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