"It's Christmas, Mary's Coming Home! It's Gonna Be a Merry Christmas!"

Merry Christmas Eve to All!

We are happy to say.....MARY IS COMING HOME TODAY!!  David is on his way to Chicago to pick Mary & Greg up and bring them home. We are all so happy and thankful! We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and hope you cherish the time that you have with your loved ones this season! We appreciate all those that have made "Mary coming home" their Christmas wish this year and all glory goes to the one who is the reason for the season..Jesus!

And in the words of The Oak Ridge Boy's (a Provance Family Favorite Christmas Album):

"It's Christmas, Mary's coming home! 
It's Christmas, Mary's coming home
She is the only thing I want
Another year has come and gone
It's Christmas, Mary's coming home
I've been sitting by the phone, waiting for her call
One short ring and I'll be gone to get my baby doll
We're gonna rock around the clock down at the Legion hall
I can't wait to hear her say, "Merry Christmas, merry away"
It's Christmas, Mary's coming home
She is the only thing I want
Another year has come and gone

It's Christmas, Mary's coming home
I wrote a letter to Santa Claus, just like I was a little child
And all I need is a little love, all wrapped up in her smile
I've been good but I've been better, just a little while
Must have read between the lines, it won't be long, you'll still be mine
It's gonna be a merry Christmas
It's gonna be a merry Christmas"

Merry Christmas

Hi there.  Mom is doing well today but is still in the hospital.  You can imagine how frustrating it would be to be stuck up there feeling okay, especially this time of year.  Doctors say she can probably go home tomorrow.  Her counts are slowly improving so they say as long as her counts don't go down tomorrow, she'll be able to go home.

All of Mary & Greg's kids and grandkids were able to visit her yesterday for Christmas.  We reserved a room on Mom's floor and spent about 3 hours enjoying time together.  It wasn't ideal for them to have that time in the hospital, but it was still good to all be together.

We'll update again soon but wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday to Mary

It's Mom's birthday today!  What great news she received yesterday to set her up for a great birthday and a wonderful Christmas.  Mom has to stay in the hospital until her counts go up more, but Adam, Amy, and their families will be visiting her today.  My Dad and Sue will also be there with her, and I'm trading my daughter for one of Amy's daughters, and I'm staying back with a couple runny noses.  I haven't heard for sure but I bet Julie and Evan will be joining the party too.

Mom's counts didn't change today, so we're still unsure of when she'll be able to head home.  Adam told her that after she sees everyone today her numbers are going to shoot straight up! :)

Mom's main doctor, Jessica, called last night to talk more about the biopsy.  She was thrilled when she looked at Mom's slides with the head pathologist.  She said her cells look very healthy and that this new (clinical trial) drug/chemo seems to be working wonderfully for Mom.  Jessica has some things in mind for chemo in the near future to try to make the cancer stay away for good.  Mom will be heading back in after the new year to talk with Jessica about a plan.

For now we wait on Mom's counts and thank God for her health.  Hope you're all feeling just as blessed this Christmas season.

Good News

Preliminary results show that there is no cancer!!!!  We are thrilled to hear this!  The team of doctors came in this morning saying that what the slides show so far is good.  They still have to confirm what they see, but the initial results look positive.  They were even talking about Mom coming home this weekend.  Her counts even came up a bit from yesterday.

We believe the doctors wouldn't tell us good news if they weren't confident enough.  They talked about doing more chemo in the near future to make sure the cancer doesn't come back, but we are just thrilled she can come home for Christmas!

Thanks for all your love and support!   Praise God!

Still No News

We still haven't heard from the doctors yet.  We thought it would be by tonight but obviously they're keeping us in suspense til the morning.  Thank you for all your prayers today.  Mom is doing well and has felt a lot of peace in this waiting period.  Her bone marrow biopsy procedure yesterday went as well as it could've gone.  She said it may be the least painful one she's ever had.  I will update the blog tomorrow when we hear more.

Love you all.

Biopsy Tomorrow

Hi...I hope you're all doing well this Sunday night.  Mom is feeling well.  She hasn't had a fever in a couple days.  We are hopeful that her counts are on the rise because her white count went up a couple points today.  Her counts need to go up before she can go home so that she has the ability to fight off germs and other things that could cause sickness.  We're definitely happy to see the numbers begin to move!

Tomorrow around 9 or 10 am they will do a bone marrow biopsy.  This is similar to a blood draw where they evaluate her numbers but it is looking in the place where blood is actually developed.  This gives them the best look to know whether she is in remission or if they still see cancer cells being formed.  We are praying so hard, and ask for prayer from you all, that Mom is cancer FREE!  We should hear from the doctor by Tuesday evening or Wednesday.

