Update & Request for Prayer: June 29, 2009

This morning I am already at the oncologists' infusion center to receive my IVIG treatment that I receive every 28 days. All is going well and I feel better today than I did yesterday.

It was nice to come home Saturday night and to sleep in my own bed. I had a decent day yesterday with some weakness and fatigue - we had family in and out most of the day.

I continue to do well on my anti-cancer diet plan - yesterday I ate:

Green drink with wheat grass, kelp, etc.

Smoothie with blueberries, strawberries, cherries, whey protein, coconut oil, and other nutritious nuggets.

Mediterranean Warm Bean Salad - made with 3 beans and 5 different vegetables

Freshly squeezed juice made from spinach, watermelon and fresh pineapple

Curried Coconut Milk Chicken with Vegetables

Everyone else ordered pizza last night and I wasn't even tempted.

Lab results (drawn Saturday at the hospital) revealed that my Absolute Lymphocyte Count was 128,535 before I started half-dose Rituxan and it was 64,258 after yesterday's infusion - so that is not too bad (I've had two weeks of half-dose Rituxan so that is equivalent to one week of standard dose Rituxan). And my spleen and lymph nodes continue to shrink. More labs were drawn today, so I will update with any news.

Tomorrow I will receive IVIG all day. On Tuesday I see my family physician, have acupuncture and will begin the beta-glucans. Some research has shown (at the University of Louisville) that beta-glucans can boost Rituxan's performance. I had planned to begin taking beta-glucans when I began the Rituxan, but then further research recommended waiting until the highest risk of tumor lysis syndrome had passed, so we decided to wait until Week Three. Then I will receive half-dose Rituxan on Wednesday and Thursday (eight hour days due to the slow infusion rate I must follow).

Please continue to pray that this will work beyond any doctor's expectations and that as I transition to outpatient insufions from ICU this week, that my success with reaction-less infusions will continue.

I have never achieved a remission in all of these almost 13 years of fighting leukemia. I am bold enough to believe, despite the poor prognosis offered by specialists, that God is able to touch my body and bring a remission just as he healed the woman with the issue of blood who had been ill for twelve years.