Good morning family and friends. The results from Dan's latest (Day 28) bone marrow biopsy from his 2nd round of induction chemo are positive and, we are rejoicing and sending praises to our Heavenly Father above! We also want to say a giant thank you to all of you faithful prayer warriors! We have finally received all labwork back, except for one, and the doctors have proclaimed that Dan is in remission! 

 

We are grateful to say that Dan is moving on to the next step and is currently back at OU Medical center as I write this, undergoing his first, and hopefully only, round of consolidation chemo. He was admitted Monday morning and then started consolidation therapy that evening. He will have 5 days of it, and then will hopefully be allowed to come home shortly after, for recovery. If all goes as planned, he will be allowed to go home sooner this time because he did well with the last round of chemo and, because he is in a much healthier place than he was during the previous 38-day hospital stay. This next step of consolidation was expected and, whether he does it in-patient or out-patient all depends on which drugs they chose to use and, that was determined based on this latest biopsy. So, for as crazy as it sounds, we are grateful for him to be back and to get to this step, and to be doing what he is doing right now. Consolidation is often thought of as "clean up" chemo after a patient gets to remission and, the goal is for it to help him to stay in remission until we can get him to transplant, hopefully in late June to early July.

 

Along those transplant lines, we've been informed of three potential donors that meet the initial criteria and have committed to taking the next step of having labs drawn. We will have better-defined confirmation later in May. I do not know who or where they are from and don't even know if we will be privy to that information or not. I need to get going on my homework and get up to snuff on all things "transplant-related" now that we are moving forward to that part of this journey.

 

Other great news to report is that Dan was able to go to 

Fayetteville this past weekend to help celebrate our daughter's college graduation from the U of A! He was advised to stay away from crowds and restaurants, as expected, but was able to watch Madeline's ceremony live-stream and stay at his favorite Fayetteville hotel, surrounded by beautiful water features, landscaping, and outdoor art. Most importantly, he was able to celebrate Madeline's accomplishments and join in on the family fun as much as possible under the circumstances. The timing was perfect as we got good news in time to enjoy our special weekend and get started back at OU Medical for consolidation on Monday morning. 

 

 We realize that we are still in the first stretch of this race and our race is, unfortunately, a marathon. But Dan and I and the kids are so incredibly grateful to all of you that have been showering us with prayers and supporting us in so many different ways! We look forward to having both kids home from college for a short while and spending as much family time together as we can for the remainder of May. We give all the glory to God and ask for your continued prayers as we move forward to the next stretch of our race and the next steps of Dan's healing. Bless you, for your concern and prayers!!!