Hi all,

Mary is starting to tolerate food again - it is either bland or at times kind-of tasty which is an improvement from everything tasting terrible.  She is actually able to eat and keep it down, woot woot...  Mary has a great scalp - she looks so cute bald (potentially a benefit from a C-section birth, blessings from adversity).

The concerns are:
Mary is not making new blood at this point.  It has been almost 3 weeks since the chemo and still no positive signs in this area.  This could be do to the leukemia coming back already or her bone marrow is just to damages to produce blood at this point.  If the leukemia is back already they will start a new chemo regiment immediately, They are doing another bone marrow biopsy tomorrow to determine it this is the case.  If the marrow is just to damaged then they have a growth hormone that might help stimulate the blood production.  The big concern is the lack of white blood cells, infection fighters, and the toll it is having on her body which leads to the next concern.

Mary is coughing significantly.  They have done a CT scan and an x-ray to see if she has pneumonia.  The CT scan did not rule it out or show any significant reason to think she had it.  The x-ray results are not back yet.  If they can not tell from the x-ray they will be doing a lung scope, but she needs to have a higher platelet count before they can do that so that means a baggie or two of platelets - yummy yummy.

Other than that - she is a little down from all that has been happening.  She is morning the loss of being 18 and all the fun things that she should be doing at this time in her life.  The reality that her life has taken a dramatically different road than she had been planning has kind-of given her whiplash and that is catching up now.  Her big concern lately seems to be if she will be able to serve a mission since once she is in remission it will be 5 years before she is declared healed, but we have 3 years to figure that out.

One of the patients that Mary has become good friends with was released on probation last night.  Ann has been in and out for the past 14 weeks and has the childhood version of leukemia, even though she is considerably older than a child and, Mary, being relatively young still, having the more mature persons leukemia, has really bonded them.  It was difficult to see Ann move out and be the one stuck behind. 

So we are looking at at least 2 more weeks, best case scenario, before Mary is released from the hospital.  If the leukemia is back it will be much longer than that.  What ever happens, she is not in any pain, just minor discomfort, all her physical needs are being met, all her emotional needs are being addressed the best we can.  We still can go to church each week and partake of the sacrament.  We are so blessed to be here in Utah where we have the spiritual direction so close at hand and the priesthood all around us.  We just have remember that the road between here and being healed is being directed by Heavenly Father and we can endure it with his help.

All-in-all she is still smiling each day, She can't really laugh right now because that brings on the coughing attacks and then vomiting but I can still get a small chuckle out of her every now and then.   We were given a great book that we are saving for a later date when Mary can enjoy the book more fully, "Bullies in the Headlights" which is a sequel to "Chickens in the Headlights".  Chickens actually had me laughing my BOWELS out.  Thank you visiting teachers. 

Some fun things that happened this week:

Mary was tired of eating her hair that was falling out so she had her nurse shave it all off (no more hair balls).  The next day she wore her buffalo hat to walk the halls.  One group of Doctors finishing up rounds stopped, nudged the person next to them, smiled at her and gave her thumbs up.  Several other members of the staff, as well as family members of other patients laughed and joked around with her and it really lightened the mood of the whole floor.  Thank you Tiina Geddes for the great hat, it caused a stir if not a stampede.

In church on Sunday Mary's IV stand started to beep during the sacrament prayer (her platelets bag was empty).  Luckily there was a nurse right behind us that jumped up and pushed a few buttons to silence it.  Then after the sacrament was over she once again came to Mary''s aid and made several more adjustments with the bags and machine to make sure Mary was OK and the machine was happy too, and so the meeting went on.    Where else but in Utah could that have happened, first of all to have meetings, and the sacrament, at the hospital but then to have medical professionals attending that can care for you on the spot.  One thing that was very notable was that it didn't matter to anyone that patients were in hospital gowns toting IV poles and medical personnel and family members were not wearing your typical Sunday attire, what mattered was that we were all there to partake of the sacrament and grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.  None of us were concerned that so and so had a different hair style (bald with a cap to stay warm) or so and so was wearing Levis and tennis shoes.  What mattered most was that we were bothers and sisters in the gospel there to grow closer to our Father and Brother and for the spirit to testify of their love for us.  We are soooo soooo blessed to live in this area.

"Chickens in the Headlights" by Matthew Buckley...This book is about a city family that moves to the country and their experiences on a  farm.  It is absolutely hilarious and had several scenes that were very similar to some events in my youth.  In particular, the unpredictable nature of livestock while transporting them in the family car/van.  There are many other Laugh out Loud moments, even my parents were laughing.  A great book for young and old.  An easy read.  Available at Amazon.com. as well as other online book sellers.  Barnes and Noble and Amazon have the sequel "Bullies in the Headlights".  

Love always,
Deb