Sunday Check In

Hi there.  Thanks for checking in on our Mom today.  Mom is now up in Chicago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as of 7 o'clock tonight.  She and my Dad are settling in tonight for a busy day tomorrow.  They will put Mom through the ringer with all sorts of tests, check ups, and getting her pic line put in.  In order to start a chemo regimen like she is about to have (and has had in the past), her body has to be thoroughly checked to make sure she's strong and will have no problems outside of the effects of the medicine.  It's going to be a tiring and frustrating day for her, but we're thankful they take all the precautions they do in order to keep her safe.  Thankfully in the past her body has checked out well, and we're praying that it's as strong as ever now.  

Mom had a good Thanksgiving week at home.  She was completely surrounded by family and friends who love her more than words can say.  I believe it was a bittersweet week for her because she loves having us all with her but was also mentally preparing herself for her stay in the hospital.  There's no question, though, that that was just how she wanted it.  We hope you all felt blessed by family and friends during your Thanksgiving, too!  

Please pray for Mom's strength- both for her body and for her spirit. 

Also, feel free to post a comment below and we'll make sure Mom reads it!

The Plan

Mom had her doctor's appointment this afternoon with her wonderful doctor, Jessica, and great assistant, Donna.  My Dad and brother, Adam, joined Mom to hear the plan.  Mom will be heading into Northwestern on Sunday evening to check in and start the process of treatment.  On Monday they will run her routine tests and get her set up.  On Tuesday they will start the chemo. 

It's hard to be starting over with this horrible disease, but Jessica says it is possible to get Mom into remission again.  They're trying new chemo and a new plan to try to get the leukemia to stay away...for good. 

So this weekend we are going to enjoy some quality family time and build Mom up to prepare for battle.  Her counts are still good and she's feeling normal, so she's going to do all of our normal Thanksgiving festivities.  She's even talking about getting her Christmas shopping done on Saturday! 

Please pray with us.  We still believe God can do a miracle in my Mom and we are praying that she goes into remission and the cancer stays away forever. 

No Fear

I see from the stats on this website that our friends and family have already been checking in on my mom this week.  You all are so wonderfully supportive!  I'm sorry it took so long for an update.

As many of you know, Mom received a call on Wednesday from her doctor after a bone marrow biopsy was done on Tuesday.  The news wasn't good.  Doctor Jessica let us know that they see AML (leukemia) in her blood once again.  We were all very scared and sad to hear this news.  This is the 3rd time she's been given this diagnosis and we don't want to see her go into the hospital for treatment again.  The doctor said she could come in to start things the next day or she could wait til after Thanksgiving if she wanted to.  Mom has been feeling so good and had no signs that this was going on.  We were thankful that her doctor caught it so early this time, although an AML diagnosis is never something you want to hear your doctor say. 

About 30 years ago when my Mom was pregnant with Julie, Mom was watching the 700 Club on tv.  She had a miscarriage about 6 months prior to that, and had begun seeing the same symptoms in her new pregnancy.  Pat Robertson, who is one of the hosts of the show, was leading prayer and prayed for "Mary" who was bleeding.  He let my Mom know during that prayer that God was healing her adhesions and that the baby would be fine.  Obviously my Mom was amazed at witnessing this miracle!  She stopped bleeding soon after and Julie is doing great today.  Praise God!

On Thursday Mom was watching the 700 Club again (Amy, Julie, and I were with her).  Pat Roberston was praying for a few people and last prayed for someone with Leukemia.  Mom claimed that healing prayer and is believing that God will bring her through this the same way He has brought her through all the other trials in her life.

Her counts are still good and she's home living normally.  We're all spending a lot of time with her, aside from my Dad who is in the midst of an outage at work (where he works long hours for a few week period of time).  He will take off work if he needs to be in the hospital with her.  Today we (mostly Mom :) made Thanksgiving dinner and are enjoying family time.  We are so blessed!

Still no further news from Mom's doctor in terms of what's next.  They need to get more results from last week's biopsy in order to determine what they will do.  In the meantime we are believing in God's healing power as we've witnessed before.  We will not be afraid of the trials that await any of us in this life because we have a hope of something greater through Jesus Christ.

Here is an encouragement written by Jack Kelly from www.gracethrufaith.com.  If you are going through a fearful time in your life, find encouragement by counting your blessings and trusting in our Creator...


