Here in Houston...

Another week has come and gone in our "Houston summer". The days have gone by very quickly as this past week has been filled with family, appointments, infusions, and of course, our daily radiation.

Amanda has received three different chemo treatments in the past two weeks to work in correlation with the radiation she receives. One of these was Methatrexate, the chemo in which we checked the chemical count until it was below .1. This was the first time that Amanda had done this on an out-patient basis. She did great. In fact, she cleared it so well that when her count came back they made the lab re-test it to make certain that there had not been an error. ( Part of this success may be due to Amanda drinking huge amounts of Sunny D, which we learned seems to have some direct influence on lowering meth-x levels. Sunny D. Really.)

Last week found Larry and Amanda spending some precious father/daughter time together while I flew home and spent a few wonderful days with my "Columbia" children and my mother. It was so good to be with them and to see some dear friends as well. Haley flew back down to Houston with me and was able to spend the week with Amanda and I here as Larry returned back to Columbia. We loved having her with us and the days that she spent here passed by much too quickly. As we said goodbye to her earlier today, we returned to our apartment and prepared for the afternoon arrival of Stephanie, one of Amanda's school friends and her mother, Debbie. These visits from home are a treat to us and give us a great opportunity to share some of our Houston experiences with those back in Columbia.

Amanda continues to handle the treatments and the radiation very well. There are still no side effects, no skin burns from the treatment series. We are so very grateful. Amanda has labs drawn regularly and, I am happy to report, the doctors/nurses are still quite pleased with the levels that her counts are at.

We continue to covet your prayers for Amanda's complete healing, our time in Houston and for each of our children and family members from whom we must be separated. We believe that we are where we are suppose to be; and yet, our hearts long to be reunited together again as a family in our Columbia home.

Still finding our way around in Houston (thanks to maps, luck and a lot of U turns - which fortunately are common AND legal here!)

me 'n amanda joy