Helllo everyone. Feel free to share this with others.

I'll get my 3 chemo round on Friday, then Sat and Sun (in patient at Huntsman). My cell counts have been low, that is why its been a few weeks since I've had chemo.

Then, the 2 week of June, they will start to harvest my bone marrow. They will take my stem cells and freeze them, they will also decide if they can use my stem cells or if things will work better if they use my brothers stem cells. He is a match.

Then, after my cell counts come up I'll get my 4th chemo.

After cell counts come back up, I'll go into the hospital (for a month) and then recieve chemo for 6 days straight. This is the one that will kill my bone marrow, white blood cells. Then I get 1 day of rest, then they will give me my stem cells back.
I have to be monitored for then next few weeks to make sure everything is going well. My body is creating white cells, bone marrow is growing.
During this time I'm at risk for infection, getting sick, and having my body reject the stem cells. Patients have died due to their body rejecting the stem cells during and after having a bone marrow transplant. This does make me nervous, they almost killing me, then saving my life.

We are all in the Lord's hands through our entire life so I shouldn't be scared. He is watching over all of us and blessing and helping us.This is getting my attention. I do have faith that everything will be fine. I'll also get a priesthood blessing before the 6 days of chemo. I just take things one day at a time.
I'm very grateful to all the support my family and I are recieving, we don't have room to recieve it.

Hopefully this is helpful info. I'm never sure what people want to know or how much they want to know.

Thanks for your support.

God does live. Jesus did suffer for our sins and pains. The church is true. We do have living prophet Pres. Thomas S. Monson. The Book of Mormon is true. The priesthood is real. And cancer sucks.

Stew

I'll try to keep this up to date.

I'll describe what its like so far with my treatments.

I had my second chemo treat about 10 days ago. My counts have dropped. This means that my white and red blood cells, and platelet counts have dropped very low. I had to have 2 units of blood giving to me yesterday to help bring the counts up. I do feel better today.
With my counts being so low, this means I can get sick very easily (fevers, infections) and if I cut myself I can bleed and have a hard time stopping the bleeding. I also, don't have much energy, I can walk down my street and back, then I need a rest.

With my counts being so low, this means that I'll probably have to wait until next week to get my 3 round of chemo. My chemo takes 3 days to give. They start on Thursday, I get 2 different bags, this takes 3-4 hours to give me through my port. I have a 3 prong port that was implanted on my right side. This makes taking lab work and giving meds so much nicer. I don't have to get stuck with a needle every time I need something. Then I go back on Friday and get checked in to the hospital from Friday to Saturday. The next 2 drugs take 24 hours to give me.

For the next 3-4 days I'm sick to my stomach, tired, and my body aches all over.

Don't ever take your health for granted. Its a blessing to be able to work and do things around your house. Its not fun sitting around all day and having to be very careful about not getting sick.

The Lord is blessing my family and I. He is helping up through this. We sometimes think about why am I going through this, did I do something wrong, am I being punished.
I've learned, from people much wiser than I, that this what we signed up for when we agreed to come to earth. All these trials, experiences, good and bad, are for our experiences and learning. They benefit us and those around us. They can make us stronger if we let them. Having cancer has forced me to rely fully on the Lord. Our life is in his hands. He is in control and we will not leave our sides. We walks with us and even carries us at times. He is always there.

So, its up to us on how we will go through this life and our trials. Having a postive attitude and taking things one day at a time helps. Let others help you when you need it. Never give up, fight the good fight.

Sorry for the long e-mail.

Have a great day, keep smiling.