I will start today with some awesome news!! Moms spinal tap came back negative for Leukemia. This is such an answered prayer!!! This means that the Leukemia cells have not spread to her spine or her brain. With that said today has been very rough on mom. She started the day very sick. The doctor took her off Sprycel for the day. He said he was going to give her a break from all the side effects. Moms potassium levels were a little low. It was 3.4 this morning and they want it at 3.7. They started meds for that and they are watching very closely. Her kidneys are of major concern to me. She has always had terrible infections and the medication she is currently taking can really do a job on her kidneys if it is not closely monitored. I got to the hospital around 1:00 pm today. Mom was just heading down to have a chest xray. Dr. Courey wants to make sure she is not getting fluid build up around her lungs. I learned last night that one of the side effects of Sprycel (that only affects about 3 percent) is fluid build up on the lungs. The doctors here are on top of it though.. thank goodness!! We have not got the chest xray results back yet but when we do we will update you. Mom did not eat lunch today. The smell alone almost made her sick. We did get her some of those yummy Mayfield Banana Popsicles so hopefully she will feel like eating one soon. The doctor also old Dad this morning that he is happy with her progress and believes that she will be in remission in a few months. This news lifted moms spirits greatly.

Pastor Billy came by from my church and prayed with mom and with me. It was nice of him to do that and lifted my spirits as well. Its so nice to know that we have others who are praying for mom. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouraging words. I pray that tonight mom will stay strong and keep up the fight. She begins Vincristine and Daunorubicin. These are two other forms of chemo. Both are VERY strong. The side effects will only get worse I am afraid. I will update a little later when we learn more about the chest xray. We thought that the Bone Marrow Biopsy results would be back today but it might not be until tomorrow until we have them. Thanks again for the prayers.

Love, Nat