SWEET DREAMS

Terry was eating like a horse today and feeling a little stronger. His White blood count was .46, his Red blood count was 20.3 and Platelets were 11,000. For our nurse and doctor friends, this will mean something to you. All I know is that Terry's nurse said the Red blood count and Platelets were in the good range. I do know that the White blood count is still extremely low which is what they wanted but it means that his immune system is still extremely low too. Remember, normal is 4,000 to 10,000. Alyce said they did not start his chemo back until about 5pm tonight. They gave him a steroid, an antibiotic, "Big Red", and then the 24/7 chemo drip. He will be on this for 3 days. They also gave him something for nausea that makes you very sleepy because he was trying to stay awake at about 6:15 tonight when I was talking to Alyce, but his eyes just wouldn't stay open. Sweet dreams little brother. God has his angels watching over you, and many prayers are being said on your behalf. We are very encouraged over last night's good news but we still have a few weeks of treatment to go. Thank you all for your comments posted to each blog. I am printing them and will take them to Terry. -----Karen

PRAISE THE LORD for GOOD NEWS

Doctor Yeilding came by late today and gave Terry the anticipated news. He said he is 98% positive it is GONE!! To be on the safe side though, he wants to begin another 24/7 chemo drip for the next 72 hours. Terry will also be getting "Big Red" on Wednesday and Thursday. We are not sure how much longer he will remain in the hospital. Please remember that his immune system is extremely low so still no visitors until we get the "OK." We definitely believe that it was the Power of Prayer that resulted in this wonderful news!!! Thank you to each one of you who has been faithful to pray for Terry. Please don't stop praying yet. We give God ALL the glory for his amazing love and ability to heal. He is Awesome!! We are excited and jumping for JOY!! I will continue to keep you updated. Love and thanks to All of you from Terry, Alyce, John, Kristina and the entire family.

Bone Marrow Test

Well Terry had the Bone Marrow Test this morning and said "it was a piece of cake." It was not nearly as painful as he had thought it would be. He is still feeling pretty good and in good spirits thanks to the encouragement of all his family and friends. We know your prayers are being heard. Cards can be sent to Carraway Hospital, Room 653, 1600 Carraway Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35234. The picture is not very clear, it is John with his guitar and Terry looking on. It was made Sunday with my cellphone. Love to all from Terry.-----Karen

Who Is That Masked Man

I wanted to share another picture of Terry from Saturday when he had a few minutes of freedom from the IV tubes. He was hooked back up all day today but still feeling pretty good. He and John were jammin' a little today. John was pickin' but I couldn't tell if he was grinnin' under his mask or not. Seriously, Terry and John were making some great music together. Another one of Terry's passions and he has passed it on to John. I took Mom over for a little while to see her baby (Terry). It is hard to see your baby and not get to hug and kiss him but I explained the rules before we went. His white cell count was .35 today. Remember to pray for Terry tomorrow as they will be doing the bone marrow test. We still don't know what time or exactly when we will have some results. I will post a message tomorrow night to let you know any news. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Wishin' He Was Fishin'

This is a picture of Terry with his reel in one hand and the lure in the other. You know what he would like to be doing and it is definitely not lying in a hospital bed. Except for some bad indigestion he was feeling pretty good today. He doesn't have much of an appetite though. The nurse even disconnected his IV long enough for him to get a shower without rolling the pole in with him. He even walked down the hall and back. It was sooooo good to get to see him walking down the hallway toward me but when he instinctively started to hug me, I wouldn't let him. I do not want to risk transferring any germs to my baby brother. I wore my mask the entire time and he had one on too when he was out of his room. We feel your prayers, please keep them up. Terry is a partner at SCS and they are planning a blood drive on Friday, Feb. 16th, 7am to 5pm in his honor. If you are interested in learning more, go to www.givelife.org Once there, use the Site Code: terrydavidson All donors will receive an American Red Cross t-shirt. I prayed for God to bless each one of you who reads this message. You are a blessing to all of us. -----Karen

LETTER FROM TERRY

Well, some of you have asked us what type leukemia Terry has and it is Acute Myelogenous Leukemia and because most of us can't pronounce it, it is also called AML. Well, I have a treat for you tonight, Terry wrote you all a letter. Kristina sent it to me today. "Hope everybody is doing fine. I'm doing great! Don't worry about me, I'll be out soon. I'm way too mean to let this get me down. Thanks for all your prayers. Keep on fishing! Love, Terry" All of you who know Terry know that he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Here is the update: His white blood cell count was .38 today and they gave him 2 bags of Platelets today. Also after the bag of chemo finished, they cleaned the port and temporarily closed it until after Monday. They had him pretty sedated during most of this. On Monday they will do a Bone Marrow test and we have been told it will take 48 to 72 hours to get the results. That is when we will know what effect the 1st week of chemo has had and how progressive the disease has developed. We want everyone to pray really hard this weekend that the results of the test will be good. Kristina and John don't miss a day at the hospital but their Momma and Daddy are making them continue their college classes and studies. Alyce is there every day from early to late to be a constant source of love and moral support. On the days Terry feels good the "NO VISITORS" is hard to enforce but it MUST be. He has NO immune system to fight off infections right now. The nurse practitioner told Terry and Alyce today that the good days he has had this week will not continue. He will probably have some really bad days ahead but your love and prayers will get him through. Don't forget you can send him an email at heytwd@yahoo.com and Kristina will print it off and take it to him. Also, I got his band's website that I have not even had time to check out yet. It is www.borderline6.5u.com You can also post comments on this blog. Oh, I hope to have a picture to post of Terry in his hospital gown soon. Front view I hope!! Well, all for now. Sleep well and don't forget to say your prayers. --- Karen

