The website went down a week ago and we have been unable to keep you updated via this site. So much has happened that I decided to put this update in the form of an old movie serial…

First of all we must update you on the previous episodes.

When last we left you we were poring over Joni’s white blood cell count after the last round of the very difficult A/C chemotherapy.

The counts were low but good enough for us to venture on a little R&R adventure to a lake cabin in Arkansas. We left on July 10th and headed to the hills of Ouchita National Forest.

All was going well until late in the week when Joni began to have some pain in her right arm. A late night call on Friday to our doctors in Dallas was a little unnerving. They were afraid Joni had developed blood clots and they advised us to find an emergency room right away. That was not an option in the county we were visiting. The nearest big cities were Hot Springs or Little Rock. My bride and I decided to head to Hot Springs at 11 pm in search of an emergency room.

We found the hospital and got a nurse evaluation immediately.

We were ushered into a room promptly and they ran some weird tests on Joni.

The bad news was that she did have three small blood clots. We were discouraged and little frightened. The doctor gave Joni a shot to keep the clots from increasing in size and we headed back to our lake house. Arriving at 5 am we took a little nap and then headed back to Dallas.

Part of this adventure was that Joni had to give herself a shot of the blood thinner medication each morning. This is a shot of her contemplating that the first time.

But she soon conquered that and has been giving herself shots until the other medicine gets to acceptable levels. The biggest fear was whether the blood clots had effected Joni’s port and we would have to do the next round of chemo intravenously or have another port installed. Joni did have the first round of the new regimen intravenously last Wednesday and then we did another test to see if Joni’s port was compromised. We prayed and anxiously awaited the results.

The blood clots are a concern but where they are located does not present a real danger. We have been given the symptoms to watch for to make sure nothing is changing. And we are PRAISING GOD as we report that her port is clear and we can resume using the port for the rest of her chemo.

And further good news. This round of chemo (so far) has been much easier! Joni is feeling pretty darn good and she is getting back to normal activities.

We feel like we are right back on target to defeat this foe.

Thanks for praying. Thanks for your patience while the website was down. We are really excited about the good news of late. Joni had prayed that God would send some encouragement and He has answered that request. We are encouraged about the port being clear, that this round of chemo is not so brutal, and that we are knocking down mile markers on this journey.

I look forward to the day (just a few months off) that Joni will be her irrepressible self.

We love all of you.

Dave