"Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications." Psalm 28:6
This is going to be a short post, not much news since last night. Other than I guess some of the most important news I have shared so far on our journey.
Derek felt great today! The best I think since the transplant took place. God has certainly blessed him and us today. It's so amazing to watch Derek be, well, normal. It was great to watch him. It's good to have him back. Praise God!
That's all for now, thank you for your prayers. They are obviously working.
God bless!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
My Sunday, Marrow Results, and My Foolish Panic
First off, thank you for the outpouring of support, well wishes, and prayers on Sunday. They are so appreciated. I love that God has blessed Derek and I with such a wonderful, prayerful church family. You all bless my heart.
God blessed my Sunday immensely. I got to see all of you and spend time with one of my dearest friends who is like a sister. It's funny, I didn't plan on seeing her, but God had other plans. We were supposed to see each other so we could encourage one another in the Lord. He is so good!
I picked the kids up and the drive back went fine other than hitting some heavy traffic outside of
Easton. We were literally stopped on the freeway. I say that's not what the freeway is for, you are supposed to go fast (of course by that I mean the speed limit).
So now with the stuff you probably want to know. We had clinic today and they got the results from his day 80 marrow from Monday (he was actually day 82 when they did it). The results were great. There is a percentage they look for when they do a biopsy/aspiration. This percentage gauges how well Brian's cells are growing in Derek's body. The last marrow they did (before Monday's) was at 44%, it is now at 66%. The doctors are impressed by these numbers. It means the graph is successful and growing on it's own. Praise God! Derek is doing well other than the fluid retention he is experiencing. They prescribed him a diuretic that will hopefully get rid of all the water. I will let you know how it goes.
Now for my foolish panic. It really was foolish because at the root of my panic was a lack of trust in God. I asked if they had a date yet for when we go home (thinking we had like 3 weeks). The doctor then says "Probably next week or early the next one". I'm thinking WHAT?!?. We don't have a house, I don't have a job, we're not packed etc...For those who know me well know I like to come up with all sorts of plans and not just 1 plan, there has to be 3 plans in case you know the other 2 don't work out. I start laying these out in my head. Thinking of people to call and papers to fill out. I'm exhausted just writing it. After the doctor left Derek (he knows me well) asks what I was doing because he said and I quote "I know that look". He tried to calm and reassure me. I say try because I wasn't listening. I wanted to panic, I at least then felt like I was doing something even if it was the wrong thing. When we got home I tried to make some phone calls and do some things, but they all came to a dead end. Derek in his wisdom said "God doesn't want you figuring it out." His answer irritated me at the time because I knew he was right and in my pride I didn't want him to be. After we laid the kids down Derek told me I needed to read the excerpt for today in 'My Utmost For His Highest'. The title: Are You Ever Troubled? Immediately I thought, every stinking day. I sobered up and prayed for understanding and acceptance. It was amazing.
"When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always "spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63"
"A peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment"
"If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security."
"...If you only try to worry your way out of the problem, you destroy His effectiveness in you, and you deserve whatever you get. We become troubled because we have not been taking Him into account. When a person confers with Jesus Christ, the confusion stops, because there is no confusion in Him. Lay everything out before Him, and when you are faced with difficulty, bereavement, and sorrow, listen to Him say, "Let not your heart be troubled..."(John 14:27)"
-Excerpts from "My Utmost For His Highest" (August 26)
Sorry about how long those were, but they really spoke to my heart. I give it all to Him and trust that He take care of it, He has so far.
Prayer requests: A house in Yakima with 3 bedrooms that allows a dog, a job for me; preferably secretarial work, trust in Him, and listening more than talking.
Hope you are all doing well.
God bless!
God blessed my Sunday immensely. I got to see all of you and spend time with one of my dearest friends who is like a sister. It's funny, I didn't plan on seeing her, but God had other plans. We were supposed to see each other so we could encourage one another in the Lord. He is so good!
I picked the kids up and the drive back went fine other than hitting some heavy traffic outside of
Easton. We were literally stopped on the freeway. I say that's not what the freeway is for, you are supposed to go fast (of course by that I mean the speed limit).
