Bringing in the New Year with UCLA

Hi friends and family! I know it seems like "auld lang syne" since I wrote last, but it is almost New Year's and I had to wait in order to use that bad pun for the opener of today's post! Just kidding. I was really busy just simply enjoying my wonderful Christmas home with my family. See them there? I just love my family!

Well, if you are not on Facebook, then you missed the drama of the 11th hour answer to prayer which occurred on Christmas Eve at 11 a.m.! We had insurance companies, new and old, and a mediator trying to get the right person at those insurance companies to talk to the right people at UCLA. UCLA was holding back ordering the donor stem cells until they knew the new insurance (Aetna) was on board, but Aetna couldn't say anything until we were in their system which would be Jan. 2. UCLA felt that by Aetna not preparing anything to be ready to go on Jan. 2, that would delay it too much and I'd have to go in right after Christmas for an extra treatment to prevent the leukemia from returning. That would be hard on me plus it would delay the transplant another month. Well, long story short, on Dec. 24, the right people talked and we got word that it was a go and there would be no need for the delay or the extra treatment.

So the latest is that on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 2:00 pm I have an appointment at UCLA to receive a bone marrow biopsy, a dreaded procedure because of the last one being so painful. Please pray for me on that end (no pun intended!) If the bone marrow comes back clear of any leukemic cells then everything will happen as planned for the beginning of Jan. (they'll order the stem cells on Jan. 2 for the transplant). If it comes back with leukemic cells we'll have to get treatment to remove it before going forward. So pray on that as well. We will also be going over the treatment plan with the doctor tomorrow. Should be an interesting day.

We'll let you know how it turns out! God bless you for your faithful prayers!