Last Tuesday the KU Betas had a bethematch drive and swabbed over 300 people to be a possible bone marrow donor. INCREDIBLE. In a matter of days, word spread like crazy. My sister in law, Kimberly, is now organizing several local events with bethematch.org to find donors. Even if only ONE of the people that gets swabbed someday helps ONE other person, every single little effort is beyond worth it! A few places, groups, that are also swabbing on behalf of Luke are Mizzou Betas, Cal Poly, University of Alabama, University of Georgia, OU, and on and on and on. It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we are in it together.

I found out last Tuesday that Mason is not a bone marrow match for Luke. I hadn’t anticipated at all how I would feel if he was or was not. Part of me was hugely disappointed and sad because I had this idea in my head that of course, this was how it was going to work. Another part of me was relieved to not have both of my boys in the hospital, at the same time. And that process would have put extra pressure on Mason. And my sweet Mason needs NO MORE pressure on him right now. Mason is so courageous and been through so much, I’ll do anything to make any of this easier for him, or anyone else. I realized, once again, this is totally out of my hands and Luke’s team has ZERO concerns about finding him the perfect match. ZERO DOUBT. So, I let that go.

This week has been leaps and bounds better for Luke. He is eating, and eating a lot. He is slowly getting up and moving around gaining his strength back. Not to jinx it, but Luke has, thus far this cycle, avoided the gnarly rashes, mucositis, neuropothy, and many other side effects. The excrutiating pain and side effects he had the first 8 days of this admission were enough. His attitude is of strength and kindness. When someone has been in our room and they think he is asleep, when they are walking out of the room after doing whatever they came to do, he says, “Thank you. Nice to meet you.” They always turn around with big eyes and say “I thought you were asleep!” He just smiles with his eyes closed and rolls over. I’m proud of myself because I have not fired any nurses and have only flipped off one person! It was one of his oncologists and we laughed.

GG and PaPa came for a visit and lunch yesterday. Always a very welcome time together! Big smiles from Luke and of course helpful for all of us. My Mom has been busy helping run my house/life/Mason. I think Mason and GG spend a lot of time bossing each other around. Hmmmm…the apple doesn’t fall far!

Hamp. I just love that name. Hamp. It’s the name of one of Lukes pledge brothers who Luke, and others, describe as one of the smartest and kindest people he has ever met. Wicked inteligence. I have not had the pleasure of meeting him except over Facetime after he volunteered to help me out with this website. So, NO PRESSURE HAMP! But thank you! I have no doubt Hamp will have this site rollin’ soon! (I had to fire my current IT director, Allison, as she was not getting the job done. But not for lack of effort. She is a problem solver, but I stumpped her with this one. Maybe she skipped too many classes in college?)

So now what? We manage side effects, keep finding our fight, and stare at Luke’s labs. He receives platelets and red blood transfusions, as needed. So far, just platelets. His counts are down (what we want the chemo to do) and no telling how long it will take for them to start the climb up. WE DO NOT KNOW HOW LONG WE WILL BE HERE THIS CYCLE. Don’t ask. Can’t plan cancer. I try to plan and plan and plan everyday. Yet, everyday I am reminded, that no one can plan cancer. I keep educating myself on AML and have started understanding a tiny bit of what a transplant involves. (Perhaps I should have actually gone to class in college as well. I was busy hitting Mrs. E’s cafeteria with friends followed by darts and schooners at Louises West). I think the shock of a relapse and what we have ahead of us is starting to sink in. I could really use one of those schooners now. God has us surrounded and will protect us. ZERO doubt about that. I think God would also agree that Luke and I could use a schooner about now! ZERO doubt about that too!

Once again, the love and support we have surrounding us is profuse. Keep the prayers coming. I have a smile in my heart because of that. Thank you.

Shit tons of BUCKETS,

Suz