Thursday (Thanksgiving Day)

I am sitting here at the beach, watching our daughter and son-in-law prepare our Thanksgiving meal. What a joy to be able to see them and our grandchildren. In September, we did not know if we would ever have this opportunity again. But, by God's Love and Grace, He has made this precious time possible. We decided to rent a condo at the beach so Joel and I could just get away from hospitals, doctors and my job. The kids arrived last night and from that moment on, the tranquil vacation ended. There are the sounds of kids having fun, the sounds of dinner being prepared, the TV is showing the parades and we are feeling so blessed.

At the end of the first 5 week treatments, Joel started experiencing some minor side effects, such as tingling in his hands and white lines on his fingernails. His doctor says this is indeed minor and can be taken care of by reducing the strength of the chemo drug. He will start the 2nd 5 week phase on December 1.

Yesterday was my birthday and the kids gave me a beautiful pair of reading glasses. What does that tell you? I am getting older, but so thankful that I can get older.

The best birthday present of all was from the Lord, giving me the gift of life for Joel. I could not ask for a better present, just to have him here with me.

We wish for you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please continue to pray for Joel as he starts this next phase.

Love to all.

Nov. 11 (Tuesday)

Thursday of this week will mark the end of the first 5 weeks of chemo at Baptist. We have been going every day, Monday thru Friday, and, quite frankly, we are glad to see this part end. We will have 2 weeks off, then return on December 1 to begin the 2nd phase of another 5 weeks. We have several doctors appointments scheduled for the week of Nov. 17th. Then, we are going to the beach to spend some time alone and get away from Judi's work and the hospital. Jodi and her family are coming the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and staying through Sunday. We cannot wait to see Chloe and Ethan. The last time we saw them was the first weekend after Joel was admitted to the hospital in early September.

Thank you again for your prayers, cards and concern. We are very blessed to be in as good a situation as we are in. God has blessed Joel with good health during these treatments, He has watched over us as we drive back and forth every day and we still pray that this hard time for us will be a ministry to someone else.

Love to all!

Nov. 1 (Saturday)

We have now finished the 3rd week of this phase. It has been pretty uneventful and Joel is continueing to improve daily. He has developed some itching on his neck and we are trying to eliminate things that might be causing it. The doctors are not concerned about it at this point, but, we will need to pay close attention to laundry detergent, softener, etc. His white blood counts are staying in the normal range and all other counts look good too.

Please continue to pray that he will not have developed an allergy. We want to get through this first phase with no set backs.

Thanks again for all your prayers and cards.