Merry Christmas!!!

Once again, I'm behind on writing this, but better late than never...

We finally got released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon after a very very long 9 days. On Wednesday he had another lumbar puncture along with another unit of blood transfused. The lumbar puncture went well, although he is now having headaches again because of it. We also found out that Brian is allergic to some of the chemo that was in the second round (and will also be in the 4th and 6th rounds). The rash that he developed after the chemo iv had started to subside, then within a few hours of getting the same chemo injected in his spine during the lumbar puncture, it got a thousand times worse. His entire body was covered in a red rash and he described the pain as a million fire ants crawling on him all stinging him at once. He tried several different medications trying to ease the pain, but the only thing that worked was to give him some pain meds that knocked him out so he wouldn't think about it. The rash is starting to go away now and the itching only lasted for 2-3 days, but he will probably have to endure this during the 4th and 6th rounds of chemo as well since they can't just not give the chemo. They will just have to try to treat the symptoms and hope it isn't as bad as last time.

We also had to go back for a blood test on Saturday to see what his levels were at and we were hoping if they were close to normal we would be able to go home for Christmas. Unfortunately, his white blood cell count and his platelet count were extremely low, so we were advised to stay here. We didn't want to get to Dallas and Brian get a fever or something go wrong and have to go to a local hospital where they didn't have his records or know how to treat him. The dr also set him up with an appt this morning to go in again for his blood counts. Unfortunately again, his counts had dropped even more and his immune system is at a 0.9 and his platelet count is at a 17. After getting these results, we are glad we decided to stay close to the hospital here. They have adjusted his medications with hopes that his counts will increase with time. He also has another appt Thurs morning to get his blood count again to see if he will need a transfusion. He is borderline right now with his platelets, so we are keeping a close watch and are ready to go to the ER if need be. We will be taking as many precautions as we can and will be spending Christmas wearing masks to try to prevent infections. Other than that, we will try to have a normal Christmas, Brian's dad got here last night and my mom, dad, and brother will be coming today. Although there isn't a Christmas tree, and won't be that many presents, there will definitely be a lot of food and the best gift of all is getting to spend time with our families during this wonderful holiday.

God also answered a prayer yesterday by providing us with another apartment. We are currently in a nice apartment, but it is owned by a corporate apartment leasing company and the rent is really expensive. We had put our names on a list for the church apartment ministry and typically the waiting list is several months long, but we were called with an apartment for us after only 1 month! The rent is less than half as much, which is definitely an answer to prayers. Better yet, we can move in starting Wednesday which coincides with the date our lease is up on our current apartment. My family will also be able to stay an extra day to help us move and get settled in our new place. Our new address starting Wednesday will be:

Brompton Court Apartments
7520 Brompton Road, Apt # 684
Houston, TX 77025

They should be forwarding our mail from this address to our new apartment, so hopefully we will still get anything that has already be sent.

I think that concludes everything from our busy week. I hope everyone has a great, terrific, wonderful Christmas and remembers to be thankful for everything that God has blessed us with over the past year. Merry Christmas!!!