update on Mom

Mom fought through her week of chemo, and finished up early this past Friday morning. She is now going through a week of bottomed-out blood counts, which will end later this week with another bone marrow biopsy. If the biopsy is clean of all cancer, she will then have about a month off from treatments before undergoing a stem cell transplant (again), to keep the leukemia at bay and hopefully, achieve "durable remission" (the closest one can get to the term "cure"). If the biopsy still has signs of active leukemia, Mom will still get a week off, followed by another 3 week cycle of 7 day chemo, followed by 7 days of bottomed-out counts, a 3rd bone marrow biopsy, and another week of rest. This 21 day cycle will be repeated up to 3 times or until a clean biopsy is achieved, whichever comes first. In either case, Mom is looking at another stem cell transplant in the not too distant future.
Her energy and mental faculties wax and wane daily, but she seems to be on a slow but steady rise since Friday. You can continue to pray for:
1) wisdom for the doctors, guidance for Mom & Dad as they weigh treatment options
2) strength, stamina, proper rest & nutrition for both Mom, who is struggling with mouth sores, and for my dad, who is working during the week in Baltimore and returning home for 3 day weekends to spend almost all of that time at the hospital with Mom
3) for my brother Brian & his wife, Jenn, who are on a much-deserved vacation with Jenn's family after spending most of their time last week with Mom while Dad was at work.
4) for my brother Kevin, who lives and works in the Valley Forge area and is travelling in to be with Mom several times during the week and often on the weekend.
5) for me as I fly down (thanks to AngelFlight!) to NJ this coming weekend to spend a few days with Mom before returning to NH for my own appointments on Fri. Aug. 1.

My appointments at Dartmouth this past Friday July 18 went very well, and the only problem mentioned was that I was dry. I was given a unit of IV saline while I was there, and was encouraged to be drinking 3 quarts of water daily.

Thanks so much to all of you who have been praying for me, and now for my Mom. Keep it up...just when it seems like things are looking up, we "hit the top of the roller coaster" and then go down the other side for a while. I am reminded of the lyrics from "All Part of the Walk" by FFH:
Life threw me a curve
And I was blind-sided
I didn't know
I didn't know

It's all part of the walk
All part of this thing we call
Life and living
It's all part of the walk
All part of this thing we call
The way of giving
Up our lives to eventually find that
You're in control

We know God is in control, but we sure wish he'd slow down on the bumps, and let us know where we're going. For now, we're just along for the ride, and we're holding on tight.