It's obviously a more stressful time for Mom and all of us.  These are the days that she feels fine and is feeling ready to get out of here and go home for Christmas, but she has to wait on the results of the test this week.

WE WILL BE DOING ANOTHER FAST DAY ON TUESDAY.  We are so thankful for all our family and friends who joined us last week as we prayed for Mom's health to improve.  This week we ask for prayer that she is in remission and that her counts continue to go up.  She also needs prayer for peace.  I said something about this when she first got in the hospital a few weeks ago, but we are trying to focus on counting our blessings and praise God for all He has done for us, rather than letting the fear of the unknown take over.  We are so blessed.

Much love to you all.

Another Prayer Request

Mom is doing fine today.  She is asking for prayers because her team of doctors came in this morning and said they think there is still a bacteria in her that they have yet to take care of.  Over the last 24 hours, she still has had fevers that they are concerned about, although they're not nearly as high as the beginning of the week.  Mom said that she is feeling fine today and doesn't really notice the fevers, but it's not good on her body to continue to have them.  They are adding another antibiotic and are going to see if that takes away the fevers.  If she still has fevers, then they will do a MRI tomorrow to try to locate the source of infection.

Mom asks for prayers that the fevers disappear and the infections in her body are gone.  Thanks for your prayers.

Update

I just wanted to share that Mom is feeling better today than she has felt in the past 3 days.  Her very high fevers have subsided.  She will still battle some fevers over the next day or so, but thankfully not as high.  They have pinpointed the bacteria and are giving her the antibiotic she needs.  They are going to continue this antibiotic until her counts come back up in the next couple weeks.  Mom is feeling well enough to go on short walks, eat her meals, and talk with her visitors (thanks for staying last night, Patti!).  She's still been sleepy today since they have lots of medicine in her, and probably will continue to feel this way for some time.

Thank you for all your prayers and support throughout the hard days we've just seen.  I've heard from a handful of people about their day of fasting and it seems to have brought us all a bit closer to God as we talk to Him throughout our day.  Mom absolutely feels God's presence and love and it is carrying her through.  Please continue to pray for Mom, as she still needs strength for now and a healing from the cancer forever.  We praise God for His blessings.

Julie also just shared a post today, so please read below...

A friend of mine shared this with me this morning and I wanted to share it with everyone reading this blog :) It's called "Take Heart" by Hillsong United..

All our troubles
And all our tears
God our Hope
He has overcome

All our failures
And all our fear
God our love 
He has overcome
All our heartache
And all our pain
God our Healer
He has overcome

All our burdens
And all our shame
God our Freedom
He has overcome

All our troubles
And all our tears
God our Hope
He has OVERCOME

God our justice
God our grace
God our freedom
He has OVERCOME

God our refuge
God our strength
God is with us
He has OVERCOME

Prayer needed

Mom is still battling some high fevers last night into this morning.  The doctors say this is normal when you have an infection in her state.  She is neutropenic, which means the chemo has destroyed everything in her blood, good and bad.  This is how they get her in remission, but it also weakens her system and she has no ability to fight off infection on her own.  Like I said before, they are giving her antibiotics to combat this infection.  Sometimes it takes a couple days to alleviate the fevers and other problems associated with the infection. 

We ask for prayers today that she comes out of this state and feels strong once again.  Last night she was feeling pretty down emotionally (when she could stay awake which was not long at all). 

Also, today is the day we are fasting together.  If you haven't read about that it is in one of the previous posts.  You can join us now if you'd like.  Thank you so much for all your support!

Harder days

Today has been a continuation of what was happening yesterday, as Adam talked about in the last post.  Mom battled some high fevers through the night so the doctors and nurses helped her deal with those as best as they could.  She slept well between the times they were checking on her or doing something for her.  That's an improvement from the night before when her chills kept her awake.  The fevers and the medicine have made her very tired so she has still been sleeping most of the day today.  Her team of doctors came in this morning and said they do see she has a bacterial infection which is causing her fevers.  They are now giving her antibiotics to treat the infection and expect her to feel better within 24 hours. 

When she is awake, which is rare, her attitude is positive and she seems happy.  I am impressed with her strength once again.  God is absolutely hearing our prayers and bringing her through this difficult time.  He's sent His peace that passes all understanding.