One Week Down, Five to Go

Well, I would be remiss to not thank you all for the many emails and outpouring of love and concern that you have shown for Terry and all our family. I had lots of emails from our extended family in Tuscaloosa last night and I told them all that even though we do not see each other very often we can still feel the bond of love that is never broken by time or distance. Terry is from a huge extended family and we have lots of kissin' cousins. Thanks for your support and prayers. He had another good day today and ate better too. He loves tomato soup and ate that and some ravioli for lunch. His white blood cell count was slightly down again to .05. This is about where the doctor figured it would be. Within the next couple of days they will be testing his bone marrow. We don't know what they expect to find but just be praying that the results will be encouraging. He has his rod & reel in his hospital room just so he doesn't forget the feel of casting for a big bass. Next to his family, fishing and music are his loves. Keep praying!!

Good Report!

Alyce reports that Terry had a good Tuesday night. He got up this morning, had a shower and shampoo and was feeling better. The doctor came by and reported that his white cell count is now .06. We just talked to Kristina and she said Terry is currently devouring some Tomato soup and some cobbler for dessert. His nausea from yesterday has subsided! We understand that Laurie Pitts has established an e-mail address for anyone to e-mail Terry. She will print them out and take them to Alyce for sharing with him. That address is heytwd@yahoo.com . If you experienced trouble accessing the blog, just try www.terrydavidson.blogspot.com We are going to try to make this site available also for your comments. Again, thanks so much for your interest, your genuine concern, and your prayers!

Terry Davidson's Health Update

Today is 1/23/07 and for some of you who do not know the background of how this all transpired, I will try to catch you up.

Terry had been feeling badly for about a month and for the last 2 weeks had not worked but 1 or 2 days. (if you know Terry, this is NOT like him) He had no energy and thought he might be coming down with the flu. He had lifted something and thought he had pulled something in his back because the pain in his back had become so severe that he could not get comfortable even to sleep. At Alyce's urging, he went to the doctor and they did some bloodwork. Meantime, he also went to an orthopedic doctor for his back. When the blood tests came back, the doctor called and wanted him to see a Hematologist. The appointment at the Hematologist/Oncologist was on Wednesday, 1/17/07. The doctor wanted to do more blood tests and have him return the next day but did tell him they thought it was Leukemia. On Thursday, 1/18/07, Terry and Alyce got the devastating news. It was Acute Leukemia. For those of you who are clueless about this disease, there is Chronic and Acute Leukemia. Acute is the more agressive. It is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. Terry's white count was 98,000 and normal is between 4,000 and 10,000.

Terry's doctor is Dr. Allen Yeilding. He wanted to begin agressive chemotherapy treatment immediately. He practices at UAB and Carraway and they chose Carraway. He is in Room 653.

After entering the hospital that Thursday afternoon, there were 38 friends, co-workers and family who came by to express their love and support for Terry and his family. He had numerous phone calls from people wanting to let him know that they were concerned and praying for him. I can say without a doubt that the highlight of the night was when our longtime friend, Dr. Frank Sutton, sat on Terry's bed and asked us all to hold the hand of the person next to us and he prayed for him and his healing. Even when the phone began ringing, he was not distracted from his plea for God's intervention. There was not a dry eye in the room but there was also a calming effect that came upon us all.

On Friday, 1/19/07, Terry's white count had peaked at 163,000. They took him to surgery at 7am to insert a Hickman Port into his neck to begin the chemo treatment. They had already started him on an IV and breathing treatments. They began "Big Red" right after lunch. It is in a large syringe that the nurse administers. He is also on a constant drip of another chemo drug which he gets 24/7. The "Big Red" is given 3 days then off for 7 days and then back for 3 more days.

He had a bad night Friday night and Saturday. His temperature was elevated and he was coughing up blood. They put him on oxygen for awhile. They gave him 3 bags of antibiotic and he was feeling much better Saturday evening and Sunday. His white count had come back down to 98,000 and then to 27,000. Monday morning, 1/22/07, he had to have a pint of blood. His white count had come down to 2.8. That catches us up to today. The doctor came by and said he has a spot of pneumonia on his lungs and they will watch it closely. We were hoping that he would not get any infections since his immune system is so low. Needless to say, he cannot have any visitors. His current white count is 1.04.

I am Terry's sister, Karen Bradshaw, and my husband Rick and I wanted to do something to help and decided that this update for all his MANY friends to read would be the best thing we could do for now. We know how much everyone loves and misses Terry but PLEASE NO VISITORS. Please shower him with cards. He will be in the hospital for 6 weeks on the chemo and then will have a recovery period after that.

We urge you to pray fervently and have him put on all church prayer lists that you can. Terry, Alyce, John and Kristina send their love and appreciation to all of you. Please check into this Blog to get daily updates.