Hello,

Okay, So again sorry it has been so long. But thank you Ali for the update!

So today is day 42 after transplant and I feel pretty good. Still a little tired and weak but everyday I feel a little better. We have to stay in Houston for 100 days after transplant. That will be Feb. 18th. I am also happy to report that when we left the hospital they told us we would have to go to the clinic everyday for 4 to 6 hours for two weeks and then if all was well we would be able to have some days off, well we went three days and then they gave us a day off and now we only have to go three days a week because my blood counts are doing great and the bone marrow biopsy results showed normal cells.

I am so excited for Christmas my Mom is here she has been since the transplant and my dad will be here tomorrow and Josh gets here thurs. The boys got here today with Geoffs Mom and Mike. It is going to be sooooo much fun! Mom and Dad and the boys are staying through the new year.

Well again thank you all for you thoughts and prayers they sure are working God is so good. we are hoping to take a lot of pictures this Christmas so I will try to post them if I can.

With all my Love,

Randi

Hi. Ok so I am posting again. I know you all would like to hear from Randi, but she is not feeling well. That nasty chemo they gave her is not kicking her butt. Well not her butt but her mouth and throat. She has blisters in her mouth. She can't eat, drink or even talk. Which I bet is weird not to hear our Randi talk.

Hopefully she will be back soon.
Happy thanksgiving to all.
Ali

Hello,

So today is day 5 after transplant and things are going well. I am feeling pretty good. I am have some head aches from the anti rejection meds that they are giving me but they give me other meds to help. 

Yesterday I walked 5 times around all four pods (nursing stations) on the floor which is 1 mile! I did it again today and I also rode the exercise bike 1 mile! woohoo! On this floor we get paper circles called M&Ms (Moving And Motivated) every time we go out and walk or go to the exercise class and then when we get 15 of them we get a bandana and become an M&M champion. it is fun and really helps to stay motivated to not sit in bed all day.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers. Thank you Ali for all your help and the updates when I can't it sure is a lot of help. Love You!!!

With all my Love,

Randi

New Start

Hi,Great News. Randi got her new start last night. At about 7 pm (Texas time) Randi got her new bone marrow. It was to take about 7 or 8 hours. They were watching her very closely.
We are all thankfull for the lady who donated. It is such an awesome, unselfish thing to do for someone she doesn't even know.
I will post more when I know more.

Praising God for working throught people the way he does.

Ali

Hello All,

So I am sorry that it has been so long without an update. I have been feeling pretty bad with fungal pneumonia. I was in the hospital for about 4 weeks with the pneumonia, so the transplant was pushed backed and did not happen on Oct. 26th.

But the good news is we have a new transplant date. I was admitted to the hospital yesterday at about 6:00pm. this morning at 8 they started the chemo that will kill all of my bone marrow this will go for four days and then they will give me an immune suppressive drug for two days and then on November 10th (exactly 6 months after I was diagnosed) I will get the transplant.

I am feeling pretty good right now. The doctor described the chemo I am getting as a nuclear bomb going off in my body, sounds fun!!! I am excited but scared about how bad i will feel. However the goal is that it will make me feel all the way better so I am excited. 

Well I will do my best to keep the updates closer together. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Also I want to thank everyone who sent e-mails and made phone calls and got people to donate white blood cells. We were very worried when they told us we had to find people in this huge city we didn't know to make this huge commitment and donate cells. But God is good and the phone started ringing and didn't stop we have 20 people that have been pre-screened and are ready to donate. We had some people donate before, while I was in for the pneumonia but the docs have stopped them for now but every one on the list is still willing and ready for Geoff to call and let them know if we ned them again. So again Thank You All so much!!!!

Well thats all for now. We love you and miss everyone sooooooo much thank you for all you prayers.

With All My Love,

Randi  =)

White blood cell donation Info

Just thought I would post some info about the donation.
The Number to call if you would like to donate is 713-792-7777. It takes a few days to go through the prescreening process. Before prescreening you are not allowed to have anything containing asprin, energy drinks, herbal supplements, green teas, any supplements that start with "g", antibiotics. Thanks to all who are willing to help.

Thank you for your prayers
Ali

September 29

Good afternoon. Here is an update as I know it. Randi is currently in the hospital with a fungal pneumonia. It will take her several weeks to kick this. They are currently looking for people to donate blood of some sort (I'm not sure what kind or type) on a weekly basis for her. Here is the kicker, they have to live in the Houston area and be willing to follow some rules. If you know any one in that area who may be willing to help please let us know, asap. You can get in touch with Geoff or myself. I will forward the info to Geoff.
The transplant is still on track, this should not change those plans.

