I can't get online much these days - spending most of my time either at the hospital or troubleshooting my brother's Internet connection, which only works for a few hours in the morning, which is when we're usually at the hospital...

Anyway, yesterday my brother went in for blood work and his white blood count was so good that they decided to harvest his stem cells. So he was hooked up to this nifty machine for 8 hours and they were able to get all the stem cells they needed in that one session (they had anticipated that it would take 2 or 3 harvest sessions). That was really good news.

Now he gets to rest for a couple of weeks. The earliest they could do another chemo and/or the transplant will be mid-February. We'll know after next week's CAT scan if he needs another chemo or if they'll go straight to the transplant procedure. If so, he'll be hospitalized for 4-6 weeks, which will also give me a much-needed break (I haven't been able to get home for more than a couple of hours at a time in the past month).

So I just thought I'd share this good/promising news. It's wonderful news, actually. This autologous transplant procedure is extremely dangerous (we'll need your prayers when the time comes) but also very promising, and has had amazing results in advanced-stage lymphoma. So we're very hopeful that there's a light at the end of this tunnel...

If I'm not on board here much lately, especially in the evenings, know that I'm sitting here at the computer, night after night, trying everything possible to get that connection working! My brother is switching to a cable bundle tomorrow (Internet, phone and TV) and we're hoping that will resolve this problem. My brother sleeps most of the time, so it's been extremely frustrating sitting here day after day unable to connect and chat with my sisters when I most need to be able to! Hopefully there's a light at the end of THAT tunnel too.

Anyway, just thought I'd post this update while I'm able to be online! I think of all of you ALL THE TIME (and believe me, I have lots of downtime, either in the hospital or here at the computer, to do a lot of thinking and praying!) I'm very warmly cocooned in the Lord's presence these days, and have no doubt that your prayers are responsible for this gentle but powerful spiritual serenity that keeps me going.