The one about the transplant is a go.....and my next two weeks are crazy.

Jay's new updates:

March 1st, '05:

Jay's transplant has been approved by the insurance!!!!!
We are now waiting for a few things. Jay had blood work done Mon. to look for infectious disease markers so they know what he is susceptible to. He will also have to have a pulmonary test and a muga scan (heart function) before he can proceed.

DG called this afternoon and said that have to have him come to Pittsburgh in order to get the blood work done here because they don't trust other labs because they don't deal with transplants.
DG and Tiffany will be here on the 8th and 9th. DG will have to return to Sante Fe because they don't know when the transplant will happen. He will need to come back up for it. Originally they were going to ship a kit to his Doctor in Santa Fe but decided against it. DG will be in Lexington KY the week he has to come here and he is going to drive up and back.

Jay is in terrible pain from his shoulder again and the Dr. just called to triple his pain medication. He really doesn't want to be admitted but if the increased medication doesn't do the trick I will be taking him in tonight. He is set to be in short stay tomorrow for radiation and another lumbar puncture. We cancelled the radiation appointment this morning since he had been up all night, was in so much pain and the weather was bad. The tech said that skipping one day was not an issue.

I also got a call this afternoon from my Doctor's office telling me that my infusion next week has been cancelled since the medication has been pulled form the market because someone died who had been on the medication long term. I have to go back on the once a week injection. This was not happy news for me.

That's all for now.

Thanks,
Sheila

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MARCH 2ND 2005!!!!:

TRANSPLANT STARTS SATURDAY!

They rushed his transplant to today, They called DG and had him go to Albquerque for the infectious disease markers today.
They ran more blood work on Jay today and he will get the set up marks for the full body radiation on Friday after his standard treatment.
He will be getting high doses of cytoxin and full body radiation to kill his existing bone marrow. He didn't not have radiation with his last transplant.
This will start Saturday and will be given over the coarse of next week. Monday, DG will start his neupogen shots. They are shipping them to him in Lexington, KY where he is going for a conference.
He will drive from Lexington to Pittsburgh and be here for Friday the 11th when his stem cells will be extracted. They will freeze them and Saturday they will inject them into Jay. He will probably be watched for a few days. He will need to be brought into the hospital EVERY day for at least 2 weeks after that.

Jay's parents will be here Saturday and will stay as long as they need to.

His Doctor told him today this is the most aggressive cancer he has ever seen and that is why he wants it expedited.

Tomorrow, I am taking him for a day on the town. We will go or do anything he feels up to doing since it will be a very long time until he can do anything for a while. Most likely it will be a window shopping trip to Best Buy.

Well, here we go.

Thanks to all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers and please continue to do so over the next several weeks.
You are all truly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sheila

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Tiffany and I are traveling Thursday evening to her parent's house. (drop off the Dog and Cat) and then we drive to Sacramento Camp to do the Jr. High camp over the weekend...Then we leave Sunday morning and drive to El Paso (closest airport) fly to KY for Methodist conference stuff, have two meetings on Monday and Tuesday, then drive to Pittsburgh (9 hr. drive). once in Pitt then I continue to take shots in my stomach (all part of the bone marrow transplant stuff...I take 1-2 shots in my stomach each day for 5 days and then they harvest my stem cells out of my blood stream until they have enough...then they freeze my stem cells, and give them to Jay during the transplant.) So While I am at these meetings in KY I am taking shots and then Tiffany and I drive the rental car up to Pitt, and they keep an eye on me and Jay....then Tiffany has to leave on Thursday to drive back to KY and fly back to El Paso on Friday, then drive back to Lovington to get the dog and cat, then drive back to Santa Fe....and then she waits for me until I get back....all the while I will be gone during Holy Week, the Holiest part of the Christian Calendar, and the Sr. Pastor is doing everything...and I feel bad about that, but I will do ANYTHING for my brother and anything it takes I will do. So, I will probably wait around until we know that the transplant worked ad the fly back to Albuquerque...with money that God will have to provide, heh. (I am sure He will and all things will be just fine.....

So needless to say my next few weeks are going to be CRAZY! But, I beg each of you to please keep your prayers focused on Jay please.....

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so....most of my blog posts will be from my cell over the next couple of days, and I am not sure if I will even have cell coverage @ the camp...so be patient, and thank you all so much for your prayers and I can not tell you how much I love and appreciate you and your thoughts and prayers!

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"Darwin award winner runner-up"

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Much love....peace.....

KUTPs!!!!!!!!!!!!