A Big Relief

Proverbs 15:30
"...good news gives health to the bones."

We got great news from the doctor today at the clinic. We were pretty confident that the problem causing Tammy's liver counts to be too high was Graft Vs. Host Disease (GVHD). GVHD is the equivalent of rejection for bone-marrow transplant patients. Contrary to other transplants, GVHD means that the transplant is rejecting something(s) in your body. They want a little bit of GVHD, because it helps prevent recurrence of cancer. But they don't want too much.

It was confirmed that it is GVHD, but the doctor said it is "mild and limited." It is mild in severity. The numbers are elevated, but not real bad. It is limited in that it only has affected her liver and her mouth. The liver can self-correct damage, and the mouth sores are very short-lived.

We felt good when he said that. Then he said, "I'm not going to treat it right now. If we have to treat it, it will be with steroids. It's not a big problem, but if we can avoid adding the steroids I will. This just isn't bad enough to treat right now."

That is a huge relief. Tammy has been fine all along. She's not a worrier. But I was concerned that things were turning bad. While we don't want her numbers to be elevated at all, knowing that they're "under control" is a real blessing.

Tammy will continue to go in for bi-weekly blood tests. If the numbers get too high, they'll start to treat it. But we hope to avoid that.

We so appreciate your prayers. As we have said all along, we feel like we have been carried for the past 15 months on a pillow of prayers. Over the past couple of weeks, we have felt it very strongly. Many people have sent us messages letting us know they're continuing to pray for us. That has made this bumpy part of the journey go very smoothly.

God is good, all the time.