So now with the stuff you probably want to know. We had clinic today and they got the results from his day 80 marrow from Monday (he was actually day 82 when they did it). The results were great. There is a percentage they look for when they do a biopsy/aspiration. This percentage gauges how well Brian's cells are growing in Derek's body. The last marrow they did (before Monday's) was at 44%, it is now at 66%. The doctors are impressed by these numbers. It means the graph is successful and growing on it's own. Praise God! Derek is doing well other than the fluid retention he is experiencing. They prescribed him a diuretic that will hopefully get rid of all the water. I will let you know how it goes.
Now for my foolish panic. It really was foolish because at the root of my panic was a lack of trust in God. I asked if they had a date yet for when we go home (thinking we had like 3 weeks). The doctor then says "Probably next week or early the next one". I'm thinking WHAT?!?. We don't have a house, I don't have a job, we're not packed etc...For those who know me well know I like to come up with all sorts of plans and not just 1 plan, there has to be 3 plans in case you know the other 2 don't work out. I start laying these out in my head. Thinking of people to call and papers to fill out. I'm exhausted just writing it. After the doctor left Derek (he knows me well) asks what I was doing because he said and I quote "I know that look". He tried to calm and reassure me. I say try because I wasn't listening. I wanted to panic, I at least then felt like I was doing something even if it was the wrong thing. When we got home I tried to make some phone calls and do some things, but they all came to a dead end. Derek in his wisdom said "God doesn't want you figuring it out." His answer irritated me at the time because I knew he was right and in my pride I didn't want him to be. After we laid the kids down Derek told me I needed to read the excerpt for today in 'My Utmost For His Highest'. The title: Are You Ever Troubled? Immediately I thought, every stinking day. I sobered up and prayed for understanding and acceptance. It was amazing.
"When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always "spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63"
"A peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment"
"If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security."
"...If you only try to worry your way out of the problem, you destroy His effectiveness in you, and you deserve whatever you get. We become troubled because we have not been taking Him into account. When a person confers with Jesus Christ, the confusion stops, because there is no confusion in Him. Lay everything out before Him, and when you are faced with difficulty, bereavement, and sorrow, listen to Him say, "Let not your heart be troubled..."(John 14:27)"
-Excerpts from "My Utmost For His Highest" (August 26)
Sorry about how long those were, but they really spoke to my heart. I give it all to Him and trust that He take care of it, He has so far.
Prayer requests: A house in Yakima with 3 bedrooms that allows a dog, a job for me; preferably secretarial work, trust in Him, and listening more than talking.
Hope you are all doing well.
God bless!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hello My Loyal Readers!
Hi! How are you guys? We're doing pretty good. I'm happy, the Partriots beat the Eagles on Thursday. Brady looked good.
Now on to the stuff you guys want to know about. Derek is doing pretty good. He got blood Saturday, but like I said that's routine. His neutrophils took a big jump from Saturday to Sunday on their own. That's a good sign.
Here is the big exciting news! While we don't yet have a go home date they said they are going to start his go home work up next week. I think all the tests take around 2 weeks. So if everything goes according to plan (ha!) we should be able to go home mid-September! The tests they do are similar to the work up when we first got here.
Some prayer requests for when we leave if you please: A house that allows us to have a dog. It can't be on well water. We'll need it when we get out of here. All of my family is on well water so we can't stay with them when we get back. Well water isn't as purified as normal water so Derek can't consume it. A job for me. Something with relatively good hours. I'm thinking some type secretary job. I'm pretty good with computers and such and they usually have good hours.
I appreciate the prayers so much! They are so beneficial to our health. Not just physical but spiritual as well. I can't wait to come home and see all of you. We can all praise God for how He has taken care of us. We serve such an awesome God!
I'll let you know more when we have some dates. I'll post our phone number again in case anyone hears of any houses.
206-262-9003
"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well .My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee." Psalm 139:13-18.
God bless!
Now on to the stuff you guys want to know about. Derek is doing pretty good. He got blood Saturday, but like I said that's routine. His neutrophils took a big jump from Saturday to Sunday on their own. That's a good sign.
Here is the big exciting news! While we don't yet have a go home date they said they are going to start his go home work up next week. I think all the tests take around 2 weeks. So if everything goes according to plan (ha!) we should be able to go home mid-September! The tests they do are similar to the work up when we first got here.