Thanks for the prayers.
Ali

Well good morning all!

It is a very good morning. We met with Dr. Champlin the transplant Dr. yesterday afternoon. we have a date. October 26 is the day of transplant! woohoo!  we are very excited and a little scared but it is great to have a date and moving forward. The transplant team is very excited I have Three donors from the national registry that are 10 out of 10 matches. because they had the luxury of Three donors they checked another two markers and one matched on both of those so they went a little further and checked two more markers and they matched on one of those. So what we know right know is that my donor is a 49 year old female that matches on 13 out of 14 markers which is really great! She is blood type O- so my blood type will change from O+ to O- which is crazy. That is all we know of the donor now we do not know where she is or any personal info. 

Ok so a little about the process, I will be admitted 7 to 9 days before transplant for a final and scary round of chemo. the chemo will destroy all of my bone marrow to make way for the new cells. It will be a stem cell transplant so as for the actual transplant it will be like a blood transfusion. The cells are taken from the donor and the next day I will get them. Between now and the week before transplant I will have lots to do. I have to see a dentist and eye doc. get an EKG, and echocardiogram to make sure my heart is good and strong. basically a whole work up to make sure I am  good for transplant. I will also have another bone marrow biopsy closer to the transplant to see how many blasts are still there. We will go with transplant even if I am not in remission. 

well that is a lot of info so sorry if you're not a nerd like me and this is just rambling! But if any one has a question or wants to know more let me know. We are so excited and this month is gonna fly by so again Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and gifts and all the support we would be lost without our wonderful family and friends. May God Bless and Hope All have  great day!!

with all my Love,

                 Randi

September 17

Hi, just a check update. Randi finished chemo last Friday, but is back in the hospital with a fever. I understand they got it under control with some tylenol. Yeah.. she should go home soon. I know she is tired and sleeping alot, and has some nausea. It is back to waiting again.

On a side note. Some of the extended family members have set up a fundraiser to help raise some money for Randi, to help take the boys on a trip to Disney. Kind of like make a wish. There is a raffle with 4 differnt items. Tickets are $10 each or 2 for $15. If you want more info email me at alik.1528@gmail.com.
Hopefully Randi will back online soon.
Please keep praying
Ali

Hello,

      So today is Tuesday 9/8/09 and it is the second day of chemo. I am feeling surprisingly good. this round of chemo is a little different from any of the other three. I am getting one called are-C which I have had before, and a second drug called fluderabene (have no idea how to spell that), which is one I have not had before, and the last one is a drug called mylotarg, it is a nasty drug and has some pretty yucky side effects. I had a dose of this drug in Alb. with the second round of chemo and it was not fun. It gave me uncontrollable chills and made feel pretty bad. So Geoff was concerned and wasn't looking forward to it. But I am super excited to say that it went well. The nurse we had was really great and said a little prayer when she saw the orders for it and came in and said it will be fine, and they gave me some demeral(spelling?) before they started the drug and then again an hour into the drug and I slept and had none of the same side effects. The nurse was so great and said see my God is good. Isn't that the truth! Our God is good.

Thank you Lord for little miracles and for your amazing love and comfort. I pray in Jesus name Amen.

And again thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and gifts and love and support. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We couldn't be so strong without each and everyone of you so we thank God everyday for his amazing grace and love to allow us to know all of you!

With all my love! May God bless,

                                                  Randi =)

              

Hello,

      Well we met with the leukemia doc today and I am sad to say it was not great news. while my platelets are still normal i have blasts in my peripheral blood which i have not had since may 31st. So sometime monday I will be admitted to start another round of chemo. this time it will be high dose Are-C which i had last time and also another chemo agent that starts with an F and ummm i forgot the name and couldn't spell it anyway. and also another dose of Mylatarg which i have had once before and it isn't a lot of fun. we should be in the hospital for 4 to 5 days and the chemo will run for 4 days.

