monday (April 14). It should only take about 15 minutes, and I opted for sedation. We’ll see how that goes.

I am so VERY thankful for this selfless person who has agreed to donate marrow to me. It is an amazing miracle that someone would do this for a person they do not know.

I should get pretty sick after that, but the doctors are letting me do as much as I can outpatient. I will have to be admitted if there are any fevers or other complications. Thanks for those of you who have offered to come give Brad a break. It mostly involves just being available to take me to the hospital for my daily appointment or drive me to the hospital if anything goes wrong. The doctor said that people who are with me need to know if I am acting strangely. Mmmmm. Laura acting strangely? I will probably just be sitting on the couch. We shall see.

Laura

Beginning the Transplant

It has been a long week of traveling to Carmel for infusions of antibiotics. It turns out that my insurance wouldn’t pay for me to give myself the antibiotics, so I am traveling north every morning to have the nurses give me my drugs. I wasn’t able to go out anywhere in crowds this week, because my white counts were low again. Thanks so much to the everyone who stopped by this week to see me! I love visitors. It can get pretty lonely being in the house all the time.

Tomorrow I will be going to the Indiana Blood and Marrow Transplantation center in Beech Grove at St. Francis Hospital. This is in the southeast part of Indianapolis. I will be having all of my pre-transplant testing. There are quite a few tests that I have, including ones for my heart, lungs, kidneys and blood. The information that I was given said that I might also have a bone marrow biopsy. I am a little nervous about that. I have already had three of them, but my oncologist, who did the other ones, took the bone marrow out of my sternum. It didn’t hurt very much, and I have been told that it is more painful out of the hip. That is the way that they used to get marrow out of donors for transplants, so I guess I can survive it. I am thankful that my donor won’t have to have that done.

If everything goes well and the donor passes his tests (to make sure he is healthy), I should start the chemotherapy the next week (April 14). This is 3 -6 times stronger than what I have had before so as to completely wipe out my own defective bone marrow. My transplant doctor said that most of this can be done on an outpatient basis. I will need to have a caregiver around the clock for the time that I am going through the transplant process. I am going to ask tomorrow how many days that will be. Much of the physically difficult time should pass after 60 days. It all depends on how my body responds. I am hoping that some friends are willing to come over during that time and give Brad a break.

I will try to keep everyone informed as we move forward with this process. Thanks for being a support to our family during this difficult time. It is hard to believe that it has been 5 months already. I am praying that this transplant gives me the opportunity to get back to some of the things that I love to do, especially  working at school and cooking.

Love to all,

Laura

Needing Another Boost

Laura hasn’t been feeling well today.  Her blood test results showed her white blood cells dropped significantly from this weekend so this was discouraging to her and also keeps her from feeling well.  This means she’s neutropenic again and can’t be around people or get out like she had hoped for spring break.  Please pray her white blood cell counts would go up and that God would encourage her in the midst of her disappointments this week.

About 15 minutes ago I heard two gun shots just behind our back yard fence.  When I went out to get some milk from the corner convenience shop, the street was completely blocked off with police cars.  Yet another adventure in our neighborhood.  I’m always reminded of the painful realities of life outside of our home at the same time we wrestle with physical health issues and emotional roller-coasters.  While we struggle, others face different kinds of battles that are equally painful if not worse.  We never feel alone in our pain.  We know that this pain is a reality of life.

I think of how going through this time in our lives connects us with a new population of people we’ve never personally been able to connect with before.  A number of people struggling with poverty and homelessness that come to our church  have really connected with me in recent days.  Last Sunday evening, three people came up for prayer and they all were individuals battling poverty and one man battling addiction.  After I prayed for the man who’s battling drug addiction, he shared how he was encouraged to keep fighting overcoming his battle because he knows Laura is going through something worse; at least that’s how he sees it.  Even when Laura is helpless, unable to do much, God is still using her to encourage others.  I’m amazed at how real God has felt to me during these days of trial.

Thank you as always for walking with us, praying for us and encouraging us in so many ways.  We love you all!

Brad