Update Jan 31 08

three months have gone by. it is hard to believe that january 2008 is history. a lot of other things are history now. a lot of pain that we somehow have to process. can only handle little chunks at a time. it is too overwhelming. need lots of energy to be at the hospital. a hospital that takes up a whole city block, full of people with cancer and all the people that it takes to run a place like that! sometimes it seems like everybody has cancer. in this circle that we are in now, they do.

ray is with renee at the hospital. ray finally made it back yesterday. his tuesday flight was cancelled due to a storm in chicago! how many times has this happened? he rebooked it flying through denver! he did not want to risk going through o'hare. going one hour forward and then two back! more air miles! he would likely have missed his flight anyway, so maybe it is good that it was cancelled. that business deal took almost to the last minute of the deadline to complete.

renee and i planned and cooked a special dinner for ray. something to focus on so as not become too overwhelmed. we have to find little things in the present to focus on.

on new year's eve when i was at home for a few days, a friend of mine and i were talking about different songs that have been a blessing to us . she mentioned "Turn Your eyes upon Jesus". i have been reminded of that quite frequently this past month.

renee is having a ct scan today to determine to what extent the infection in her lungs is gone. tomorrow they will repeat the bone marrow. the results of these tests will determine the next course of action. in the mean time she still has to go every day to get the anti-fungal medication, which can take any where from three to five hours depending on how many tests and other stuff that needs to be done.

more drama out there...several cop cars trying to get through the traffic on 68th...no easy job. fire station and police station both on 68th, the street we live on.

thank you so much for praying. we appreciate it more than words can tell. please continue to pray for our family at home. illness affects the whole family. kara is still agonizing about college/university for next year and is looking for a part time job. justin has his challenges with his job. thankful that he has a job. alayna has her challenges too. is enjoying her studies at u of w, working towards a major in literature. lots of reading to do.

martha
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Renee and I are sitting in the day hospital while she's getting her infusion of Amphotericin B Liposome. Dr Steinhertz just showed up to tell us that Renee's leukemia has returned again. They will do a bone marrow tap again tomorrow and start a new regimen of treatment. This will be different from previous procedures. They are growing specific cells from her Mom in the lab, but those are not yet ready to go so they are proposing a treatment that will control the leukemia without giving the lung infection a chance to take over.

Here is the plan- (I have no idea how to spell all those medical terms)
Topotikan every 7 days Vineralvin once @ week Thiatempa on Sunday all day. Chemo all week next week. A booster Bone Marrow transplant from her mom on Friday Feb 7. Bummer. Hopefully this will clear her leukemia, without causing GVH disease.

So this delays the real bone marrow transplant at least 8 weeks. It looks like we will be in New York for all of a year! Oh, Pray for healing! For patience! Why? Why? Why?

ray

ps this picture was taken at an Indian restaurant on Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg.