We found out Jim had leukemia December '05. He had a bone marrow transplant June '06 and has been doing remarkably well. He is in complete remission, praise the Lord!!
He has dealt with GVHD aka graft vs host disease, on an off since the transplant. GVHD is where his cells declare a war against the bone marrow donor's cells, thinking they are intruders. For the most part, the symptoms he has had to deal with have been minor in comparison to the leukemia treatment/chemo etc and really haven't gotten Jim down too bad, up until now that is.
He hasn't been feeling well for a few months, he went to his "regular" doc and he couldn't figure it out, gave him various meds that didn't help and actually made things worse :-/
He finally said the heck with this and went back to City of Hope, his cancer center to see what his cancer doc thought. She figured it out right away! THANK YOU DOCTOR BRIGGS!!!
Jim has a virus called Epstein Barr Syndrome in his lungs, due to GVHD. He is one of only 9 people in the US with this!! [He bought a couple of powerball tickets. ;-)]
There will be 8 treatments, very expensive-praising God the insurance will cover them!! Recovery chances are excellent!! He is working with the best of the best!!!
Jim's faith is strong, he has a great attitude as always and we are all very hopeful!!
The attached picture is the last time the 6 of us were together, about a year ago. I'll update as things progress. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. They are much appreciated!!
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