Out with 2008...And The PICC Line?

John has been extremely tired and has been sleeping most of the day since yesterday. He has gotten up and ate and taken a couple little walks around the unit. His white blood cells are hanging steady at 280 and he has needed platelet transfusions every morning. The doctors are happy with how his skin is starting to look better. His legs are still weeping fluid and still has some blisters on his legs and arms.

He called a little bit ago to say that while he was turning on his side in bed he pulled his picc line out of his arm. He said it really didn't hurt. They have plans for him to get a hickman put in tomorrow. We will be trying to stop that in the morning. We will be asking for another picc line or some other kind of central line. They have finally gotten the infection taken care of from the last hickman and he does not want another. So we will see what happens in the morning. That's about all for tonight.

Happy New Year to you all.

White Counts On The Rise...

John had a busy day. His white blood cells are rising he now has 300 so far there are no leukemia cells floating around they will continue to watch them as his counts keep rising. I missed rounds this morning but John said once his counts are high enough and his skin has improved and he is clear of infection and leukemia he will be able to come home prior to transplant like he did last year for a couple of weeks.

We went to the eye doctor today to make sure he is not getting graft vs host in his eyes; they believe it is from his skin that is leading to irritation of his eyes. They gave him some eye drops and an ointment to keep them lubricated. We got back from that and he took his first shower since being admitted on Dec.10th. It wore him out but I was able to get the majority of the flaking skin off and he looked and felt a ton better. His skin is starting to calm down he has a long way to go to back to normal though. The blisters on his legs are weeping so we have to keep changing his sheets and padding that soaks up the fluid.

He also took a walk to the lounge this morning. He is very wobbly and can't attempt this by himself yet. He was able to check the blog and read all your comments. He had much more energy today but was exhausted at 4:30. He had a few visitors. The Tulino's came after their appt. Carrie and Stacey from Taussig, he kept them well entertained. His mom and my Dad came after work. My Dad brought the news that the local talk radio was saying that the Browns should go after Coach Meyer. John thought that was funny and he would be crazy to even think of talking that job. It is looking good for John to be home to watch the Gators on the 8th. That's all for tonight talk to you soon.

Counts On The Rise...And Another Room

John has been feeling a little better today. He is still extremely tired and worn out. His skin biopsy came back as dermatitis; but the oncologist, nurses, myself and John all know that it is graft vs host disease (gvh). His oncologist who is on service now (he's had him in the past) says it is grade 4 gvh. The steroids are definitely helping it isn't spreading as much and is not as inflamed as it was. He still has a long way to go to get rid of the blisters and for his skin to heal. His eyes have been bothering him and seem to be worse today we believe that it is in eyes now. He is getting eye drops and the steroids will also treat that as well. His kidney function levels were elevated somewhat today if they continue to go up they might have to put him on a dose of 1 of the anti rejection meds he was on. He doesn't need to get gvh of his kidney since many of you know he only has 1 to work with. We will see how his levels do in the next coming days.

His white blood cells are starting to come up so we will see what they are producing in the next few days; there are still to few to tell at this point. If they are producing leukemia cells he will need another round of chemo before he can get the chemo prior to transplant.

He has changed rooms. The nurses feel it would be better if he was across from the nurses station due to him being unsteady on his feet and at times he likes to try things on his own before thinking. He also still out of it as he calls "loopy and not quite all there". It is much better for him, nurses and staff to keep a eye on him until he starts feeling better. He really misses his dogs he keeps dreaming they are laying next to him and he starts to pet his legs. That's all for tonight will update you all again tomorrow.

Onto the BMT Floor...

John & Gordo

John & Moe

Jessica & Moe

John has now moved to the bone marrow transplant (BMT) floor. He is happy to be there he feels "more emotionally and physically stable" on this floor now. We don't know if they will keep him there straight up to transplant or if he will come home leading up to transplant.It will all depend on his recovery from everything he has going on at this point. His counts really aren't moving up yet so there is still some time that he will be at a high risk for a number of things. He is extremely tired and when he is sleeping he is talking or fidgeting. His skin is not as flaming red today but he is covered in some nasty blisters that are leaking everywhere. They have doubled his steroids because that seems to be helping in the treatment of the skin issue.

He is in one of Luke's old rooms now; John was across from Luke when he was in this room now. He was talking and half sleeping today he said it's not the same without Luke to go through this again. He has a lot of the same nurses on this floor that he did a year ago. He has his favorite nurse Moe with him today. There are some pictures attached of Moe and one of Gordo and John from this afternoon before he left for the airport. That's about all for today. He will be getting some much needed rest today and night and we will see the docs in the morning.

A Day Of Gifts...

John had a better day today. He was more awake and alert for most of the day. He didn't have any episodes of a-fib or fevers last night or today so if that continues he can possibly go back to the oncology floor tomorrow(Saturday). His skin is now blistering all over his arms and legs. Dermatology has him on all needed creams and have increased his steroids to help in treating this problem. They are leaning more towards a chemo burn or graft vs host disease. The results of the biopsy will be in by Monday until then they are treating it as if it were both of these; so treatment really wouldn't change.