I am excited for this weekend though, two of our youth group kids are here to visit, Matt and Kaitlyn.  We are so excited and it is very nice to have them here.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! We love you and God bless,

Randi

Hey there All,

     So I had another bone marrow biopsy on wed. aug. 26th and we saw the leukemia doc on friday and the results are not what they expected and not what I was hoping for. It showed 23% blasts in the bone marrow, however I have 121 thousand platelets which is almost normal and my white cell count is coming up also so they don't know why the blasts are so high and still my counts are coming up. So he wants to wait this week to see how high my counts come before doing any treatment. We meet with him again friday to see what my counts are and talk about what to do next. He said he was gonna talk to his group about me cause he is not real sure what is going on they really expected this last treatment to put me into remission and don't know why my counts are coming up and the blasts are so high, yippie I get to be the difficult patient that all the doctors talk about. i asked if I could come to the meeting with his group just cause I wanted to listen to them talk about me as a case but again he said no. Man nobody will let me follow them for experience for med school. Anyway I am feeling really good. Mom was here for two weeks and is leaving tomorrow. It was great to have her here we went shopping and drove all over and never got lost. Woohoo! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers I love you and will write again when we have more news.

with all my love,

    Randi

July 19,

Last weeks biopsy was not so good. Randi had 29% blast cells in her bone marrow. It is up for the previous biopsy, meaning the last round of chemo didn't work. Randi talked the the transplant Dr on Monday and they have 3 potential matches. Today is a visit with the chemo dr. to see what is next. They may go ahead with the transplant in hopes that the donors immunity helps Randi, or more chemo (yuck) or both.

Please keep praying.

Ali

Just, a quick update. Last week Randi had a fever and they admitted her for antibiotics but couldn't find out why she had a fever. She is home now (their apartment). We are just waiting and waiting to see how well the chemo worked.

Here are some pictures of their apartment, and one of Geoff and Randi.

Keep praying
Ali

July 30 morning

Sorry for the long absences. I finally talked with Geoff last night. Randi was admitted into the hospital earlier this week and received another round of Chemo. A stronger dose then she got here. They are now at home (a apartment in Houston), she will be at the hospital daily for testing. Geoff is taking care of her, and she is becoming a champion hurler( throwing up a lot).
She did not get into the study, there were some complications. Hopefully this round will put her in remission, and they can do ahead with the transplant.

Thanks for the continue support and prayer.

Ali

confusion

Hi, just a quick note to clear up some confusion. I put a link a while back to Compass bank where we set up a donation account for Randi and Geoff. The link was only so if someone needed to find a location. Unfortunately there is no way to make a donation online. I hope this helps and sorry for the confusion.

Thanks
Ali

July 15, evening

Talked with Randi today, It was great to talk with her, she sounded like herslef. She said her fiend Carrie said "she liked this Randi better then hospital Randi." I agree.
She talked with the Dr today and they have decided to admitt her to MD Anderson on Monday. She will be the 4th person on a new clinical trial. The way I understand it is this. The type of lukemia she has is resist to the chemo, so the inject her with some type of molecule that make it easier for the chemo to work and kill those nasty blast cells. Then or at the same time they will also give her more chemo. She will be inpatient for 1 week, then out for 3 more weeks. Not sure yet who will be staying with her and when. They will have to find housing near the hospital, within a 10 minute drive.
Deb and Hank are making the long trip with the boys to Houston tomorrow. Pray for their safe travel and their sanity. They will spend at least the weekend together, possibly the week.

Updates may not come as quickly, because there may not be much to tell.

Thanks
Ali

July 13, afternoon

Sorry its taken so long to update everyone. Here is what I know. They meet with the Drs. at MD Anderson and although the initial results look good, on Friday they got bad new that she has blast cells in her bone marrow.
Geoff and Randi are in Dallas with his parents waiting to go back to Houston, for more testing and see where they go next. As we have been told before the type she has is one of the ugliest to treat. More then likely it will be more chemo and then waiting to see where she stands.
A bit of good news because Josh is not as much of a match as they would like, they went to the registry and found 12 potiental donors. Ususally they are excited to find one or two. So when the time comes for transplant, there should be a match.
Please keep praying.

July 7, afternoon

Just a update. Geoff and Randi have left for Houston on Sunday. They were able to work out the kinks with insurance and such. The plan is to initially be in Houston at MD Anderson for a week for evaluation and consultations. After the week what happens is still unknown..

Ali

July 4, morning

Happy 4th to all. And thank you to all soldiers and veterans..

Ok. here is where everything stands as I know it.
Randi has been approved for a consultation and evaluation at MD Anderson in Houston. They have to be there on Thursday for her first appointment and are expected to stay for about a week. If all goes well and they can get approval from the insurance their stay may be extended. Travel arrangements are still up in the air. So we are again waiting. MD Anderson will run their own typing test to see about a marrow donation, and who is a match. Prelimary tests say Josh is a 50% match.

