I'm still cancer-free four years later! I'm on the dean's list at TCC! I work full-time in the surgical supply department of a local hospital. Life is good!

Thanks for watching and playing along. But you don't have to watch this site anymore and that's just fine with me! Thank you everyone who did. I remember and love each of you for doing so.

It's ALL Good!

Back again for another post! It's been awhile. Martha is now nearing 9 months post-transplant and doing better than ever! Many of you know she's working in the "O-R" supply deparment of a local hospital now. But, she returns to Saint Jude next week for a routine check-up. There's no doubt all test results will come back excellent.

Please check out the Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital website. This weekend is the annual Thanks and Giving fundraising campaign. There is NO where else in the world that will make your cash gifts work harder or for a better cause. So please, take a quick moment to read a few children's stories on the website or even re-read some of Martha's blog entries from March and April. The work and research at Saint Jude saves lives.....Martha is living proof of that. I hope her survival will lead you to give so that many more children and teens will be able to plan for their proms, graduations and future careers just like Martha has got to do.

http://www.stjude.org

watch this site~maybe we'll update from Memphis

There Goes Our Trolley!

Our flight in was short & sweet. Martha is doing great, except dental & optical appointments were cancelled when we got here, so we'll have to try that again next time. What a mess, but it's a good mess I guess. Well drumrolllll please! Martha's platelet count is 240 and her ANC is 5800. Isn't that great?

She is feeling energetic and good. Yesterday we decided to go downtown for dinner and since we don't have a car we rode the trolley, which was a blast. We saw areas we hadn't been to before and took a ride along the riverside. The trolly stopped right in front of Joe's Crab Shack with an excellent river view and that is where we hopped off for dinner. Then back on the trolley to our stop and only two blocks back to the Grizzlie's House.

We'll be back home tonight around 9:00 p.m. if our flight's on time. We'll let y'all know about the results from the spinal fluid test as soon as they are available. Love, hugs & she's off some of the drugs!

watch this site;)

No Counts this Week

There are no lab counts this week because the clinic staff here is actually out at Camp OK Corral, the local children's cancer camp. We decided since we'll be in Memphis on Tuesday, the 13th it'll be okay to skip a week of labs. Martha is still feeling good, although she did have mysterious nausea and stomach pain last week. Can't be what she ate, she still doesn't eat much. But very soon she'll be having a thourough check-up with her transplant team, and we expect nothing but the best of reports!

It's a good thing Mark and I have been through thick and thin. We got seriously BAD NEWS last night. Looks like our landlord wants us O-U-T. So we'll have to move this summer, too! It appears our timely rent payments and our brilliant personalities are just not enough. Does anyone have a house to rent us? Oh yeah, telling us how you really feel about our "wonderful" landlord would also be great. The wickedly protective family ghosts may also have something to say about this.

~watch this site~

the counts are coming soon

Still Lookin' Good

Martha's lab counts continue to climb or hold steady. The platelets are up to 145, just 5 short of being in the normal range. Her ANC is 6,800 (normal) and everything else looks good.

Keep her in your thoughts, she's always pretty tired, sometimes really bored and still stuck at home with nothing to do until her last treatment in July. Most importantly, remember her friend Nathan at Saint Jude's, he's got a lot of recovering to do. More on Nathan soon.

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Counts R Up

Thursday's lab results indicated that Martha's platelet counts doubled since last week taking them from 38 to 80. That is terrific news. Her ANC, which is basically her total blood count, was over 4,700. That is what any old normal person could expect to have on a random blood test. All is looking good. She is feeling good. We return to the oncology clinic next Thursday, June 1st.

Hope you're having a marvelous Memorial Day weekend. Don't forget to thank a vet, remember a loved one and pray for our past and present U.S. forces who are at home and all over the world.

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Grad Night - Girlfriends - Grandma - Goodbye

Martha walked the stage last night with style and pride! She is now what we in Oklahoma call GRADUMECATED. She celebrated the evening with a fantastic cheering section that included her Grandma, several girlfriends, family and other friends. Her homebound instructor, Mr. Dieble, who is also a guidance counselor at Nathan Hale, announced all the graduates names as they each crossed the stage, but there was extra pride and bravado in his voice when Martha went across. A very special thanks goes to Paul for his camera and hopefully some extra good close-up shots of Martha crossing the stage.

Now that Martha has accomplished her major goals for 2006 there is just not as much to update you on as the days roll by. Thank goodness we are slowly moving back to normal family life. Each Thursday will bring lab results and with these I will update y'all weekly. Otherwise, please consider us all well and good and living life. So Goodbye until next week.

P.S. Martha is still too close to her transplant to participate in many activities or return to work. So because of that she can't take part in the Relay for Life Team (American Cancer Society) or Light the Night Team (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). Since she can't walk this year ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WALK for her! Just ask your family and friends to sponsor your efforts. Both of these events are coming up this summer. Hope Martha inspires you just half as much as she does me.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for remembering us, praying, and communicating your love in the many ways you each have.

What a party Martha started!

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