Estate Sale at Ruth's(Granny's)

We wanted all of the family to know we are having an estate sale this weekend at Ruth's house.(5371 Heritage Lane Irondale, AL 35201) We all have gotten everything we wanted and what Ruth wanted us to have out of the house. Karen will be there Friday afternoon(after 1 pm) if any family members want to come before the sale starts on Saturday(9am-3pm) and Sunday (1pm-3pm). You should call Karen though if you want to come by on Friday (951-4055.) There is a very nice lady named Ms. Nance that will be moving in it soon. She loved the colors Ruth had used and I think this is a blessing in disquise. Ruth weighed 91 pounds Monday when Karen went up there to help her eat her dinner. She said she was in good spirits and very talkative and ate pretty good for her. We love her so much and hate to see her this way! Please do not discuss this with Ruth if you go to see her! It will only upset her and she would be very confused! We love all of you! Alyce

ESTATE SALE

Hi Everyone, this is Karen. I just wanted to let you know that God is still working in our lives. About 4 weeks ago, I got a call from one of Mom's neighbors asking if we were going to sell her house. She said she had a friend whose Mom was looking for something in this area. I had not really wanted to think about that because I was just not sure I could handle it. Everything was still exactly as Mom had left it when she got so sick last May. I was still paying all the utilities, etc. I guess still hoping that she would get better and could come home. Unfortunately, she has continued to decline. Her dementia is getting worse and she has not walked in 8 or 9 months. She only weighs 91 pounds and has to be fed and everything done for her. The people at the Village at Cook Springs are very good to her. Anyways, my brothers and I decided that with the housing market as slow as it is we should at least show it to this lady. We hid stuff in drawers and underbeds and in boxes and got it cleaned up and looking pretty. I showed it to her the next week and the next week she made an offer. We have a contract and it should close about the middle of April. We are getting a very good price and I just feel God sent this lady to me. The very same week, Rick aired up the tires in Mom's old car and drove it down to a body shop nearby to see if they had some part that was missing on the car. Three days later, we received a phone call from a man interested in buying the car. He heard about it at the body shop. We have sold a house and a car without even trying. Now if that is not God you will never convince me otherwise. Meanwhile, we have spent 3 of the last 4weekends going through a lifetime of our Mother's memories. We have all taken things that we wanted and are selling the rest. A couple from my church are doing an Estate Sale for us this coming weekend. We have 5 or 6 rooms full of furniture, pictures, lamps, dishes, what-nots, clothes, tools and antique items. We will all be there some time to help work and we hope to see you ALL there. It will be 9am to 3pm on Saturday 3/29/08 and 1pm to 3pm on Sunday 3/30/08. The address is 5371 Heritage Lane, Irondale, AL 35210. My home ph# 205-951-3917 and cell # 205-249-7524. It is just off Hwy 78 East, near the I-20, Old Leeds Road exit. Follow the signs and PLEASE COME. Thank you for your continued moral support and prayers for Terry and Mom. Love, Karen

Promises! Promises!

He got out of the fluid IV today by promising Lidia(his NP)that he would drink lots of fluids, so next time you see him ask him if he's drinking!!! His heart rate was so high and pressure still low! I am surprised he got out of it, he's slick when he wants to be(with Lidia anyway) His liver counts were still about the same but still higher than they want so to take the iron deposits out of his body they took a pint of blood OUT of him. Yes, I said out of him. The nurse that did it had Kristina(she went with us today)help her open the BIG tubes that they used to pull his blood out of the IV. For some reason I got sick to my stomach watching it! Seen SO much and THAT made me sick! He got a little light headed so I got him some juice to drink. They think having so many blood transfusions(18 total)and Karen's stem cells has made his iron go higher than usual. His hemocrit was 13.8, it is not supposed to be over 10, so from now on they will take blood from him when it gets that high. When Dr. Vaughan was explaining it all I was thinking I was SO glad Kristina was in there to hear all this so she could explain it to us! The three of us went to The Fish Market to eat afterwards and he ate pretty good. He did gain 3/10's of a pound since last week. Dr. Vaughan asked us questions about his weight before leukemia and we told him he is a little under his normal weight and he thought that he is OK with it as long as he doesn't continue losing weight. I am now making him drink Ensure in the morning and at night. He is feeling good overall though! I don't think he even knew that his heart was beating so fast. We don't go back until April 1st, so hopefully nothing will happen until then. Love to all of you keeping up with us and kiss your loved ones daily! God Bless! Alyce and Terry

Liver Problems Again!