The boys will be staying here will Geoff and Randi head to Houston.

July 1, morning.

Hi, to all. Thanks Micki for keeping everyone updated in my absence. I was away from home when we got the good news about Randi going home. She is now home and from what I heard had a good night.

The plan as I know it is to get her to a hospital to do her transplant asap. They are currently looking for one because there has been some issues with getting her into MD Anderson in Houston. That is the one we had hoped to send her to but it looks like it might not happen, so please pray that we find the right doctors and hospital for her. She will be home for the next 10 days, and if not admitted to another hospital elsewhere, its back to pres for the next round of chemo.


Now because she is home, it is time to start cooking again. We need some meals for the family. Geoff works 2 jobs as most of you know, so this is one less thing for him to worry about. If you can do frozen meals that's great. Let me asap so we can feed them. I believe they have one or two meals still in the freezer from the last go around. So hopefully we can get them some by this weekend.

Thanks
Ali
alik.1528@gmail.com

Tuesday, June 30th Afternoon

It's Micki again. I've been told Randi is going home today at noon!!! YAY!

Also the doctors in New Mexico are working hard on getting her admitted into MD Anderson - Houston, within two weeks.

I will let you know if there are anymore changes.

Thanks again for your continued support and prayers!

~Micki

Monday June 29th Morning

This is sis-in-law Micki again. Ali is still in Colorado so I will be updating today.

We have good news!! Randi's blood counts keep going up so the doctors are probably going to let her go home in the next few days. She will be able to stay home for the next couple of weeks. The doctors will re-evaluate her blood after a couple of weeks and determine the next move as far as whether or not she will need to go to Houston for the bone marrow transplant or just start the next round of chemo. We are however, still waiting to find a donor match for her bone marrow.

No matter how well she does she will have to complete all required rounds of chemo to prevent a relapse.

All in all folks she is doing great!! Keep praying for her recovery.

Thank you for you continued support.

~Micki

June 16 afternoon

Yeah, God is Good, God is Great. Thank you dear Lord.
They confirmed today that there are no blast cells in her bone marrow. She does not have any white blood cells as I understand it, so now its a wait to see what kind she grows back. Keep praying we want good ones, of course. She is still having good days and bad days, we never know which one until she wakes up.

Still waiting to hear about her brothers test, it will be weeks before there are results. So more waiting, and waiting..

Ali

June 14

Good News, Randi had a biopsy late last week. The Dr said initially it looks clean. (no blast cells) They still have to send it out to the lab for more accurate results.

She is still not felling well. She is fighting a infection, they believe started in her port line. She is having fevers and nausea also. We pray this will all resolve soon with the infections, so they can start preparing her for the trip to MD Anderson..

I will let everyone know when we get final results from the biopsy..

Thanks for the prayers.

June 9, evening.

Randi is still not feeling well. She is really dealing with the nausea, and being really tired. She is still not up to visitors, so please stay away so she can get better.

If you are interested http://www.marrow.org/index.html is having free registration this week through the 22. You can check out the site for more info. It is the new web site for National bone marrow program. It is a great thing. If you do give blood I know united blood services here in Alb. will do the testing,for free, to put you on the list. Just ask when you donate blood.

June 6, evening

Hi, sorry its been a while. I have been in Tx for a while now and not getting updates. I do know that she was feeling really crudy for a while. She is still tried and nauesa. From a second hand report, I know her white blood count is going up and there are still no blast cells in her blood test. Praise God! They will probably do another bone marrow test this next week.

The boys are enjoying a nice week with us in Texas visting with my parents,(which are Geoff's too), thier aunts, uncle and cousins. I know they are anxious to get back and see their mom and dad.

Until later
Ali

June 1, evening

Just a short note. They have given Randi her new chemo and apparently it is giving her a lot pain. So NO VISTIORS until futher notice. I will let everyone know when she is feeling better.

Thanks
Ali

May 31, evening

Happy Birthday to Randi... she did get good news for her birthday. Today was the first day she had no blast cells in her blood test (blast cells are leukemic cells, to my understanding). Yea !

Here is where she is in her treatment. She started on Thursday evening a new stronger round of chemo. She will do this for 7 days. This week the will test her brother, Josh, to see if he is a match for a marrow transplant. Randi will not have to under go testing to type her, because a few months back she got tested to be put on the donor list for bone marrow. In about 20 days or so she will travel to MD Anderson in Houston. That is where she will get her transplant. Geoff was told to plan on 4 to 6 weeks in Houston. I would encourage anyone who is not on the bone marrow donor list to consider it, it is a simple blood draw to get tested and you may be a match to someone in need.

