Difficult News

September 29, 2009 is the one year anniversary of, my husband, Jim’s diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. As that date drew closer, I was afraid it would bring back bad memories of a difficult time in our lives. Instead of recalling that date with dread, I was planning to have a big party and invite all our family and friends to celebrate Jim’s life and what he means to us to mark that date with celebration.

It is with a heavy heart and much disappointment that I need to tell you that this celebration will not be occurring this year. We recently found out that Jim has relapsed and his leukemia is back. We have cried all the tears we can cry and have just been so very sad at this news, wondering if and how we would be able to fight this battle yet again.

Here’s the background: On August 20, the day before we left to take Brad to college, Jim showed me a discolored swollen area of his leg which looked like the cellulitis (an infection of the deep tissues of the leg) that he had prior to his diagnosis a year ago. He saw his doctor the following morning, was given an antibiotic and met up with us at Bethel College to help get Brad settled. He seemed to be doing fine for the next week until August 27 when he came home from work with a fever and the same symptoms in the other leg. We made a trip to the Emergency Room that evening, and Jim’s doctor decided to admit him for IV antibiotics. The cellulitis resolved quickly but the hospital stay was complicated by a pneumonia shot that was given to Jim. His arm, around the site of the shot, became red and swollen and he continued to run a fever which was attributed to a bad reaction to this shot. We were told at that time that this did not indicate that the leukemia had returned. Rather, since Jim’s blood counts were lower due to the chemotherapy he had received a few weeks earlier as part of the clinical trial he is participating in, it was more likely that he picked up this infection and was not able to fight it off as easily. On September 8, Jim was scheduled to have chemotherapy again for the week. It is routine to do a blood draw before giving chemotherapy. This time, the blood draw showed some abnormalities in his counts. The doctor suspected then that Jim had relapsed and cancelled the chemotherapy and scheduled Jim for a bone marrow biopsy which would confirm if the leukemia had returned. We met with the doctor today and received the bad news that Jim had indeed relapsed. The doctor gave us a new plan of action and admitted Jim this evening to prepare for the chemotherapy that will be administered tomorrow.

This has understandably been a difficult week for us. We began our prayers on our knees with the only word we could utter before God and that was, “Help!” Through our tears we asked again for those things that our Lord has provided for us before - comfort, strength, mercy, and His peace that passes all understanding, and God’s healing touch. And now we ask again for your prayers for Jim as well. The recommendation this time is for a bone marrow transplant which requires that the cancer be in remission. Please pray that Jim’s cancer would go into remission quickly so we can move forward to the next step in the process. Pray also that Jim would maintain a positive attitude and not struggle with depression. Please pray for our family as we face this battle again one year later.