Do not know what is really causing the liver problems but they wanted me to look through the journal book we have kept since Terry was diagnosed and see how many blood transfusions he has had since the beginning in Carraway. The enzymes are back up a little and they are watching it closely. He had had 8 in UAB during the transplant. His blood pressure was low so they kept him all day to give fluids and then they took it after giving him a liter of fluids and it did not come up as much as they had hoped, but they made him promise he would drink alot of fluids and let us go about 3 pm. He is also very low on his vitamin D and gave us a presciption for him to take for the next 12 weeks. He asked if he could go fishing and get out in the sun, but we know what that answer was "NO NO NO!" The sun could cause more GVHD on his skin. He has also lost almost 7 pounds in two weeks. So due to the lack of appetite I will be making him milkshakes and drinking ensure again! I will have to measure the intake of food for three days before we go back and report how much food he is eating. Dr. Salzman seems to think maybe he has a slite case of GVHD in his esophagus and could be making it where it is hard to swallow his food. As you can tell there are alot of maybe's in his case. I think they see so many different people react to the different situations they are in and try to come up with answers and are really not sure, they just suggest what they think! Only God knows! I just can't help but think that God has a plan for us and it is SO much bigger than we ever know! We are in a different world now where people are so sick and some are not sure they will even make it through a transplant. We met a man that is 24 years old and has been battling CML(Chronic Leukemia) since he was 22. It has now turned into acute like Terry's. His sister is also a perfect match so we gave him encouragement today to have faith in God and do what the doctors said and excercise alot before the transplant. He seemed very strong! I hated to bring all this "wonderful" news to all of you, but all of you are our strength and we believe God is going to pull us through this! We love you! Alyce and Terry

GVHD Still There!

Well, did not get the news we wanted today but it could have been worse so we will deal with it! The (GVHD)graft vs host disease is still there but Dr. Parker said it had gotten better. He is leaving it up to the BMT doctors to decide exactly what to do about it. He suggested steroids by mouth and or go up on the cyclosporine(immune suppression med). His eyes are still dry and so is his mouth so when you see him you will see a bottle of water in his hand too! He said "Although it is a pain in the butt, it is better than having leukemia!" Amen to that! We have one more weekend to go through Ruth's house and try to decide where everything needs to go. Then an estate sale will be the next weekend and then we will have to move everything out! The new owner will take possession soon! Keep Terry in your prayers! We love all of you! Alyce and Terry

Moving On

Well, so many things are happening in our family! Karen had a lady decide she wants to buy Ruth's house and so we are having to get everything sorted and out within 3 more weeks. We spent all of this weekend seperating and pulling out everything so we can have a estate sale. We went to church at Heritage Place and it was so great to hear Rick preach and see everyone we have not seen in so long! Especially Dr. Sutton! He was SO great when all of this started with Terry and helped us understand what was going on in his body! Afterwards we went with Tara and Morgan to Milos and then to see Granny! She was in the dining room and Kristina sat down and helped feed her! She wanted all us to eat her food too! She was so funny! Then we took her outside to be in the beautiful sunshine! She seemed to like it alot! Then we went to her house and met everyone else and began cleaning out drawers while the others loaded up furniture to take to Karen's. We dare not tell Granny what is going on, first she wouldn't understand it and if she did, she would kill us! This will help with future bills for her in the nursing home! So if you go see her,please do not bring it up! My brother and his family has bought a new home and is moving in next weekend! But all of my family is leaving for L.A. to be gone all this week! I'll have it all by myself! We were supposed to go to the eye doctor Friday, but they called that morning and said he had the flu. So we did not go so Terry would not be exposed to it and we are supposed to go this Wednesday. But I will make sure the doctor is well before we go! His eyes are still dry and so is his mouth. We will know more after we see the eye doctor. He will be the one to say whether or not he still has the graft vs host disease! The BMT doctor seemed to think it was better! I will update more after Wednesday's appt. Thanks for hanging in here with us! Its been a long journey, but we are looking forward to May 26th(Terry's 2nd birthday)1 year from his transplant! Hugs and kisses to everyone! Alyce