Great Time.....

 This is an old picture from a previous 4th of July. Sister Pam, me , daughters Angie and Liz.

 This is Ted and I with great grandson Max when he was a baby. He is 3 1/2 now. So these pictures are 3 years old.  I still have not found any more pictures . Have not tried to load any from my camera.  Scared of what might happen.
    We had a great fourth at my daughter Angie's  house. 58 people where there running in and out and playing in the yard and eating in the house and garage. The big kids played corn hole, the little ones played in the wading pool outside and lots of us right there playing with them.  Then there was lego building inside, coloring books and many other toys.
  My brother George and his wife Sally came all the way from Alabama to join us. We laughed, told stories on one another . The fellows told their golf and fishing stories.  Recipes were exchanged among the women.
  We had so much fun  and good foods.  But mostly we had family love to share. I am not sure if big brother will come all the way from Alabama  again.
 Ted did very well on the 4th and yesterday. No one was sick, so he could take his mask off. limited his hugs. Hoping the weekend will be good. Monday is the start of a week of chemo infusions.  Please keep us in your prayers. I am so very grateful to all of you. XO

Now What ????

 I know I must be the unluckiest person ever at this time. Just got my computer back . A power gltch took out the hard drive. A new one is in and so is window's 10 latest upgrade. Now I have no addresses, no windows email, no pictures , except for some old ones. I just had about an hour on the phones with the Geek support group....this after bringing my computer home from the Kokomo store. Gaaa...why?
  Ted had an appointment yesterday at the bone marrow clinic. Next week is a week of driving over an hour each way, everyday....so Ted can get chemo infusions for maintenance. We were not expecting this just yet.  His counts go up and down. His kidneys did perfect for a week without the cyclosporine. ..Now he is back on that med.  Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you so much.
 We will be going to a family outing at my daughter Angie's for the 4th. It will be good to get hugs and see the little ones. I miss them all. Ted has his days. One day good ,next day feeling low. The dr. says it's normal what he is going thru.
   Wishing all of you lots of fun family moments this week. Bless you. XO

The Happenings Thursday....

  Thursday started nice enough.  Ted had an appointment with his bone marrow doctor. His labs showed that his counts are in the normal range....hooray for that. One test showed he had to be taken off one of the water pills for a few days.  He will have a lab work here in Tipton and the results will be faxed to Dr. Tandra at the bone marrow clinic.  They will call to let us know when to resume that water pill. Ted's hemoglobin is 8.8 , it should be between 13 and 17.  We feel things are  looking up.

  Last week there was a free ice cream fair for cancer survivors. The nurse said Ted's doctor went to the little treat wagon twice. LOL.

  When my daughter Liz sent this picture to Ted and I , we talked about it with pride. It's our granddaughter Emma at her job. She works at a little sandwich shop in her town.

  This picture did indeed make me cry. Emma , my little crafting buddy, baking pal, over night slumber girl, is giving a thumbs up pose.....she just got her beginner's permit to learn to drive.  Where did the time go?  I feel time is cruel in many ways. We can never  get it back. Please hang on to your children and grandchildren tightly....they are growing up .

 Oh yes, this picture made me almost want to cry...but what can one do??? Our AC gave out  and with Ted having a bone marrow transplant we are not allowed to use fans...we have to have AC, so this is the new unit put in two days ago.
  Our household luck is as bad as it can get. New roof, new water heater, a furnace repair in the month of Feb. and now a new AC unit. The household account is running out.
   We are just so thankful to all of  you for your healing prayers. I will keep you posted about what Ted's next lab work shows. He is still low on energy, but the lab counts should start to change that soon. Sure hope so. Thank you everyone for the prayers. Blessings.  XO

Better Days....

  Ted and I are home. We got to come home on Friday afternoon, right after Ted's doctor's appointment.  His  next appointment will be this Wednesday.  His lab numbers were decent and the doctor thought he was ahead of everything by a week, that's great.

 I went to the local dollar store and picked up this cute box that says it all, right on top.

 It holds all of Ted's meds now. The drs say his meds will change weekly or monthly.

 This is what our dining table looks like till I can get more organized. To think I truly used to be a very well organized person...not anymore. Yikes.

 My daughters have come to visit this weekend and each has brought food items for us. Today Liz brought an awesome lasagna. We divided it into small containers to freeze. As Ted can not eat left overs that would be older than one day.  He has had banana bread, his favorite from Karen (Liz's twin) Ted is doing well with his meds and his eating...but lacks energy. He is starting to walk around the house on the inside , just to get a bit of exercise. That's a start.

 The catalpa tree has bloomed and is dropping it's blossoms like snow.

 The clematis has bloomed also and looking very pretty.

 Even the honeysuckle has started to grow again.  thought it had died out last year.  It's been raining the past two days and now this afternoon the skies are clearing. Looks  pretty with all the trees leafed out and everything so green.
  I want to thank all of you for your good wishes and prayers for us. We are thankful to all. May you each be blessed. XO

Weekend Pass....

