Saturday,

Day 47. I (Bonnie) have indeed turned the corner for the positive in this phase of my treatment. Today my WBC registered at 1500, up from 800 yesterday. The Neutrophils are holding steady at about 80% of those WBC and there hasn’t been any sign of blasts (leukemia cells) thus far which is truly an answer to prayer. My platelets were low again so I had another transfusion of those today. Please pray for wisdom for us on the next steps as my WBC count continues to climb. Once I’m at 10.000, I will be transitioning to the bone marrow transplant phase.

Please pray that my body will absorb more protein in both the food IV as well any normal protein I may eat. The doctor has increased the amount of protein in the food IV. The lack of protein being absorb is causing my stomach to protrude and be bloated. I feel like I’m 4 months pregnant but this should subside once my body begins to absorb the protein.

I haven’t gotten back to walking laps, but do get out of the room in a wheel chair a couple of times each day. The last couple of days have been challenging for Steve to assist me because of the ongoing constipation due to the pain medication he needs to take to relieve the pressure in his sacrum. He has tried every physician regiment and is now taking the strongest medicine to counter the constipation, but nothing seems to work. The cramping is so intense it comes right through the pain medication. Pray that he will have relief and that somehow he can manage both this issue and the pain at the same time.

We have to continue to trust God that He knows best for our situation, although it is easy to become discouraged when I (Steve) want to jump up and help Bonnie yet have to fight through the pain caused by both the sacrum as well as the constipation. We know life is full of heartaches and issues. Some of them are brought on by ourselves and others things that happen are out of our control. It’s so easy to want to be in control of the situation even when we recognize God is in control; such as, I (Steve) want to continue doing everything for Bonnie as I was before and now God is saying “no”. I have to understand that I am “but a vapor”, but God knows who I am because of His love and kindness and we need to be in awe of who God is to better put into perspective the “little” things I’m trying to control here on earth. Amos 4:13 says:

For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, the Lord God of hosts is His name.

And Jeremiah 51:15 says:

It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding he stretched out the heavens.

Please pray that we find comfort in God because of His holiness and who He is and that He will be glorified in all of our actions, not just how we’re handling this situation, but that it will be sustained for years to come.

Thanks for your care!