Hanging In There

Wednesday was a hard day. Terry and Alyce met for over 3 hours with doctors from the UAB Bone Marrow Transplant unit. They were supposed to meet with Dr. Vaughan but instead saw a foreign doctor who was a bit hard to understand. He felt Terry needed to proceed pretty quickly with the BMT. He is scheduled for next Tuesday to have a number of preliminary tests and they would like to begin chemo at UAB by the middle of May with a tentative date of transplant on June 2nd. UAB called me and have emailed me numerous forms to complete and I am scheduled to meet with Dr. Vaughan this coming Monday. I will also be having blood tests, EKG and chest X-ray in preparation of being the Donor. If all goes as tentatively planned, I would begin daily shots at UAB on Monday, May 28th through May 31 and would have a catheter inserted in my neck. On June 1, I would be in the BMT unit where they would hook me to a machine that would process my blood, taking out the Stem cells and sending the rest back into my body. It would probably take 4 to 6 hours. Terry and I are both O-Positive blood type, but he was told that after the transplant, if I had a different type from him, he would then be that type. Even though preliminary tests have shown me to be a perfect match, if for some reason his body rejects my blood it could be fatal to him. They have to tell you all the negative stuff, but we are trying to think positive because we know that God is still in control and he is listening to the many prayers on our behalf. I tried to lighten the moment a bit yesterday when we met to talk about all this by asking Terry if he thought I should stop taking my hormone pills!! He may go from a bass voice to soprano!! Today they met with Dr. Yeilding and he said the Bone Marrow test showed still 7% cancer cells and that needs to be down to 4% before the transplant can go forward. He was going to consult with Dr. Vaughan and get back with them tomorrow. Sooooooooo for now we are "Hanging in there". If you would like to learn a little more about Bone Marrow Transplants, I found a web site www.marrow.org Please continue to lift us in prayer. We love you all.

Back to Work

Terry had the Bone Marrow test yesterday and because he had insisted on the same person doing it as the first 2 times, he did not experience the really BAD pain that he did the last time when someone different did it. He said it was uncomfortable but not excruciating. Afterward he and Alyce went by to see Mom and then home to rest a while. He hopes to feel like going in to work at his office for a few hours today. Tomorrow the UAB appointment and Thursday back to see Dr. Yeilding for the results of the blood test and Bone Marrow test. We are praying that there will be NO cancer cells so they can proceed with the next step to put this leukemia in remission. /// Oh, if you know anyone interested in buying a house with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, large den, double carport on a large piece of property on a cul de sac for a good price, call Terry and Alyce. A picture of the house was on the last blog posted. It is very close to the Air National Guard on the back side of the Airport. Hope you all have a blessed day!!+++Karen

I Love Pictures!

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And Still More!!

Click on picture to enlarge, then the back arrow to return. Thanks to all again for the help!!

Still More Pictures

More Workday Pictures

Pictures from Workday

Here are a few of the pictures from

TWD's workday(s) this past weekend. The blog is limited as to the number which can be sent at one time. More to come later!