For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)

The Lord’s will is that you no longer be afraid but trust in Him to protect you. Therefore the fear you feel is from the devil. Resist him and he’ll flee from you (James 4:7) You have been given the authority to take your fearful thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5). Instead of crying yourself to sleep, stand up and rebuke these fears in the name of Jesus. Get into the Word and learn the promises the Lord has made to you. One of my favorites is Phil. 4:4-7 When I feel fearful or uncertain, I begin thanking God for all the blessings He’s given me. Before I’m finished, I’m at peace.

The enemy has persuaded you to reduce your thoughts to their lowest level. In Phil 4:8-9 Paul tells you to elevate them to their highest level. You have the right to choose the thoughts that will occupy your mind, and only need to exercise it. But you can’t just deny the fear, you have to replace it with thoughts of protection and blessing from Bible verses and your own experience, proving to yourself that your fear is unfounded. Since God has protected you in the past, it stands to reason that he’ll do so in the future. He is faithful after all. As you convince yourself, your fears will go away and the enemy will flee.

Vacation

Mom is still doing great.  She's in Missouri this week near Branson for vacation with Dad, Amy, and Amy's girls.  Cory, the kids, and I were also there with them for a few days early this week.  Mom's feeling great and having so much fun with the kids.  She tries to stay out of the sun but is still able to do her favorite summer activity...sit by the pool and watch the kids.  We've had great weather and have done lots of fun things.  If you're ever in Branson we all recommend you see the Pierce Arrow show - a mix of comedy and singing.  It was such a wholesome, fun activity for everyone Tenley's age (almost 2) up to Dad's age (he was crying he was laughing so hard)!

We hope everyone else is enjoying the summer weather and fun activities!

Wednesday Appointment Update

We have more great news from Mom's appointment today up at Northwestern.  They received the full results from the bone marrow biopsy and Joe's male cells were 200 out of the 200 cells they counted.  This is great because they wanted to see that his cells took over the bone marrow once again.  Now we can know that good healthy cells will be able to fight off anything that tries to attack Mom's body.  They are not going to do any stem cell infusions at this time because they're not needed!

Mom's numbers continue to climb in the right direction and Doctor Jessica is VERY happy with all that she sees.  Mom will continue her weekly appointments for now.

Thankfully Mom now gets to live her life as she's hoped...
She's planned a visit to Pennsylvania in about a week to help Adam and Bre (and Lane and Graysen!) welcome their new baby girl sometime around June 10th!  She's so excited to be out there to meet the new baby and help out however she can.  We're SO HAPPY she feels good enough to do this!!

Mom also has a trip to Branson planned with Dad, Amy and her girls, and me and my family at the end of June.  We will definitely be celebrating that we can all do that together!

As always, we praise God for this amazing gift He's given us.  I hope that you're all counting the blessings in your life as well!

Mom is Cancer Free!!!

About an hour ago Mom found out that she is officially....

CANCER FREE!!!!

Dr. Jessica called about 5:00 to let my mom know that her bone marrow "looked wonderful!"  Mom is elated and could not contain her excitement.  Amy happened to be with her at the time and Dad and David were both home as well, needless to say there was just a "little" yelling, crying and happiness that there were answers to our prayers!  I talked to her shortly thereafter and she was at Suzanne's house yelling and sounding so amazing...hugging on all the grandkids if I had to guess. 

Thank you to everyone...family, friends and every single person who was/is praying for Mom, we are all feeling very blessed today.  There is still more tests that the hospital is running and that will determine the next steps for Mom.  That could range from doing nothing more than just monitoring her or possibly infusing more stem cells from her brother Joe (what a blessing Joe has been in so many ways throughout this entire battle, we are very thankful for his willingness to do whatever is asked of him...even mowing the grass and taking out the garbage over the last 2 months, We Love You Uncle Joe!!)

I can't hold back the tears and I'm sure I can speak for everyone reading this, I just wish I was there to give her a big hug and a kiss!  Mom, we love you so much, thank you for fighting and being so courageous in your battle...and most of all thank you for trusting the Lord above, he must still have big plans for you!!!  We will continue to update you as we hear more, stay tuned and remember to write on the blog, I'm sure Mom will be checking it often over the next few days. 

Much love from the Burgh,

Adam

Tuesday appointment

Mom is still doing well and feeling stronger each day.  She had her appointment on Tuesday this week and had a bone marrow biopsy done.  We won't get the results of that until tomorrow or early next week.  On Tuesday her blood counts were still climbing well and the doctor was still very happy with everything she was seeing.  We're hopeful that the biopsy will come back with good news.  Until then, we continue to pray and thank God for the mighty work that He's already done in her.  Praise Him!

Mom & Cartlan (now 7 weeks old) visiting Grandma Emily