Update from yesterday

If you haven't read the previous post yet, my mom got her red blood cell treatment done yesterday.  The treatment was done to help her red blood cells start producing normal.  Over the past few weeks mom has still had to get blood transfusions to keep her level up.  They're hoping after a few sessions of this treatment she won't have to get the transfusions anymore.  The treatment went great with no side effects and the doctor was really happy with everything.  We probably won't see direct results from mom's blood level right away.

Since the treatment took 6 hours to complete, they didn't have time to give mom the blood transfusion she needed.  Since they still wanted to get this done mom had to stay in the hospital last night.  She wasn't trilled about doing this but she knew it was necessary and had a really good attitude about it.

Mom text me this morning saying she was out of the hospital and having a meal with Sue, Jim, and David.  Everything went great but my mom will be glad to be back in her own bed tonight :)

Thanks for checking in!

Getting a treatment done today

My mom is heading up to Northwestern today to get the red blood cell treatment done.  For the past couple weeks her count has still been fluctuating and they're confident this treatment will help speed up the process of her red cells getting back to normal.  We didn't know she was going to have to have this treatment for sure, but they just let mom know a couple days ago.

She'll have about 6 hours of the red cell treatment at the doctor's office, then head over to the hospital where she has to spend the night in order to get a blood transfusion.  Her level is down to a 7.6 again and they don't have enough time to do the treatment and transfusion all at the doctor's office in one day.  She's not thrilled about having to stay in the hospital tonight but she knows that this could be a great turning point to having everything on track and have less doctor's visits!

Her spirits are great and she continues to count on the Lord to give her strength.  It's been great having her healthy again, able to do all the things she loves.  She visits her mom in Ottawa many times throughout the week, she babysits her grandkids, she tries to keep David (her youngest) on track, and anything else she feels like doing.  We're truly blessed.

Please pray that today goes well and that the treatment is successful.  Also, Mary's 2 boys (David and Adam) are heading to Haiti along with their cousin (Mark Aubry), uncle (Jim Aubry), and an Eastview Christian Church team for a missions trip tomorrow and could use your prayers for a safe trip and one that produces fruit.

100th Day!!!

(From Mary)
Hi Everyone,

Just to let you know that Today is my 100th day........

Lets celebrate all together for Our God to allow this day to not only happen but the way I'm doing is so amazing because of Him. Just want to again thank everyone for your daily prayers and Thank the Lord for His Mercy and Grace that He has sent my way. God willing this is just the beginning of how wonderful I feel and that He keep the Blessing Happening.........I Love you all,

Mary

Surprise - Good News at Appointment Today

Mom and Sue went up to Mom's appointment today at Northwestern.  My Mom was told they actually wouldn't be doing the 6 hour treatment today like they thought because it hadn't been ordered by the lab yet.  But when she went up there and had her normal blood work done along with her normal doctor's appointment they found some great results.  Mom's red blood count went up a bunch since last time, higher than it's been since this whole thing started last summer!  They also determined that Joe's stem cells have now taken over 99% of the blood (which the doctor said may as well be 100%)!  This means that Mom might never have to get the treatment they were talking about.

This is such great news and the doctor was thrilled!  Mom doesn't even have an appointment scheduled for next Thursday now since her counts were so great today.  It sounds like they're pretty confident Mom's blood finally started normal production and should continue on this way.  Home health care will continue coming to take blood on Mondays and from that they will be able to tell from that if Mom needs any care.  Yay!  Prayers have been answered time and time again :)

Bone Marrow 2 Results

I just received a text from my Mom. She said that she just got off the phone with Dr. Jessica and that there are NO signs of cancer from her bone marrow test last Thursday!! Woohoo, praise God (again and again and again)! The reason Mom's losing blood is still because Mom's old blood type is still fighting Joe's (the donor's) blood type. The doctor says there's a treatment to jump start the cells to start working correctly. She'll start that on Thursday when she goes back up to Northwestern. The doctor said this condition is rare but they can fix it.

We couldn't really ask for a better report!