Tuesday,

Well it’s been a week since our visit to the Karmanos Cancer Center and we have had some time to let everything sink in a little on Bonnie’s bone marrow transplant. Thank you for your prayers as the overwhelming feeling that we had driving back home last week has diminished. We do, however, continually have to remind ourselves that God is in control and His plan for our lives is perfect and better than our own plans, even though it’s a daily challenge of accepting the fact. We are thankful for the comfort, strength and encouragement we find everyday in God’s word. Combined with the thousands of prayers being lifted up on our behalf, we find ourselves in a situation filled with peace and hope.

At this juncture, we are pretty much status quo from our update last Wednesday. Bonnie continues to gain more strength which has enabled us to do a few normal activities. We were able to attend church as a complete family this past Sunday for the first time since May 10th. Today Bonnie and the kids picked 20 pounds of blueberries. Please continue to pray for her increased strength as this is critical for her to be ready for the bone marrow transplant.

Bonnie’s hair continues to fall out slowly and her hands and feet are peeling once again and her fingers continue to be sensitive. Her sense of taste continues to be restored. We are thankful that she is in remission at this point.

Each Monday, we both go together to Sparrow Labs for our weekly blood draws (Bonnie also goes on Thursdays). Thus far we have yet to receive a call from our oncologist regarding the lab results which means our white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin levels are acceptable, which is an answer to prayer, particularly for Bonnie. The day Bonnie was discharged; she received a transfusion of platelets as they were still low, so to go for two weeks without a transfusion is a milestone.

We continue to pray that a bone marrow donor will be identified. Bonnie’s siblings are in the process of the HLA typing. This process takes approximately 14 days. If none of them match, then Karmanos will go to the national database to find a donor. We have had many people ask us where than can go to do the typing. For more information on the National Marrow Donor Program, go to www. marrow.org or call 800-MARROW-2. Our BMT coordinator at Karmanos gave us a telephone number for the local office in East Lansing. The number is 800.471.3020. There may be a cost to register, but wanted to get this information out to you all. Thank you to those who have expressed interest in joining the database.

As far as an update on me (Steve), I have been experiencing severe abdominal cramping since last Wednesday. The doctors believe this to be a side effect of the chemo treatment I had 12 days ago. Please pray that this will subside and that God will give me the strength to endure the discomfort.

Our strength today comes from Psalms 86:11-13 which says:

Teach (us) your way, O LORD,
that (we) may walk in your truth;
unite (our) heart(s) to fear your name.
(We) give thanks to you, O Lord (our) God, with (our) whole heart,
and (we) will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward (us);
you have delivered (our) soul(s) from the depths of Sheol.

Thank you once again for all your prayers and offer of support.

Steve and Bonnie