HE NEVER SAID IT WOULD BE EASY......

Our Friday began very well. We met with the Orthopedic Dr. at 8:00 AM and after reviewing our MRI he told us that the damaged area of Sharon's hips was very small and would most likely heal itself over the next several months. That made for a very happy drive to the City of Hope for the rest of our appointments. Our euphoria was not to last. Dr. Stein, our oncologist delivered the devastating news that Sharon's bone marrow biopsy showed that her cancer had relapsed and that we had about 16% Leukemic cells. Not something that we wanted to hear at all. We then pursued our options and they appear to be this. We will begin Chemotherapy again on July 8 on an outpatient basis. That will last for one week and then we will wait for three weeks and have another bone marrow test. If we can get the cancer back into remission we will then have a second bone marrow transplant. We have had to deal with a lot as we've processed this news, certainly we had hoped for a much different result. The path ahead will not be easy but we know that with the help of the Savior and with the combined faith and prayers of our family and our many friends that it will be possible.
Greg pointed out a very appropriate scripture in the Book of Mormon. In Mosiah Alma and his people are being subjected to hardship from the Lamanites. In Chapter 24 verse 14 the Lord responds to the silent prayers of the people by promising them that "I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." In verse 15 it says that "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alama and his bretheren were made light; yea the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." Then when delivered from bondage (in verse 21) it says "they poured out their thanks to God because he had been merciful unto them, and eased their burdens, and had delivered them out of bondage for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God."
We as a family know of a surety that The Lord does visit His people in their afflictions and that only He, the Lord, can deliver us. We are committed to cheerfully and patiently "MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAGA!!!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday dad! We love you so much and appreciate all you do for us. Thanks for being an awesome example to all these little grandkiddies!!

As the norm, Luke tends to shy away from group photos...so here's a cute one of you and him!

And the 2 newbies......Axel and Max!!

WE LOVE YOU PAGA!

TREADING WATER

I have heard some comments about people checking the blog and finding no new updates. I guess I have been remiss because this week we have pretty much been treading water. We have an appointment tomorrow at the City of Hope and they will do another Bone Marrow Biopsy to determine whether we were able to get rid of the abnormal cells by taking Sharon off all of her imune-supprescent drugs. The results will take at least one week to get back from the lab. On Friday we will have an orthopedic consult to see where we go as far as the avascular necrosis is concerned. On Sunday Sharon was able to attend Sacrament Meeting for the first time in several months. She was excited to be there and really appreciated the warm reception of our ward family.

This is a critical week in our recovery process. We approach with faith in our Heavenly Father and a knowledge that with all of your faith and prayers we can beat this challenge. We love and appreciate you all and continue "TO MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Never ones to be superstitious we gave no thought to going to the clinic on Friday the 13th to celebrate our 100th day post transplant. Little did we know! This was not the best day in our trek to recovery. Sharon has had some pain in her hips that has made walking difficult. On Monday they took x-rays and today did an MRI. The diagnosis Avascular Necrosis, a deterioration of the top of the Femur at the Hip Joint, brought on by taking Prednisone to stop the Graft vs Host disease. The eventual outcome will probably have to be hip replacement,but we will know more after an orthopedic consultation. That was not the end of the bad news for the day. They finally got the results of the Chromosome tests and they showed that there was one abnormal female cell among the cells tested. The concern here is relapse and so they have taken her off the immune suppressant drugs in hopes that the donor cells will attack and kill the abnormal ones. The problem with that is it increases the possibility of more GVH. Oh well, darned if you do, darned if you don't. Of course this not the news we hoped for and we were pretty devastated. But as we reflect on the faith and prayers that have brought us this far, we can only have the faith that the Lord will continue to work miracles in our lives. We will have another bone marrow in two weeks and we will then know more of where we're going.

Again we thank you for your faith and prayers and want you to know that we "CONTINUE TO WALK FORWARD IN FAITH."

The picture is the Pasadena Stake Center where Sharon attended church as a child and young woman. It was built by her father when he was Bishop of the East Pasadena Ward. The building held its last services as an LDS chapel two weeks ago. There are now no chapels in the city of Pasadena.

MORE GOOD NEWS

Last Friday the Doctor decided to do a bone marrow biopsy since we are approaching our 100 day mark. Yesterday we got the partial results. The bone marrow shows no Leukaemia cells and still 100% donor cells. Of course we are very excited and delighted that we are about one third of the way through our first year with no relapse. They are still somewhat concerned about the slowness of the graft and gave her a shot of Nupregen to boost her white count and try and nudge things along. They won't have all the tests back for another week, especially those that determine her chromosome counts. This will tell more regarding the graft. We are still on schedule to be home on Fathers Day. We appreciate all your faith and prayers and continue to "MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

The picture is of our home in Monrovia where we lived from 1970-72 Greg was born while we were there.