October 26, 2006

Hello Everyone,

My mom was discharged from the hospital Tuesday evening. She passed her stress test...they told her she has a very strong heart. The doctors know she did not have a heart attack, but they still don't know what is causing the chest pain. She is on pain medicines until they can figure it out. One thing my mom shares with Gabriel is experience with some of the same drugs Gabe has been on and her own blood disease. Thank you for your prayers for her.

Gabriel went to the hospital on Wednesday for more chemo. His immune system is practically gone, but we still had to give him more chemo. We didn't want Gabriel to get hit again with the chemo which knocked his counts down...we had no choice. He received his second spinal chemo in a row and began Ara C which is given 4 days in a row at home by a nurse. The Ara C has been giving him low fevers. His hair was coming in straight and blond, but is falling out again. We are anxious for his hair to return.

His birthday plans are still on hold until he recovers. We want to give him a special day because he has been through sooo much. Now we are watching for fevers and preparing for a possible hospital admit. His hemoglobin was low as well so he may need another transfusion next week. Gabriel no longer has C-Diff which is great. He still has the diarrhea because of the chemo.

On the children's chance website I wrote about possibly moving with the children to Michigan. We are still praying about that. For now Steve has put a hold on school for 6 weeks to help me. The Navy has been letting Steve off on hospital days to help me. My neighbors (Angie and Wes) have been helping us with the children, mowing our lawn, cleaning our house, bible studies and they really take care of business. They have been advocates for us. Stephanie, from Riverbluff Church (the first church we visited when we got here) makes us dinner a few times a week...ummm. God has been looking out for us. (Another Testimony!) We will be looking for help here once Steve goes back to school. Although Gabriel will be on maintenance chemo there will still be challenges. Maintenance chemo is less intensive chemo. He will still go to the hospital once a week for chemo, the dosage will be less.

Gabriel has been happy. He speaks very well. He pretends he is He-Man like Justin. He'll lift his sword in the air saying, " I have the power!" It is cute! He enjoys playing with his sword. Justin teaches him a lot. Here are a couples of Justin's lessons, " Gabe, how are you? Gabe say I'm fine...Gabe what do you want to eat? You want pizza uh spider-man cake." Or Justin loves to say, " you have to share Gabriel, Gabriel share!..." Justin loves his social time. He makes a friend where ever we go. We have been in the store, he'll tell me " I have to go talk to him mommy." In the book store he read a story about batman to one of the teenagers there. This morning the boys are fighting over a pug stuffed animal they borrowed from a friend. They named the dog Brody after their grandparents dog. I have to go intervene. I'll send another update soon. Adrielle is still our joyous song.

God gives us what we need to survive,

Angela