It’s been since July that I last posted on here I think. It’s been a rough several months for my family. My twenty year old daughter went to sleep on the night of July 3, she died in her sleep of a dissection of her aorta sometime during the night. She was a wonderful child, never caused my wife and I any trouble. She was a full time college student working 30 hours a week. She was beautiful, smart, funny and caring. She was a real pleasure to spend time with unlike some kids her age. Her friends asked her what she wanted to do for her 21st birthday she said she wanted to go to the movies, come home and bake chocolate chip cookies. If you’ve never lost a child I can tell you the emotional pain is unbearable. To this day I walk around feeling like I’ve been kicked in the gut. Words cannot describe how much she is missed.

We really didn’t have much time to grieve as on August 10th my wife was diagnosed with cancer which turned out to be an aggressive form of leukemia. She started chemo and in September she had a bad reaction to the chemo that left her with stroke like symptoms. It affected her speech, her balance, her fine motor skills involving her hands, could not walk. With physical therapy she has improved some but still has a ways to go. Because of the continuous chemo, every two steps forward she made in physical therapy she would take one step back after the chemo. She had to have a rod put in her femur due to the cancer which also affected her walking. It’s been a long road, she’s had over 70 doctor appointments since it all started and spent a total of eight weeks in the hospital receiving chemo. She’s had two bone marrow biopsies and one pet scan and she was totally cancer free on those tests. Today she had her bone marrow transplant at Vanderbilt, a few times I questioned whether or not it would happen because of the side effects she had from the chemo. The donor who is a young male turned out to be a 12/12 match, hopefully with the Lords blessings it will cure her and we can move on with our lives. It’s been incredibly hard on her but hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel. They will do another bone marrow biopsy in thirty days and one in 100 days. She misses our daughter so much that a few times I thought she was just going to give up but she has muscled through it. Now that she’s had the transplant I hope that we can get her back in physical and speech therapy.

Update 4/22 it’s been a long thirty days since the transplant. The transplant knocked her on her butt, absolutely no energy the first 2-3 weeks. It was really a challenge for her to walk with her walker and how she had the strength I don’t know (they did not want her in a wheelchair, they wanted her to move as much as possible). She did end up having to go back into the hospital for a few days because she got really nauseous and was unable to keep her medication down. As you can imagine she’s had plenty of days where she did not feel well. We have had to go into the clinic every morning so they can check her numbers and evaluate her. So far her doctors have been very pleased with her progress and her blood counts. She had a bone marrow biopsy on Friday and the results today showed no signs of leukemia, we were blessed. Today they drew more blood to have it tested to see the percentage of donor cells she has, I pray to God it’s 100% donor cells, it will take about a week to get those results. At today’s visit her doctor said we only need to come to clinic on Tuesdays and Fridays now instead of every day, we were very happy to hear that. The reaction to the chemo back in September still haunts her. She was very weak from that and lost a lot of strength and stamina and then the transplant took more away. She has started going to physical therapy three days a week but the therapist said it will take months before she sees improvement. My wife gives 110% in physical therapy and I could not be more proud of her. We still have to live here in Nashville, close to Vanderbilt just in case there are any issues (Vanderbilt requires her to live here for 100 days from transplant date). We are living in an apartment here and my 17 year old son is home in Louisville living with a classmate close to school and my daughter is living in our house. This has not been easy for a lot of reasons, not sure if I will be keeping my job, my wife does not want me to go back to Louisville, she’s very dependent on me now. Hopefully in several months she can be more independent. Today leaving the doctors office as she was stepping off of a curb she would have fallen had I not had her arm, and that was with her on her walker. Tomorrow she has an appointment with the cardiologist to make sure her heart has handled everything ok. Please continue to pray for her recovery.

Update 6/25/2019
Last Thursday we received some good news. My wife’s bone marrow biopsy came back negative for cancer and she is 100% donor cells and her blood work is looking good. I hope and pray every day that she stays that way. Today is day +94, we hope to be going home soon and then only coming back once a month for blood work. Once we get back home she will be going back to physical therapy 3-4 days a week. Please pray for her. Thank you.

Update 10/19/2019
Been home from Vanderbilt since late June. So far all is well in reference to her cancer, she is still in remission according the the latest bone marrow biopsy and she is still 100% donor cells. Last Friday at Vanderbilt her blood count numbers were higher than they’ve been since transplant. She’s getting around faster on her walker, walks around the house without the walker but she is still wobbly and slow without the walker. She’s building up her stamina, she did nineteen minutes on the treadmill yesterday. Physically and psychologically she feels better than she has in a long time. She is in a great mood everyday now, it has been such a hard road I don’t know how she’s done it. Her hair has grown back, it’s about two inches now. She can now dress herself but it takes a little bit. Just hope the cancer stays in remission and she continues to get stronger. Please pray for her full recovery. She sees her oncologist at Vanderbilt once a month and her oncologist here locally once a month. Thank you.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: techguy,

That's heart breaking. I cannot imagine what you've been through. I hope your wife's health improves. Take care of yourselves.

Prayers of Hope and Healing for you and your wife.

Very sorry to hear on both accounts.

I hope your invisible friends here can be a source of support for you.

My Lord, that brings tears to my eyes. I can't imagine what you're going through. You and your wife will be in my prayers. God bless you and try to find strength wherever you can.

Jim

Prayers sent.

Prayers for you and your family Brother, may God give you love and peace in this tragic time.

Wow. I am so sorry about all of this. Your family is in my prayers.

Prayers lifted up.

So sorry to hear of your troubles. That is a tremendous cross to bear.

My best wishes and prayers go out to you, your wife, and your family.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
My Lord, that brings tears to my eyes. I can't imagine what you're going through. You and your wife will be in my prayers. God bless you and try to find strength wherever you can.

Jim

Same. I instantly knew how I'd feel and grieved for Techguy's loss.

I cannot even begin to imagine.... you are in my thoughts!

You have endured enough loss and hardship for a lifetime. I offer prayers for you and your family.

Terrible. I'm so sorry.

Losing my daughter is my greatest fear. The thought is so terrifying that I do all I can to avoid even thinking about it. Losing my wife is a very close second. I can only pray for you and your wife and hope you will soon move past this disease and go on with your lives with the beautiful memories of your daughter never forgotten. God bless.

TechGuy,

As I sit here feeling sorry for myself in losing my job of the last year, I feel so guilty.

You are enduring so much.

If there is anything we can do to help, please let us know.

If you and your bride need some time away, we are just South if you. Our home is open to you.

Ken

Ain’t got the words. Hope you get that relief you need and soon.

I cannot begin to imagine what you are going through. You have my deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers.

I couldn't even imagine. I'll be praying for you guys.

You’re both in my prayers.