Monday, May 3, 2010

May 3, 2010

This is an update to all our wonderful friends and family. We were reminded two weeks ago Wednesday, as I had an unexpected stay at Sparrow Hospital, that we hadn’t updated our blog in quite awhile. Our wonderful nursing staff took great care of me again and we got caught up on the latest happenings in their lives in the last 8 months. Lisa got a promotion, Brenda can still see in the dark and Carly’s smile is still contagious! I think we got to see everyone. Steve and I were glad to be sent home on Friday after a chest x-ray, sinus CT scan and a few IV bags of Vancomycin and some other strong antibiotic. For all of you who didn’t know, but were still faithfully praying for me, I have been fighting an ongoing cough/sinus cold for 8 weeks. I feel fine, just a little tired since my Bone Marrow Transplant team has reduced my steroids which gave me energy to burn. I was on an antibiotic for 6 days when Wednesday, April 21st, I spiked a fever of 101.6. We are suppose to go to Karmanos for a full battery of tests whenever it goes above 100.5, so we had to decide if we should make the trip to Detroit or get them done locally. After about an hour of prayer and Steve’s call for an available bed we headed back to 5 West at Sparrow. The girls there were already for me and vitals were taken right away and guess what, no fever! They drew blood, took blood cultures to see if anything would grow, did a chest x-ray, and a CT scan on my sinuses. By Thursday afternoon all the results came back negative. Steve laughed and proceeded to compare me to taking his car in to the mechanic when you hear a squeak and the mechanic call and tells you he has driven it several times and can’t seem to find a problem. We don’t know why, but God does, and it was nice to walk in and see everyone on 5 West, but home was so sweet!

I am down to having appointments every 3 weeks at Karmanos and they continue to reduce my immune-suppressant drugs as my body starts to become friends with my new bone marrow. These suppressants are what keep me out of crowds and public places without a mask on. It’s not the places that give me the colds, it’s what my family brings home. They have a cold for 3 or 4 days and I keep them 2 weeks, with this current one at 8 weeks. Continue to pray for the health of my family and that my liver enzymes will continue to stay normal. When the enzymes go up, they will increase my medications to settle down the Graft-Host Disease, which results in a longer recovery and no crowds. Either way we know that we are getting the best care, as God is in charge of both Steve and my health.

Update on Steve. He has had two PET scans and one CT scan since his last radiation treatment at the end of September. Things continue to stay in remission and no signs of any tumor growth on his sacrum. We are so blessed and are ready to for an uninterrupted celebration May 12th, Callie’s 15th birthday. That will be 1 year ago that I was admitted to the hospital and missed the end of her day. We are looking forward to a strong and healthy summer with family that we have missed dearly - Fourth of July at Lake Charlevoix and a Gray Family reunion in Gaylord.

Our family continues to look for a “new” normal as we daily look to God for wisdom and guidance. One thing is for certain; our faith is so much deeper and our trust in His sovereign will is so much stronger than a year ago. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have daily trials, or tough decisions continually looming at our door, because we do. Both Steve and I get discouraged with our limitations and how everything has changed. But we hold fast to scripture like Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.” With that in the forefront of our minds, our family responds differently to those daily decisions.

One last thing. We’re so thankful for Steve’s cousin Susan who ran the Flying Pig half marathon this past Sunday for the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society’s Team in Training. She and her daughter Jenny ran in the rain early Sunday morning in Cincinnati in our honor and we have attached a picture of them in this blog post.









Once again, thank you for all of your support through prayer and words of encouragement.

Love Bonnie (and Steve too!)