As far as her birthday, thank you to all who sent cards and gifts. Unfortunately I was unable to deliver them to day and didn't want to see Geoff. I woke up with a sore throat and congestion. I don't even want to risk, the slightest bit, getting her sick. I didn't want to get Geoff sick either, but it seems as though he has a sore throat tonight as well. My mom is planning on taking her the cards and gift tomorrow, if all goes well. I do know she had lots of visitors today, including the boys. I know Thursday when the boys were there she was so happy, and they were too. They made quite a sight, her, Ryan and Eric all squeezed in the tiny hospital bed together. It was a great thing to see. I think the best medicine she has had.

Please keep praying.

Ali

Update May 29th Morning

Hi Folks - this is Micki - the sister-in-law married to Gavin. This won't be as detailed as Ali's posts because I don't live in NM and so I don't have all the info.

But here's what I know...they did another bone marrow test on Monday. Yes originally they were going to wait for 28 days but they didn't. I don't know why. So they got the results yesterday from the Monday test and it seems that she has more abnormal cells now than what she started with in the beginning. So now they are testing the family for bone marrow matches. I believe they are going to start a second, stronger round of chemo today or tomorrow.

I don't know how long it will last but Randi is able to see the boys now. This is what Ali has been doing; shuttling around 5 kiddos.

What do we need from you? Please keep saying prayers and add Randi to any prayer list you can think of, donate blood in her name, and be patient. Due to Ali's busy schedule this blog has to be put on the back burner. I will update if and when I have info.

Thanks for your continued support!

May 23 morning

Well, all the side effects have set in. She is just not feeling good at all. Her mouth hurts, her belly hurts, and she has had a fever since yesterday. Because she doesn't feel good, she has asked for no more visitors, when she feels better we can resume visiting. She needs her rest.
The Dr is treating her fever with antibiotics and anti fungal meds, but they are not sure why she has a fever. They have also said she is neutropenic, you can look at the AML website for a definition, (see right side of blog for link).
Please keep her in your prayers, this is the hard part but most of the side effects means the chemo is doing its job.
To update about the boys and Geoff. Geoff is holding up well considering all he has to deal with. He has seemed to have found a balance between taking care of his wife and being a dad. I am proud of him and all he is doing in this difficult situation. The boys are doing good, as well. They pray for their mom to get better everyday, and are adjusting to the new life they are in. We have, because of the generosity of the YMCA, enrolled the boys in the summer program. We felt it would be best for them to have some stability day to day this summer as to where they would be. We are grateful for the scholarship program at the Y.

May 21, evening

Hi, not much to report. Did find out it was not the strain we were hoping for, but the explanation of what it is, is too much to put here and a bit complicated. More ugly side effects for Randi, but the Dr. is trying to make her more comfortable. Today is day 1 of a 21 to 28 day waiting period. Then more testing. So hold out for more news to come.

I did have an idea today. Randi's birthday is in 10 days, the 31st. I think its horrible to be stuck at the hospital for her birthday. So I thought if everyone who loves her and cares sends me a card for her, I will keep them and Geoff can deliver them to her all at once. I think the number of cards at once will be a cool sight for her, not to metion uplifiting. So if you can, mail a card for her to my house ( birthday hopefully, we can get other cards to her too). If you don't want to mail them, let me know we can find a way to get them. If you go to their church you can leave them there and they will get picked up.
My address (Ali Knox)
1830 Cantera St SE
Rio Rancho, NM 87124

May 18, afternoon

Ok, one weekend down. Not much to report about Randi, it is basically a waiting game. She's getting her chemo treatments, and having some side effects. A funny taste in her mouth which makes everything taste funny and she is tired, all normal unfortunately.
For blood donations, we have figured out it is best to call Pres hospital directly at 505-563-2195 and schedule a donation. She needs blood and platelets. If it is her type it will be set aside for her, if not she will get credit for it and it will go to someone in need. All a good thing. We are working on a possible blood drive for those who can't make it to Presbyterian. More details on that as we get it together.
I have had some offers of donations of money for the family. We have set up a donation account at Compass bank for them. http://www.bbvacompass.com/index.html. It is set up under my name, Alison Knox. Right now it does not say for Randi, we are awaiting approval on a donation account, but it is open. We will be using this money to keep the boys busy this summer, get the house ready for her to come home, gas for trips to the hospital, just to name a few things.
I want to thank everyone for all their support, with helping out and just being so generous. It shows just how much Randi, Geoff and the boys are loved. We appreciate everything and it leaves us able to take care of them without worrying about the little things.

