Good News!!

Today we got Lances Bone marrow biopsy results!! NO CANCER!! So excited!! And all the other results are in as well, Lance's blood and immune system is now 100% Nathans on every level!! On one of the blood tests they ran Lance scored a 88 and in a normal immune system it would be 700 to 1500, so his immune system is obviously still very low but compared to a zero last year it is growing! The anti-rejection pills he is on and the GVH lower his immune system so hopefully he can get off them and over the GVH and start getting better soon. But overall he is doing great!! It all just takes time. They sounded so happy when they called from Iowa City, it was great to hear good news!! We have said from the beginning that we are thankful that no matter what happens we know that we have a future and a hope with our God in heaven..... but hearing no cancer gives us hope for our time here together which we are thankful for each day!


Lance's sister Julie made him a scrap book recently (we think she made it at scrap book camp!) the whole book is such a great reminder of all God has brought us thru and in it she put one of our blog post written by Lance that we had not read in quite awhile. Here is part of the post for you all to read again.... it seems appropriate to post it again for Lance's One Year Transplant Birthday!! I cannot tell you how blessed we feel... how thankful we are.....It has been amazing watching God work..... Nothing!! absolutely nothing is impossible for God!

It's a Hat Trick
April 22, 2010

After no matches elsewhere the Hall boys shoot, they score! Can you believe Justin came back as a match today for me. The Drs. are all very happy we don't know what they will do now probably just more testing to see which is the the closest match. I must say when Nathan came back as a match I was thinking I wish another of the kids would match just so it would be more obvious Gods hand in all this to people who doubt. And then Cory matched. I thought to myself just think if all of them did. And they did, now after Justin match I am reminded of Gods word in Jeremiah 33:3 where he says: Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. I was given that verse years ago by my friend Louis Jensen when I was going through some things and it has always been a comfort to me but never more real than now when he abundantly answers our prayers and exceeds my expectations. I am so happy and humbled the way things are playing out, I told my Dr today that I'm thinking I will be healed, and there are much bigger things going on here than medicine........ ----Lance


That blog was written in April of 2010...... it was another 7 months before Doctors decided it was safe to go to transplant.... what a long road it has been since his diagnosis in July 2009. God has truly shown us great and mighty things!! We are so thankful to everyone for praying..... We truly know that God has used you all to literally pray us through..... The comfort we feel from knowing others are praying for us is amazing... Your love and support for our family is truly a testimony to the faithfulness of God and his people.... To God alone be the glory great things He hath done!

Happy 1st Transplant Birthday Lance!! And many more! ---Penny

Thanksgiving

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we did! All of my brothers and their families came over and it really was a great day! It really felt like the first "normal" Thanksgiving in a long time. It was so nice to have the whole family over and best of all Dad wasn't in the hospital this year!!! We've been thinking a lot lately about where we were at this time last year. Dad was in the middle of having his chemo treatments and then just a few days later he had his transplant. Wow can you believe on the 30th of this month he will be one year out from his transplant!! Where did this year go?? It seems so crazy that its been a year already since we all sat in Dad's hospital room watching Nathan's cells go into Dad and praying that the transplant would take. Things can change so much in a year! And as I sat watching the whole family here the other night just sitting around eating, laughing, talking, and playing games together I realized just how much we have to be thankful for this year. Just for starters Dad is still here!!!!! Around this time last year we really didn't know where we would be at this point. We didn't know whether the transplant would work or not and we didn't know whether or not we would all be able to be together this Thanksgiving. God has been so good to us! And even though we are not out of the woods yet we are just so thankful for all that God has done for us!

In church this morning they were talking about being thankful in all our circumstances and I know for myself this is something that I am constantly working on. Thank goodness that we have a patient God! One of those circumstances that we would like to ask for prayer for though is that Dad came down with a cold on Thursday. It has continued to get a little worse each day and last night he started running a fever. We called down to I.C. this morning and they sent us to the emergency room so dad could get some chest X-Rays. Thankfully the chest X-Rays came back clear but they did find out that Dad has a sinus infection. They put him on some antibiotics, so hopefully that will help clear things up, but we would appreciate some prayer that the infection would go away quickly and that Dad would start feeling better soon. He feels pretty bad today and has spent the day in bed. His stomach has also been bothering him and we're hoping that this is just from the cold and not more GVH starting so we would appreciate some prayer for that also! Thank you so much for all your prayers! We'll write again soon! Elisabeth

Some results!

Just want to give an update on yesterdays appointment and thank you all for praying. It sure was a long day but it went well. Bone density test and lung test came out good. Lance would like to do better (SURPRISE) but the doctors were really happy with how well he did after all he has been through! All his blood counts looked pretty good, it does show that he has more GVH going on than last month which is why he hasn't felt to good but the good news is that it has not attacked any vital organs like the liver,kidneys or lungs. Lance was able to start getting his shots yesterday so that was a big step forward! Bone marrow test went about as well as a bone marrow can go as far as the procedure (not fun)... sure wish he didn't have to get those.....those results will not be in for a week or so. I know we might have mentioned this before but there is an interesting detail with the GVH and they reminded us of it yesterday, that GVH is where the new donor cells attack Lance's body as they realize it is not their body and want out! BUT in Lance's type of Leukemia they also realize that the cancer is not right and attack that so having a little GVH can actually be a good thing for a little while as long as it doesn't get out of control. So with as much GVH as he has had lately we are hopeful the bone marrow biopsy will come back with no cancer! They also decided to try and take him off his high blood preassure med so Lance is happy about that! They set up an appointment with an eye doctor to check the GVH in his eyes and also for any problems from all the meds. So overall it went well and now we wait for the rest of the test results. Waiting....Trusting and Thanking God ! ----Penny

Big Appointment!

We head to Iowa City tomorrow for Lance's BIG appointment. We would ask for prayer as it is a long day of testing. Lance is supposed to start getting his childhood immunizations tomorrow and get a flu vaccine. Besides the eye issues this month Lance just hasn't felt good (sore muscles, muscle spasms, tired, dry mouth.... just to name a few things he has had, he NEVER complains but we can tell he just doesn't feel good) Please pray that all the new cells will get along with Lance's body so there will be no more GVH issues!! There are so many side effects from all the meds that Lance has to be on until the GVH is no longer an issue. Don't know if all the problems this month are from the GVH or the side effects from the meds or both. It is a big step for him to start on his shots so please pray that they don't have to be delayed and that all the test come back "NO CANCER" and "NO DAMAGE"!!! Just can't believe that this month is his One Year transplant birthday on the 30th! Thank you all for praying for us.... This last month as Lance hasn't felt to good.....God reminded me that our circumstances might change from day to day or even moment to moment.... BUT God doesn't change!! GOD IS FAITHFUL ALWAYS!!!!!! Praise and Thank God with us for His Faithfulness to us!! ---Penny

Quick Update on Dad

Hey everyone thought I would write a quick update on how Dad is doing. By Monday morning Dad's eyes were a little better but still pretty sore, so we decided to call I.C. The doctors seemed to think that since they had gotten a little better that we would just watch it for now and see what happens. They did give him some allergy medicine because they thought maybe he has some allergy's along with the GVH. It seemed to help a little bit but his eyes are still pretty sore. So we would appreciate some continued prayer that his eyes would continue to get better and that he won't have to go back on any steroids! Thanks again for all your prayers! Elisabeth