Tuesday ~ The best is yet to come...

Well, it's been awhile since my last entry. Thankful for each day's mercies. Dawn and I went to Chicago yesterday for my clinic and it was a day of AML encounters. As I was waiting at 6F for my blood draws I struck up a conversation with a masked man who I found out had AML and had his 2nd stemcell transplant in Dec. I then left there to go to my appointment and ran into the Verbers. George has AML and had a transplant in 2011. We had a great time; the girls catching up and George and I trading GvHD stories; almost like a couple of war vets trading schrapnel scars. After they left to beat the traffic we met a gal waiting for her appointment who had just been thru her consolidation chemo for, you guessed it, AML. She will have one of her siblings cells. Plenty of opportunities for encouragement and prayer. Our name was finally called and we went back to C5 to see the doctor. Had a little bit of a wait so it was a good thing I brought the harmonica. Finally, after a thorough exam it was confirmed that the skin GvHD is chronic. When I asked the doctor in what state is it, his reply was "mild, but extensive". That means staying on the immune suppressing oral steroid for at least another couple months and keeping the steroid creme judiciously applied. No med changes. When asked if it would dissipate over time he said "it should work itself out if it doesn't get worse???" which translated means "My times are in your hands O Lord".  He also wants me to see my family doctor to go to a longer acting insulin for the diabetes I've contracted. I also had three more immunization shots. The good news was my molecular results from the bone marrow done at my year anniversary still showed 95%+_donor cells and my dna was not detected. That's not quite as good a news as John 3:16 but a milestone none the less. We return to Chicago March 26th. Thanks again for all your caring. Like my grandmother always said; The best is yet to come. Something tells me that she read John 3:16.

Trusting Him,
Steve and Dawn