Urgent Prayer Request: March 3, 2011

I apologize for the blog absence. It seems as though we repair one problem and then another problem arises. Today, I ask for your focused prayers for my bone marrow and the recovery of my blood counts. For the past three weeks, my blood counts have been on a downward spiral and they have reached very concerning levels. I have required Neupogen injections the past two weeks to improve the severe neutropenia. Today my Absolute Neutrophil Count is only 300.

Our main concern is that my bone marrow could be failing - either from the leukemia or from the radiation I have received. I cannot survive without a functioning bone marrow. When I made the decision to try radiation last fall, I was fully aware of the risks - one being marrow failure - however, the risks of radiation appeared to be less to my medical team and me than the risks of chemotherapy. Difficult decisions to make when there is no good answer.

I request urgent, fervent prayer today that my marrow will be restored and my counts will improve. I ask for prayer that God will supernaturally protect me from life-threatening infections during this time of low white blood counts. I ask for wisdom for my physicians and for God to open a door for me to receive a bone marrow biopsy - what my leukemia expert physicians say that needs to be performed. If I cannot obtain the biopsy locally, I anticipate having to travel to a cancer center in the near future.

I will try to keep the blog updated more this month.