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May 6 Journal

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11

 

 

One year ago (May 5, 2004) I had just completed my high dose chemo and total body radiation treatments at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and had checked into the University of Washington hospital to receive my donor marrow from a wonderful woman in Australia . One year later I am feeling awesome, doing regular bike rides of fifty plus miles, enjoying being home with my family, and preparing to return to teaching in the fall. I am so fortunate and grateful to be here. I give thanks to the Lord, my family and friends, the doctors and nurses who care for me, and everyone who has faithfully prayed for my health. Life is such a precious gift and I pray I will truly live each day of my new life!

 

 

A year out from transplant my routine now consists of doing family stuff and going to the doctor twice a month to make sure everything is on track with my blood counts and to monitor how I am doing with my graft versus host disease. I haven't had to have much done other than a recent infusion of immunogammaglobulin (IG) hormone.

 

 

This hormone tends to stay at low levels in transplant patients during the first year or so and periodic infusions keep it at normal levels. I am still on Prednisone and other medications to manage my graft versus host disease. However, the doctors have been tapering me off of the medications. For example, I am currently taking 30mg of Prednisone every other day. A year ago I was taking 210mg every day. Hopefully, I will be completely off of Prednisone before I start teaching in the fall.

 

Overall, my recovery has gone quite well. I have had some setbacks along the way, but the Lord has carried me through them. A wonderful example of God's amazing grace in my life just happened recently. A week ago I was in for a routine check up and blood test. Sadly, my blood tests were not good. My platelet levels had been steadily declining and were at 114,000. Months earlier they were at 160,000. My lymphocyte levels dropped from a normal level of .9 to .5. Almost a 50% decline. My doctor decided to draw additional blood samples and run a variety of different tests to try and determine why my counts were declining so badly. I was frightened that something was seriously wrong. Perhaps it was something as simple as my medications or as serious as rejection of my marrow or returning Leukemia. When I got home from the appointment I shared my fears (and tears) with my family and friends and we all began praying. Yesterday I returned to the doctor to have my blood counts checked again. I was anticipating more bad results. God had something else in mind. My blood test results were great. They completely turned around. My platelets went up to 201,000. The highest they have been in over five years. My lymphocytes went back up to the normal level of .9. My hematocrit level, which has been hovering below 35% for months, shot up to 37.6%. A turn around in blood counts like this takes weeks or months. My counts turned around miraculously in one week. All I can say is that this is a testament to the power of prayer. There is no other way to explain it. God is so good!

 

Rather than saying "God, here is my problem," we should put the problem into perspective by saying, "Problem, here is my God!

Anonymous

 

As I mentioned earlier, I am grateful to be here and for all the blessings God has given me in this past year. I pray I can live each day to the full potential God intended and that the Lord will give me many more years. I pray the same for everyone reading my journal.

 

Please join me in lifting up the following prayers:

 

•Karen Kramp, who was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Pray for her healing and the physical and spiritual strength to get through this.

•Karen Gustafson, my transplant partner. Continue to be with her recovery. Pray specifically for her graft versus host disease and that it will be kept under control without Prednisone.

•Jane Bizau, a courageous lymphoma patient. Pray her treatments will give her minimal side effects and that they will effectively eradicate all her cancer.

•Britt's brain cancer and his daughter's Leukemia. Pray for healing of their bodies and peace in their hearts and minds.

•My upcoming bone marrow test and other one-year follow up tests, which I will undergo at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance over the next couple weeks. Pray the test results all come back good, showing a good engraftment of my donor marrow and a decrease or complete elimination of the remaining Leukemia cells.

 

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