Always praising HIM
Ali

May 14, afternoon

Not much news today. Randi started chemo yesterday. She did have to have a few pints of blood, and felt better after that.
News will probably be slow from this point for a while. She will be getting chemo and then just waiting. Keep checking for updates.
Correction to yesterday post, she will only have 7 days of chemo, but it will be high doses.

May 13, Afternoon

Ok. didn't get post this morning had to go see the girl. She is still in a good mood, but feeling tired.
Here is what we know today. The biopsy confirmed AML, and is a stage 4. We had been hoping for a 3, but got this. They have yet to determine the strain, pray for the the right one. As always we know who is in charge and know He will take care of her.
She will began chemo today and for the next 10 days. She then has to stay put for 28 days. After that there will be another biopsy to make sure she is in remission, because we know that is where she will be. (All things positive is my personal motto.)
Good side the boys all got to visit last night. It will be a while until the see her again, but we are setting up Skye so they can see her that way.
Today was also the big day for the hair. It all came off and she did so good. See pics below of the cool looking head.
I am so proud of how well she is handling all of this. As Geoff said the other day "she is wearing her big girl panties". Everyone is so impressed and proud of her. She did her biopsy with a out tear and even wanted to watch, which of course is so Randi like. I think she might of done it herself if they let her.



And yes I had her permission to post these pics.

in the process with moms loving help, wouldn't let Geoff do it says he can't do it right.




My personal fav.

Had to do the mohawk, all the boys including Geoff have had one at some point, so why not Randi.

Still so Beautiful..

Things she likes, May 12

I talked with Geoff to get a list of things Randi needs/wants in her room. She is only eating small meals at the moment. She need some snacks to keep her energy up. This is a few things she likes. Keep in mind she can not have anything that grows in or on the ground. Lets not overwhelm her with stuff, she will be there for a while.

Most nuts are OK but in small quantities, not her exact fav.
Kashi bars, pumpkin or cranberries
fruit roll ups
Chocolate snack packs
Summer sausage
Cheese and cracker
Green olives stuffed with Garlic
Hooter wings but only from hooters

With love, Ali

5/12 Info

I just want everyone to know I will be updating this blog twice a day for now, or when there is something important to be known. Information is changing every 5 minutes. As a family we are still trying to get our bearings. We have all the children to care for, Geoff and Randi. Please be patient with us, this is a huge shock to all of us. We are aware that everyone loves Randi and is concerned. Please check this blog when you can.
If you have questions please email me. I have set up a separate account to handle this. It is alik.1528@gmail.com. I will be checking it often and will try to answer questions or will get the answers if I don't know.
Regarding blood donation, I am trying to determine if we need to donate in Randi's name. For now if you give please do so in her name.

Thank you for all your love
Praising HIM always
Ali

May 12, Morning

Good Morning to all. Here is my update for now. Randi is still in a good mood. Today she will be getting a central line, but it is new and approved they call it a Power port. She will also be doing a bone marrow biopsy today. The Dr. said that her white blood count is within a safe range so she is in no immediate danger, and that is why they are not doing much for her now.

To clear a few things. As far the blood donation ,Geoff and Randi just know that blood is always need, and Randi needs no blood at the moment.
More good news, Randi has spoken with her porfessors and she will be getting the grade she had before finals and does not have to worry about those ugly tests.

Always praising HIM
Ali

5/11 evening

Ok, so I hope you all found this blog easily. I am Ali, Randi's sis in law and will be the one probably updating the blog. Here is what I know as of this evening. They are almost positive that she has Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, or a version of it. They will be doing more testing tomorrow, but it may take a day or two to get the definitive results.
I spoke with Randi earlier and she was still in a good mood. She was giving everyone a hard time and being herself. Geoff is taking care of her and the boys are doing their normal routine or as close to it as possible. Good news is the boys get to go see their mom tomorrow night.

I will be adding a list soon of things they need, and how we need help. Right now Geoff is asking for some meals that he can heat and serve dinner to the boys when he is home. If you can help with this, e-mail me at alik.1528@gmail.com. They are asking if you need a way to help, please donate blood, pray and keep them in your thoughts.
Check back frequently for updates.

The News

Sunday May 10, 2009 Randi found out she had leukemia. We're in the process of finding out more information.