One step further.

We were a little anxious last night as we posted our first blog post.   It somehow makes everything feel more real when everyone knows.  We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and compassion for our young family.  You have made us smile and have lifted our spirits. Thank you.

Today was a big day.  Bone and bone marrow biopsy day.  We arrived at the clinic this morning at 8:30am.   Josh was asked for more blood labs and then he would be prepped for the procedure.  Josh is getting better at taking the blood draws.  Today the Phlebotomist named Mike was really good and Josh was so relieved.  I don't know if he'll ever totally be comfortable with all the needles.

The Oncology clinic was very welcoming.  They were kind, patient and very informative to us.  They knew who we were and why we were there.  You can tell that these nurses have a special love for what they do and who they care for.

I was not able to be in the room during the biopsy.  I waited in another exam room for them to return.  I read my Book of Mormon and prayed.  I read Alma 2 ( http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/2?lang=eng ) and was comforted in feeling that Josh was not finished with what the Lord had for him to do here on this earth.  Josh and I feel that the Lord is reminding us what is truly important in life and that we are truly here to serve Him.  We are going through our own refiners fire now and have never felt more of the Lord's hand in our lives as we have now.  He knows us.  He stands with us.  We know this.  We've felt it.  These past few days have been a spiritual lesson that will continue to teach us and mold us to be as the Lord would see fit.  However, this does not mean that we feel that all this will be taken away.  There is nothing to learn in that.  We know that he stands to strengthen us and will allow us to grow through this awful trial.

Josh has said that the Dr took his time and was very thorough.  He made sure that the area was numbed sufficiently.  Overall he was happy to report that it wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be and that he felt the Dr did a great job.  He felt at peace and truly felt the prayers offered in his behalf.  The biopsy consisted of making a small incision in Josh's lower right tailbone area.  A needle was inserted to take some bone marrow out for testing (aspiration) and that was unfortunately unsuccessful.  He tried three different times but Josh's white blood count is too high and the white cells were sticking together and could not be retrieved.  This is not uncommon and should not be a problem because essentially we can get the data we need from a regular blood draw.  They like to try to get marrow because that is the source of the problem.  They were successful in taking a piece of bone from Josh.  Josh was shocked in that it looked like a large, long, thick toothpick.  This bone fragment will be sent for more confirmation testing at OHSU with results coming back next week.  We are specifically looking for the Philadelphia chromosome.  We are 98% sure it is CML now and this will make it 100% and show us how to treat Josh's cancer particularly.

After the biopsy the Dr. was kind enough to take us into a room and break everything down and answer all of our questions and concerns.  He gave us a great website to look through http://www.nccn.com/files/cancer-guidelines/cml/index.html#/18/
and spent over an hour with us.

We had to make our first decision of treatment today.  Josh's most prevalent symptoms now are tiredness dizziness, nausea and night sweats.  We were told that Josh is incredibly anemic (as a result of the cancer).  His red blood count was very low and the Dr said that he has been living on .5 to .75 of what should be normal.  He told us that a blood transfusion could help this.  It would quickly get Josh's red blood cells higher and bring the white down so that he won't be feeling as sleepy, dizzy and nauseous.  There are always risks to a transfusion but believe this will dramatically change his quality of life in the meantime as we prepare to start a medicine regiment in the coming weeks.

So, tomorrow morning, Josh will be admitted into an infusion clinic where he will be given 2 bags of donor blood through IV.  This should take 5-6 hours and will not be painful.  We are welcome to bring food and entertainment as we sit together.  Josh used to sit with me as I was given fluid infusions while I was pregnant with our third child.  Now it's my turn to sit with him.

We are hopeful that tomorrow will have Josh feeling much better.