Life Update

Mom:
A few people have inquired about mom and how she's doing...and until this week I didn't have much to share.

During her second round of chemo, she came down with a fever - which turned out to be Nutrapenia (not enough white blood cells) - and could have been very dangerous.  Fortunately they caught it in time.  She spent 4 days in the hospital (feeling fine the whole time) and they gave her Neupagen shots to boost her white blood cells.

They did change her treatment plan after that, which concerned her, but her oncologist ensured her it was ok.  Her oncologist was very encouraged with her response to her treatment.  He referred her to the doctor that will do her stem cell treatment, which is where we went on Monday.

The Kaiser Hospital is located in downtown LA, but her transplant will be at City of Hope.  The oncologist was very encouraging - he has been doing these transplants for 8 years.  Kaiser does 1/3 of all the transplants at City of Hope - all really encouraging to us.  She will finish her fourth round of chemotherapy, have another bone marrow biopsy, and then be prepped (with more chemo and neupagen) for her transplant.  They will use her own stem cells for this transplant.  (Yes, we did inquire as to whether cord blood could work, and it's not used for Multiple Myeloma.) She will be in isolation for a week while her body recreates blood cells, and then in recovery for several weeks at the hospital.  As it stands now, she will *hopefully* leave the hospital the week before this baby of mine comes.  PLEASE pray that all goes according to the plan we created on Monday with the doctor and the coordinating nurse.  It's really important to mom and I that she NOT be in the hospital when I'm in the hospital.

She's been feeling really well - she started driving again, enjoying church activities, and hanging out with us quite a bit.  She's really frustrated that she can't work, but until the transplant and her recovery from that, she can't return.  It's  complicated and frustrating for her, so our prayer is that she recovers well enough to return to work in the fall.

Baby: 
This baby is very wiggly - just like Audric was.  I had a dream that it was a boy at our gender reveal party.  A friend who is having twin boys in September was making my cake and told me, so I'm guessing it's a boy.  We will find out May 19th when we "reveal" the gender with a cake.  I don't want to know, but everyone else does.  And, since I can't figure out any names, I supposed eliminating half of my choices is a good idea!  This baby will probably be late:  I was three days late, so was my sister, and so was Audric.  I'm going to pray (right now, anyway) for a late baby.  (Although, with this heat, ask me again in July and I might change that.)

Work:
Work for me is eh.  Work for Jason is fantastic.  He loves what he does and business is booming.  It's exciting to see dreams coming to fruition.  Check out their new website!  www.gotomyapartment.com

Audric:
So freaking adorable.  Everyday he talks more and more - and we are finally understanding more of what he says.  On Tuesday, we had another audiogram for Audric - and he showed a lot of improvement.  He registered closer to normal ranges.  We know that for sure there is some hearing loss, but right now it looks like he is compensating enough to learn all he's learning!  Between counting (in English and Spanish) to 10 and beginning his ABCs, we are sure whatever issues he has he will hide with his personality and intelligence!  Now to get him potty trained so I don't have two in diapers!

Thanks for all the prayers!