I had another ultrasound this morning. It is no longer identical twins. The smallest no longer has a heartbeat and will just reabsorb itself. The other still has a good heartbeat but is small. So I go back again next Friday for another ultrasound. It was very hard to tell this news to John but I couldn't keep it from him. He was sad and thought it was his fault.

John got a big surprise this afternoon. One of his closest friends from college (Gordo) flew in from New Jersey today to see him. He was so excited to see him. He is staying until tomorrow and hanging out with him tonight in his room. My parents, brother and his girlfriend came tonight for John to open his Christmas present; a Keurig single cup coffee maker) he can't wait to get home and use it. The biggest gift that was opened was for my Dad. We had been planning to get my Dad a GPS system for the farm to put on the tractor. John was upset that he wouldn't get to see my Dad open it so they brought it to the hospital. My Dad was so surprised and it made John's day to see him finally get what he has been wanting for a long time.

That's about all for tonight. Hopefully he will have a calm and restful night and possibly move back to the oncology floor tomorrow.

Another Christmas At The Clinic...

Merry Christmas. John was sounding good this morning when I talked to him before I left the house. When I got there he was extremely tired. He was hoping he could take a shower today but the docs want to give his skin a few days to settle down. It is very ugly; there are a few pictures of it below...you get to see what he is dealing with. We still don't know yet if it is from the chemo or it is graft vs host of the skin. He is on a number of different creams to treat it and they have put him on prednisone (steroids) 80mg to help with treating it. I was able to get him cleaned up and we cut his hair because it is starting to fall out and is itchy. That took about 30 mins and he was incredibly tired.

He was able to read the article in the paper today and he said what a good job Bob did on it. He did go into a fib last night but was able to get out of it quickly. He has to go 48 hrs without any episodes of a-fib before they will take him back on the oncology floor. We will be unwrapping presents on Saturday morning at the clinic because my brother wants to be there for it. So we will have more pictures up on Saturday. Hope you all enjoy your Christmas with your families.

Ghost of Christmas Past...

The Star Beacon did an article on John's story which appeared in today's paper. Click HERE to view the entire article by Bob Ettinger. He did a tremendous job capturing the spirit of John & Jess and their love for friends, family and most of all, each other.

A Calmer Christmas Eve...

John is now out of cardiac ICU. They did not need to shock him back into rhythm as they thought last night. They were able to get in back to normal throughout the night using fluids, magnesium, and potassium. We have had a very rough few days on the floor he was on and we refused for him to go back to it. The oncology floor can't take him back yet due to the a fib last night and high fevers. He is now on the heart and lung transplant floor. This was chosen because it has the telemetry (monitors to keep checking his heart rate) and they are familiar with patients that require similar care as he does. This floor also takes Bone Marrow Transplant patients when that floor is full so they have an idea more than the other floor. The oncology team will still be following him closely while he is on this floor. It is nice because it is in the new part of the clinic so everything is brand new.

He is extremely exhausted. He has a very bad rash still not sure if it is from the chemo or if it is graft vs host disease flaring up. Dermatology was in today to take a skin biopsy so we will know more when those results are in. He does still have fluid around the back of his heart the doctors don't believe that is sending him into a fib; they think it is the infection that he is fighting. It doesn't help that he has no immune system right now but they have all the antibiotics going that they can to fight it for him. Hopefully by the end of next week into the following week his counts will start to recover to help him fight it. He was having many conversations with people last night while sleeping. It was actually funny to hear him saying the things he was. He was talking to my Dad, Coach Meyer, and the dogs. Hopefully he will get some much needed rest the remainder of the day and night. Merry Christmas to all.

Trying Day To Say The Least...

Jess asked me to post a few details about the day, which has not been very good. Between a upsetting visit from ENT, and a fever of 105, John's heart went back into a- fib and he is back in the cardiac ICU. They have been trying to get his heart back to a normal rhythm since 4:00 p.m. or so with drugs. It has not worked so far. Jess was called back to the clinic when they were passing the 615 exit on Rt. 90.

They are exploring the option of trying to shock his heart back into rhythm. There are risks in doing this because of his platelet counts, but at this point it is felt the benefits outweigh the risks.

Jess is going to try and call me later tonight with any updates and I will forward them on the blog to you...please keep him in your prayers tonight. This is one of those critical points in his recovery.

-Jim Timonere

A Better Day...

John is having a much better day than yesterday. I couldn't make it due to the weather and a full day of morning sickness. I was able to stay in contact with him and the doctors. He did get a picc line put in after a platelet transfusion. He won't need to be a pin cushion as much anymore. He will be getting 2 units of blood tonight. They were waiting on the blood bank to send it up. He did go into a-fib last night along with a fever. He has not had any a-fib issues today so that is a good sign. They have now determined that the issue with the a-fib is from an infection. Infectious disease believes they have it covered with all the antibiotics and now have added another to hopefully get this taken care of. The doctor said things are definitely better than yesterday and they will keep checking on him through the night.

