another overdue update

I'm really not being good and being regular with this, am I! I'll fill you in on what we've been up to the last few weeks:

Oct 5-7: Our last schedule chemo treatment at Cleveland Clinic. Nice to get this part of the process behind us. A little expected nausea for a couple days after returning home but nothing major.

Oct 12-15. We returned to Cleveland for a lot of meetings and tests for the purpose of restaging my cancer and getting us prepared for what all of this has been leading up to: A stem cell transplant. More details on that in the next post. Hopefully the scans, blood work, spinal fluid analysis and bone marrow biopsy will show that the cancer is no longer present and allow us to continue on our transplant path. We enjoyed the benefits of the Hope Lodge for the first time on this trip to Cleveland. Hope Lodge is a facility 5 minutes east of the Clinic near the campus of Case Western that allows cancer patients and their care givers free stay while undergoing outpatient procedures at the Clinic. It's a very nice facility and we enjoyed yet another way God is providing for us in every need with our stay there. We are hoping to stay there again in the near future assuming our schedule goes as planned.

Oct 16-present. We've enjoyed some quite down time since returning from Cleveland on the 15th. Kim has been using the time to catch up on stuff around the house and we've been enjoying the time together re-establishing a consistent devotion time together with the help John McArthur's online resources at www.gty.org Personally my legs and consequently my walking have been getting stronger. I've been wearing braces regularly once again that were created for me a couple of months ago and have been enjoying greater mobility - walking more with the walker instead of staying in the wheel chair. I've been also sneaking out and driving a little more often to Delphos and back mostly. I'm tempted to get that 87 diesel Mercedes out and have some fun but don't think I'd get away with that! Had a wonderful blessing yesterday, Weds the 28th, with visits from 3 wonderful friends. My oldest friend, Dan Gamble, who I've known since 2nd grade found an excuse to get over to this area from his Marysville to spend a few hours with me and then I was surprised and blessed with a visit from Celina friends Ken Lange and Aaron Beougher who were on their way to a girl's volleyball game in Findlay and stopped by. It was a wonderful day! and I enjoyed catching up with 3 great friends.