rehab facility in the offing....

my dad, brothers and i met with the oncologist today about my mother.  according to him, my mom is fast approaching the day when she will be discharged from the hospital.  she is done with anti-biotics and her blood numbers are all about back to "normal" levels.  her leukemia, he expects, is in remission.  they will do another bone marrow scan in a couple weeks to confirm that.

she still has diminished capacity when it comes to speech and motor skills.  her speech, however, did seem a bit better today when we saw her.  it was one of those (rare) days when my dad and all my brothers were there at the same time.  i can still count those moments on one hand over the last 10 years (excluding holidays).  

the outlook for my mom is still a challenge.  she can't go home until she regains some mobility.  the folks from the drake center will come again to see her tomorrow (we thought they were coming today) to see if she qualifies to be admitted into one of their programs.  keys to her being admitted to drake center around her desire and motivation to rehab and her nutrition (she's gotta eat!).  for the last couple weeks, she has not had the energy to really put into rehab (or eating).  the hope is, with her blood numbers better, that she will regain a bit of energy that will help her through.  the IV nutrition needs to come off and she needs to pick up the eating.

we don't know how long the disease will be in remission.  most leukemia of this type (AML) recurs in patients.  it's impossible to know how it will effect her down the line.  we continue to hope and pray for the best.

please join us in prayer for her continued fight.  she needs every bit of encouragement to continue on the journey.  we can't begin to know what she is battling but we try to support her the best that we can.

keep my dad in your prayers, too.  you can imagine....

blessings,

tim