Round 2 Medical Update

First off, Joyce is back to her old self again. It appears that the fainting spell was due to nothing other than low blood pressure. Joyce thinks it was due to dehydration from having an allergic reaction that day. After they gave her fluids she seemed to have no further problems. So she's back to her usual agenda, taking care of the people around her, working in the garden, and just enjoying life.

For me things are a little bit more complicated. I'm in a lot less pain and nausea. That's a very good thing. The immunotherapy seems to be working very well. The doctors expected the pain and nausea to go down even during the first week after chemo and it is. I'm still struggling a little bit with digestive issues, but these are getting much better. I'm hoping in the next two weeks that the pain and nausea will completely disappear. I am struggling with some back stiffness and soreness issues. I was wondering when this was going to happen since I've spent almost 9 months flat on my back. I'm still trying to figure out ways to work through this. The edema also seems to be improving slightly. For the first time since I was diagnosed, I've been able to sleep some on my side, which provides some relief to my back. So these are all good things and show improvement. I can tell people are praying for me and I appreciate it.

Plans are moving forward for the stem cell transplant. We've made our arrangements with Stanford for our consultation with the doctors and social worker. We will be down there on September 6th all afternoon. My second round of chemo will be September 8th. I know I'm not sure what will happen after that but I know there will be some kind of assessment and then we will hopefully go right into the transplant process. That means they will have to harvest the stem cells ASAP and store them for later transplant. After that I'm not sure how the schedule goes. Joyce and I appreciate your prayers. We are very encouraged to have such a large and worldwide prayer team behind us.