Mom has a hope greater than anything on earth can promise us.  She trusts in her Savior who we are celebrating this Christmastime.  John Piper wrote:  This omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare us from calamities in this life, but brings us safe to everlasting joy with God.  

May He continue to give Mom joy despite her trials, and all of her friends and family as well.

Sunday Update

Hello Everyone,

It's Adam (Mary's son) and I'm sitting here next to Mom while she is getting some rest after a pretty tough night.  Julie, Dad, David and myself were here all day yesterday and Mom had an awesome day.  It wasn't until last night about 11:00 that she started to spike a fever that continued throughout the night.  When we all arrived here this morning Mom still had a fever of about 103 but since then it has dropped to closer to 100 and she's starting to rest much more comfortably. 

Today she's got some more visitors besides Dad and I...Amy, Brian and their three girls are here;  Joe (my Mom's brother who was her stem cell donor and may be called upon again) and his wife Cheryl, daughter Sarah and her husband Adam (II).  Mom's happy to have people in the room even though she is napping pretty good now and catching up on some rest from what she missed last night. 

It's been a very nice weekend with Mom...I arrived on Friday morning and spent the day here with her, Amy and her daughter Emma "Lou-do-poo-poo".  It's been fun to watch Emma bring laughter and smiles to Grammy's face, she's up here often with Amy and I know Mom really enjoys having her here.  Earlier in the week I mentioned something to Suzanne and Amy about seeing if we could get some home videos up here with a VCR and they had it ready to go on Friday.  After getting things set up on the flatscreen we started watching some of the old classics!  One of the videos was from 1975 - 1980, no sound but we got to see Mom's and Dad's wedding, several Christmas Eve celebrations, and a few videos from when Amy and I were little and she was feeding us.  For several hours each day on Friday and Saturday she got "lost in time" and the days went by fas,t which was our main goal.  There are plenty more tapes up here and when she starts feeling better then hopefully she can enjoy more of those. 

I'll be taking off in a little while to head back to Pittsburgh but Bre and the kids and I will be coming back for Christmas on the 18th.  We are truly praying that Mom will be home to celebrate her upcoming birthday (20th) and Christmas with the entire family.  She's showing great signs of making that become a reality but we'll know a lot more over the next few days or so.  What a blessing it would be to have her home to celebrate Jesus' birth in her own home with the entire family around.  She tells us that she's NOT going to celebrate Christmas in the hospital so we'll be ready to have that time as a family no matter when she comes home. 

Thank you for the continued prayers and support from all of you.  Please write Mom a message when you get a chance, she's checking in on the blog and always loves hearing from her family and friends.  Love to you all, off to the Burgh!

A Holy Fast

My aunt Sue asked me to let everyone know that we are going to do a fast day, each Tuesday, so we can pray for Mary particularly that day.  If you'd like to participate, fasting can be done in many ways.  It involves giving up something (food or anything that would be a sacrifice) for that day and when you miss that thing you've given up, you say a prayer for Mary.

Joel 1:14 says:
Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly.  Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

***************

Mom is still doing fine.  She has an upset stomach and doesn't feel right, but hasn't had pain or any major problems.  Her blood pressure has been on the low side, so they've been giving her fluid to help it go up.   We anticipate her hardest days being over this weekend but the doctors can never tell us how things will go for sure.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!  We love you all.

Sunday

Hi everyone.  I'm sitting up here with mom tonight after a nice slow weekend.  Mom is still feeling well aside from fatigue (from her blood levels dropping and the medicine they give her) and some nausea.  She's DONE with her chemo as of last night, so that's definitely exciting.  The chemo hasn't taken full effect, and probably won't have moved through her system fully until a couple weeks from now.  For now we just wait and keep her company as the medicine does its work.  It gets hard for her being closed into a hospital room for weeks at a time, but she knows she has to fight this sickness and get home as soon as she can.

Today is day 6 on Mom's schedule.  Day 1 was when she started chemo and Day 21 (which is December 17th) they will do a bone marrow biopsy.  We're unsure of when she'll be able to go home.  It depends on lots of things such as how she's feeling, how her counts are coming back, and if her doctor wants her to stay here til they get the results of the biopsy back.  We'll keep you updated as we get more information but so much of it is up in the air at this point.

Mom is asking for prayer for patience in this waiting period.  Also that she gets through this tougher week well.  And finally that this new chemo gets rid of her cancer for good!  We also pray for each of you, our family and friends, that you trust in the Lord through any trials you may have going on in your lives today.  He is the One who will get us through!

Mom's address:
Prentice Women's Hospital
250 E. Superior
Room 1570
Chicago, IL 60611