Gearing up for next week....

We are still in the hospital. Danny has been able to eat small amounts of broth and such type foods. He cant seem to shake the nausea so his eating is real dependant on how he feels. He is still receiving all of his nausea medications and for now things are a bit better.

He still has a low grade fever and is still receiving antibiotics to treat the infection (which we are still not sure what we are fighting). His white blood count has increased since yesterday so the Neupogen shot is definitely doing its job. You can tell it starts to work quickly because this shot causes pretty tough bone pain. Danny needed pain medicine yesterday about 3 hours after the shot to help cope with that pain.

Danny's blood pressure was very low this morning (82/32) so they are giving him extra fluids to try to help with dehydration. Since he has not been able to receive the TPN feedings his fluid intake was low and his caloric & nutrient intake has been almost nothing. We expect he will start the TPN feedings once his port a cath is in place. The doctor has requested that the surgeon insert the port a cath tomorrow as they expect his white blood count to be back in safe range.

It appears we may be here through the weekend and will start the chemo here in the hospital. One good side of that is that we will be here and have the constant medical care through his week of treatment. Maybe we will be ahead of the game instead of playing catch up after the treatment. Our hope is that he will recover much quicker after the treatment and go home with a couple of good weeks before his last round of treatment. Please pray with us that will be the case.

We are doing well. Tonight will be our 15th night in the hospital and the Lord has continued to be merciful to us in so many ways. Our needs are being met on so many different levels. I know we have to be some of the most blessed people on earth because we have such wonderful supportive friends & family. This fight would be much tougher without you. We thank the Lord everyday for each of you.

We have had many visits that have been uplifting and encouraging. We thank you for taking your time to come and show your support. We had a very special visit today. A co-worker and friend of Danny's came by today, Velma. She is such a sweet spirit and a testimony of the Lord's grace. She is a cancer survivor! She has been in remission for a while now and the wounds from battle were still fresh... but that did not keep her from encouraging Danny and giving praise to the Lord for her healing. We know that so many of us have been affected by cancer in some way. I lost my Mother to cancer just 2 years ago. We have a friend that found out yesterday she has breast cancer. It is all around us... we dont understand why. We can look at each situation and say why we feel it is a shame, the timing is not good, they have small children, they just retired, they are too young or have a new grandchild on the way, any number of reasons... we will never know why... but we do know the fight is extremely tough and without the Lord, for us it would almost impossible. We have complete peace in knowing that Jesus is in control and He loves Danny and will give him the strength to fight through the tough times. Thank the Lord His mercies are new EVERY morning!