We Made It!

We always would say, "if we could make it two years, they would say you are cured!" I can't believe it has been those 2 years! We are so blessed! We celebrated by praying to God, thanking him for seeing us through it and getting us to where we are today. Thanking him for Karen and her being able to give Terry a new life! We ate homemade tacos and had ice cream cake from DQ! We gave him a picture of the Beatles walking across Abbey Road to hang in the studio! Patrick had one in his and he admired it! It is great to be able to celebrate his 2nd birthday from transplant and hopefully we will celebrate for years to come! Again, thank you to all of you who have prayed with us and for us!!! Couldn't have done it without you! God Bless You! Hugs and kisses! Alyce and Terry

God Has Answered Our Prayers!!!!!

Well, it has been 2 years since his transplant this May 26th! We got great news today! Terry is leukemia free! There are no signs of leukemia cells at all! Praise Our Lord and Savior! He has listened to all of you out there praying so hard for this! We are so blessed! He is one happy man, I mean woman(Karen his sister), just kidding! We can breathe a little easier for another year, it will be done again then(the bone marrow test). Thank you to all of you who have stuck with us through this journey(that is what it says on the UAB journal they give when you go into having a transplant)It is a journey! Nobody could have told us that we would experience what we have the past 2 years and a half!!!! I just thank God for seeing us through all of it! He will go next week for his photopheresis Wednesday and Thursday and we will again go down on the steriods. Hopefully in a couple of months he will be able to return to work, but he will have to take it slow. Yeah, take it slow! He's not a take it slow kind of person! But we have learned patience through this all! Especially me! We love all of you and appreciate all the prayers that you have sent up on our behalf. God Bless All of You! BIG hugs and kisses! Alyce

2nd Year Tests Done

We had the two year tests done today. Pretty much mostly blood work, chest x-ray and a pulmanary lung test done. The biggie was the bone marrow aspiration. He didn't get that, instead he(Dr. Vaughan) went into his chest to the sternum. Because of his coumadin level, they chose not to go into his back bone. Less chance of bleeding doing it in his sternum. Looked painful to me but he said it wasn't as bad. It took three times to get what he needed but he did not stop until he was satisfied. Kristina watched very closely as he did the procedure then offered her to do the next patient in line. She is very observant and knew all the medical termanology he used. Its "greek" to me! He has slept most of the day which is expected, they gave him some ativan and demerol. But who would want to stay awake while someone drilled three holes in their chest bone. I'm sure he will be sore tomorrow! Dr. V is supposed to read the tests results in the morning and I expect a phone call some time tomorrow. I will update after I get some results from the tests, just wanted you to know what was going on and keep praying the results are good! Hugs and kisses to you all! Alyce

Big Test Next Week

We went to the BMT unit today and Dr. Vaughan said he was very pleased on his liver counts and everything looked good. His platelets are a little low and not sure why but not low enough to get platelets by no means! His arms and hands are so damaged from the steroids, coumadin and now low platelets. He has really bad places on them. He went to photopheresis yesterday with Butch and today with me because we see the doctor on the second day. He will have his "BIG TEST" next Wednesday, all the tests for his 2 year birthday from the transplant. Two years and a half you have been with us through all of it! Can you believe it! We have made it through 2 years! That was our goal, but so much more to go! His feet are REALLY swollen and it makes it hard for him to walk. His feet hurt with all the fluid in them. We will come down again off the steroids and will continue each week to reduce them! YEAH!!!! He should be totally off them by June 11th. Pray everything goes well next week and the leukemia is still gone! God is good and is watching over us! There are so many people up there that are relapsing, that is VERY scary! We hear of someone every time we go up there. We are leaving it all in God's hands and trust he will take care of it! We love all of you! God Bless You All! Hugs and kisses! Alyce

Better News!

We went to the BMT unit today and he had his photopheresis(yesterday too with Butch) and they had to give him 4 hours of phosphorus while he did the photopheresis today. For some reason he is losing this particular element it takes to make your blood cells work correctly. They do not know exactly why either. So he will get this when we come in for the photo in 2 weeks. They will most likely remove the temporary port since I will not need it any more! That is the next good news! We will finish up the fluids next week and the antibiotics are done. The virus he had is gone! God is blessing him so much! His liver counts have improved too! His skin color and his eyes have improved, it is a REALLY big difference since he started the photopheresis. Whoever invented that machine is a billionaire! He is also starting another step down from the steriods. Will be SO glad when he is completely off them! He is SOOOOO weak and it makes me worry about him falling. He is doing all the excercises he can to keep himself from getting weaker, almost too much! If you know him, you know he is a stickler about things and staying on them to make them work! Watch out salesmen for SCS! He will be calling you soon! Congrats to Mike and his first baby being born! Don't think I have left out anything, so many things were discussed today! He will have another bone marrow test done in May to make sure there are NO leukemia cells in it. It will be 2 years on May 26th since his transplant! We made it! Thank you Dear Lord! God is good! We love you all and thank you for staying with us through all this! Its a long journey and nobody could prepare you for this! Please pray for T to have patience, he is wanting to "Get Back" fast and thats not going to happen! He needs more patience! Hugs and kisses! Alyce

GVHD Disappearing!

Good Morning! Its a beautiful Saturday! Terry went to the eye doctor on Thursday and got a good report! Dr. Parker told him he did not see GVHD in his eyes any more. There is a residual left in them, but that he did not see any active in his eyes! That is great news! Praise God! He is feeling stronger every day and the excercise he is getting is helping. He and Butch went fishing this week in his boat and caught 5 fish, he was sooooooo happy! They kept them and took them up to the BMT for Lidia. She has been begging for fish from him for 2 years. Butch of course did all the handling of the fish, T had on gloves and a mask. T said she hugged his neck and she never wants to hug his neck, she always hugs me! I don't know if it is because she is around so many sick people or if he acts smart with her she doesn't want to have anything to do with him! Which he has done alot in the past! She calls him Dr. Davidson when he tells her what to do or what he is going to do instead of what he is told. Sometimes it is funny and other times it is NOT! He tells me he feels like he is on the road to recovery and he feels better and better every day. He has been very active lately and that is a good thing! We go to photopheresis this week and Butch will most likely carry him one of the days, T has really enjoyed spending time with his brother! We will see the doctor on Wednesday or Thursday and hopefully will let him come down again on the steriods, that would be nice! Will update then, but before I go Jr. Jenkins passed away Wednesday night and our prayers are with his family. He lived next door to T for a long, long time. We were their neighbors for ten years! He was special to all the people in Tarrant! Please pray for comfort for his family! God Bless You! Hugs and kisses! Alyce

Coming Off Steroids!

Dr. Salzman gave us the good news that he could come off some of the steroids! He is now on 24 mgs and that is a GREAT thing! So happy! All his bloodwork looked good and they are happy with what is happening with him! His skin looks so good and his eyes have improved so much too! We are decreasing the IV fluids and antibiotic but still having to do them at home. That means I can sleep a little longer in the mornings!!!! We were told not to come back until 4/22, can't believe that! So long for us! God is blessing us that is for sure! He is good! Hopefully nothing will come up that will ruin this! We love you and thank you for hanging in here with us! Bone marrow test soon! God Bless You! Hugs and kisses! Alyce