January Update

I (Israel) took Anya in this morning for her monthly appointment and quarterly spinal tap. Thankfully the spinal tap went very smoothly! The pain medication was regulated, and Anya lay calmly throughout the whole procedure! There was none of the resistance or crying that had occurred with the first two since we returned to KC.

This was a HUGE blessing for me. While Anya does not remember any of the spinal taps, even when it hurts, it has been very difficult for me to watch her suffer while the doctors attempted to find the ideal dosage of the pain killers (which Anya refers to as her "sleepy medicine" and "silly medicine").

While the doctors said that Anya looked great overall, her Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) was down to almost zero (.01). This means means that she has very few white blood cells to fight infection. Since chemotherapy kills white blood cells while killing leukemia cells, the doctors instructed us to withhold her chemo for the next week. We will take her back on Thursday for blood work to see if her counts have recovered.

According to the doctors, if all of Anya's blood counts were lowered, there would be reason to believe that the leukemia had returned. Because only her ANC has been affected, they suspect that in the midst of cold and flu season Anya's body's white blood cell supply has been tapped out by the combination of chemo and fighting illness. While Anya has not been symptomatic the low count may indicate that her body is fighting something.

So for this week we're back to trying to keep things as sterile as possible and limiting Anya's exposure to public places. And we are praying that Anya is in fact still in remission, and that the white blood count will increase by her next appointment.

She begins steroids tonight for five days, so she won't be fit to go out and do a whole lot anyway, but it is disappointing in that she planned to attend church tomorrow and have friends over tomorrow night. That will have to happen another time. We had begun to forget what it was like to quarantine ourselves...this week should remind us and help us to be even more grateful when her counts go back up and she can come and go as she pleases.

As always we want to express our gratitude for your ongoing love and support, and solicit your continued prayers. This week would you join us praying specifically that Anya's lowered count is not an indication of a serious problem, and that things will be back to normal when we go in next week?

Also, I plan to travel to northern California on Friday to preach for a special service there. Please pray that God would give me safe travel and the words to speak as I minister. We love you all.