  Ted was allowed a weekend pass home. He was very happy about that. I see glimpses of energy here and there, it does last long at this time.

  This s the shuttle that comes for us at the apartment near the hospital and takes us to appointments.  Such a handy transportation.

  This is a poster at the bone marrow clinic in the hospital. The picture is of  Dr.Anand Tandra, Ted's doctor. He is one of four in this group. All are so smart and truly caring.

  When Ted has to take more pills than ever in his life and the pill holders are not near big enough. So I just used a big picnic paper plate to hold his meds for each day. There's morning, afternoon, evening and bedtime. I have read named the sections a couple times.  I will have to get a bigger holder. This is time consuming and that is because I double check . All the long twisted names of meds, confusing...and some drs. use the product name .

 Near the last two days of Ted's hospital stay after a big rain, there was a rainbow ...I took it as a sign of great hope.

 Then that evening there was a beautiful full moon. A day later, we  transferred to the out of hospital housing. So near by and helpful.  This is all paid for by donations. I think this will be one of our favorite charities.

 This is our other one, Cystic Fibrous Foundation. Today is a walk for our great grandson Luke. I was sure hoping to be able to join everyone, but it just didn't work out.  Luke's aunt made up T-shirts to help raise money. It did raise hundreds of dollars. How wonderful.  Please pray for the children.
   Ted will have two more appointments this coming week. Then I think we will be allowed to return home . He will have weekly appointments, then it will be monthly.  Ted has done amazingly well with this transplant. It is a long process ...lots of tests and meds. He has to shower daily , take care of his dental hygiene, and always be on the look out for anything different occurring with his body. The doctors are happy with the results. I am so thankful to all of you for prayers and well wishes. Thankful God has shown us mercy and love.  XO

What's Been Happening....

  This is the board they put Ted's counts on. He got platelets today.  The white blood cells are going up a wee bit.

 Ted ran the clippers over his head today,, his hair was starting to fall out.  I kind of thought he would not have to do this.

  Got a sweet card from Layla.  Her mommy makes little dash letters and lets Layla draw over them . So sweet.

  I missed the 5th grade class picnic this year. I felt sad about that, I been helping Angie with this for years.  Here's the class on a climbing rock in the park.

  My granddaughter Lynzie, here with Luke (g.grandson) and Angie...helped out . She brought her boys, Luke  and  Max, and also brought Layla. They had a chilly but fun day.

  On Mother's day , my daughter Kathy picked me up to go to lunch and then we walked and saw 4 great horned owls. You may be able to make out two of them , sorry not such a good photo. But it was exciting to see them.

 This is what I see while in the hospital with Ted.....long lines of traffic backed up on hwy 65.  Hope all those people made a pit stop before this.
   Ted will be going to the off site place soon. For about 2 to 3 weeks. With two or three appts back to the hospital each week. Praying no emergency runs at all.
  I am so thankful for my grandson staying at the house and the neighbors helping with the yard.  There's a lot to keeping things up. I am thanking all of you for your wonderful prayers and good thoughts.  There are times when I think I can not take another day of this....but some how some way I get just enough push to continue. I can almost see the good side of this journey. Bless all of you. XO

Bone Marrow Transplant....

  This is the bag of stem cells and red blood cells, over 1100 cc.'s.  It was delayed  because of the airport....so Ted got started at 4:40 am  instead of 3:00 am. We do not know the donor. It was a 26 year old man, from Europe. We are so very grateful for his kindness.  Males are preferred, ages 18 to 44 years.

  Ted decided to just try to sleep. He had had five days of chemo and a radiation the day before.

 He gives his  "V"on to Victory sign. He has stayed positive which is truly helping.

 I have to wear a mask and gloves while in the room...even sleeping in these. For I stay with him in his room.

  This is his blood works. W=white cells really low now. H=hemoglobin really at a good number still. P=platelets, which is dropping . The drs. say Ted is on track and yet some think he is doing much better than most.

 I came home for a couple days to do laundry, make household payments, pay the roofer as he did finish while I was gone.  I took the longest hottest shower I could stand when I got home. Those G.I. baths are not enough. (baby wipes) I came home to spring . The crabapple has bloomed.

 The flowering plum bush. too.

 The neighbor's dogwood tree is so pretty. The apple and pear trees also.

 My lilacs are the best they have ever been.

 The little red Japanese maple looks good too. The skies are just wonderful the past three days.

 Ted's son sent this picture to me. This is Ted today. Heath and his wife Nowal went to spend the day with Ted. The dr. told Ted today he was doing very well. He looks very good here. , he had just walked the halls. He has to wear a mask and gloves when he goes into the halls.
   Thank you Nana Diana for your prayer requests. We are so very grateful to all who have prayed for Ted. You mean the world to us. Please keep helping us thru this . Thank you. XO