Some prayer requests for when we leave if you please: A house that allows us to have a dog. It can't be on well water. We'll need it when we get out of here. All of my family is on well water so we can't stay with them when we get back. Well water isn't as purified as normal water so Derek can't consume it. A job for me. Something with relatively good hours. I'm thinking some type secretary job. I'm pretty good with computers and such and they usually have good hours.
I appreciate the prayers so much! They are so beneficial to our health. Not just physical but spiritual as well. I can't wait to come home and see all of you. We can all praise God for how He has taken care of us. We serve such an awesome God!
I'll let you know more when we have some dates. I'll post our phone number again in case anyone hears of any houses.
206-262-9003
"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well .My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee." Psalm 139:13-18.
God bless!
Monday, August 10, 2009
I Can Finally Write!
Hello all! We're here and doing fine. I was gone all last week and our internet has been acting up. A trip that was supposed to last 1 night ended up lasting 4 nights. Jerry, Meg, and the kids were in town visiting and we decided to go camping with my Dad and step mom, Julie. Her family owns some property on Hood canal and we thought it'd be fun to go camping for a night. It was fun until Grizzie (Asher) spiked a fever in the middle of the night. He was pretty sick. I felt really bad for him. The fever was off and on, but we couldn't go home and risk exposing Derek to whatever Griz had. It was a hard week on that aspect. A good aspect is that I got to spend a lot of time with my Dad, sister, brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew. It was fun, but also good to get back home to Derek.
Derek is doing well. Since I last posted he contracted a virus (nothing serious). It's called CMV. It isn't serious unless you are immunosuppressed, which Derek is. They have him on an IV medication called Foscarnet. His numbers have continued to hold. He'll probably have to get blood tomorrow which is no big deal and is to be expected. The results of the bone marrow biopsy came back. They were good. No virus in the marrow and he has completely engrafted. I was worried at first when his numbers started to decline that it might be graph rejection, but the doctors said that he is fully engrafted, Praise God!
The kids are doing well. I took Ashley for a girls day yesterday. We went to the mall, had lunch, and she got a purse. It's pink and came with some little lip glosses in it. She slept with it. It was great though. I think we both really needed it. Derek and Alexander went with his Uncle Bill to their cabin. Brian, Danielle, and their kids are in town for vacation. It was a full day, but it sounds like they had fun. Alexander got to ride his first ferry. Derek said he asked questions the entire time. He is so inquisitive. Diann (Derek's aunt) took Asher to the zoo. She said he loved the gorillas. She said they were wrestling around and Griz loved it.
I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry for the delay in updates. I will try to be more diligent in writing. One last thing, football is starting soon! I can't wait! Sorry, I had to sneak that in. It's my favorite time of year. What's that I hear about USC being ranked something other than 1st?
"4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4, 6&7
God bless!
Derek is doing well. Since I last posted he contracted a virus (nothing serious). It's called CMV. It isn't serious unless you are immunosuppressed, which Derek is. They have him on an IV medication called Foscarnet. His numbers have continued to hold. He'll probably have to get blood tomorrow which is no big deal and is to be expected. The results of the bone marrow biopsy came back. They were good. No virus in the marrow and he has completely engrafted. I was worried at first when his numbers started to decline that it might be graph rejection, but the doctors said that he is fully engrafted, Praise God!
The kids are doing well. I took Ashley for a girls day yesterday. We went to the mall, had lunch, and she got a purse. It's pink and came with some little lip glosses in it. She slept with it. It was great though. I think we both really needed it. Derek and Alexander went with his Uncle Bill to their cabin. Brian, Danielle, and their kids are in town for vacation. It was a full day, but it sounds like they had fun. Alexander got to ride his first ferry. Derek said he asked questions the entire time. He is so inquisitive. Diann (Derek's aunt) took Asher to the zoo. She said he loved the gorillas. She said they were wrestling around and Griz loved it.
I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry for the delay in updates. I will try to be more diligent in writing. One last thing, football is starting soon! I can't wait! Sorry, I had to sneak that in. It's my favorite time of year. What's that I hear about USC being ranked something other than 1st?
"4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4, 6&7
God bless!
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