I talked to him around 6 he was definitely more perky. I think that had to do with the fact that the majority of his favorite nurses were visiting him. He can't wait to get back to his nurses. They have all become more like family to us now than just his nurses. He said he was still very tired but not as bad as he was where his eyes would shut mid sentence or while drinking water. They have started some lasix to get rid of some of his extra fluid. Hopefully it will be a quite night with no issues and see what tomorrow brings for us. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Another Day Of Ups And Downs...

John had a very rough day. He has another fever his heart has gone back into atrial fibrillation and he is vomiting. He had started out the day with a brand new nurse so when my Dad and I got there I couldn't take it and I went to the supervisor and said he needs someone with experience. He requires too much care to have a new nurse. So that was taken care of. We were just not feeling confident in what this floor was doing for him. So I went down to the oncology floor to see what needed to be done to get him back there. They had a room for him but by the time I got back upstairs his blood pressure had dropped and heart rate had increased. It is better for him to keep being monitored on the floor he is on now because the oncology floor does not have all the monitors and IV meds to control his heart. They had gotten him stabilized when we left and he is just so exhausted.

He has been through so much since Thursday night. He says he feels okay just really tired. He can barely keep his eyes open. Hopefully they can get this figured out and taken care of soon. He has 110 white blood cells floating around his body now so they are loading him up on a number of antibiotics to cover anything that tries to pop up and complicate things even more. Hopefully he will sleep through the night with no problems and see what tomorrow brings.

On The Move Again...

John was moved from cardiac ICU this afternoon to another floor to be monitored. This floor will be monitoring his heart rate and blood pressures on a monitor. He will stay there for 3 or less days to make sure he is stable enough to go back to the oncology floor. The oncology team will be following him closely until he can get back down to the oncology floor. He is extremely tired and worn out. He said he is tired of being a pin cushion; hopefully they can get a central line in him in the next couple of days.

He is now what they call neutropenic which means his counts are bottoming out and he is very susceptible to infections. Visitors will be limited during this time for that reason and due to his fatigue. That's about all for tonight.

Tour de Clinic...

This will be quick as I am exhausted. John is now in the coronary cardiac ICU. He called last night around 10:00pm saying his heart rate was too fast. He called back and said they were moving him and gave me to a doctor who we are not very thrilled with. So my parents and I rushed up there; by the time we got there they still had not moved him. John was very pissed off because he felt o.k. and they were making a big deal out of nothing; which was a 190 heart rate! So they finally got him to the cardiac step down which was an adventure when he is neutropenic and we are taking the full tour the Cleveland Clinic with no mask on. We were maybe on cardiac step down for an hour or little more until his blood pressure dropped so off we were to the ICU; at least we got to see the new Cleveland Clinic heart center.

There are many things that can be causing this problem. There is some fluid around his heart. First it could be lingering infection, a bleed, or stress on his heart from chemo. They don't have an answer yet. They couldn't shock him to get him back into rhythm because he has 15,000 platelets and that would not be good. They talked about taking the fluid out with a needle but it is behind his heart so they went with a chemical shock that worked throughout the night by using IV meds.

His hands and feet look absolutely horrible from chemo rash; they had extremely hard times getting the IVs in him. By around noon he was starting to stabilize he is still in ICU for the rest of tonight with a possible move back to the oncology floor tomorrow but not for certain yet. He is on 5 or 6 different antibiotics and the fluids have slowed down. He was extremely tired and was left with very good nurses.

I still made it to my ultrasound this morning. There are still identical twins that are sharing 1 yolk sack. So 1 is bigger than the other. I could see heartbeats today the 1 has a good strong heartbeat and the other is still small with a little flicker for a heartbeat. I go back again next Friday to see how they are doing. The little 1 just might fade away but I'm told with identical twins it sometimes takes 1 awhile to get going. So we will know more next week on their progress. Hopefully John gets some much needed rest the remainder of the day into the night as well as my parents and I. I will let you know of any updates.

Where We Are, And Where We Need To Be...

Today, John needed 2 units of blood and a pack of platelets. He is ballooning up full of fluids. His ankles and hands are very swollen. We have been propping them up and it seems to be helping. It's kind of hard for him to get up and walk around the unit with low energy so he can't get the fluid out that way just yet. They might throw in some lasix in the next week if it gets too bad. His counts are dropping quickly; his white blood cells today were at 0.26 and he had 7,000 platelets. When I got there this morning he was waiting for me to get off the elevators he said it really wore him out to get there. While he was there he looked at the blog and checked email and was ready for a nap.

Dr. Sobecks came in this afternoon to talk about where we are with treatment and what the next steps will be. We really need to get him through this round of treatment and hope and pray he doesn't develop a severe infection, as well as the graft vs host disease doesn't come back, and the major thing is that he needs to get into remission with this chemo and stay in it.

If he gets any of these things they can be life threatening or they can be treated successfully and we move on to transplant. He plans to not get them or if he does get them he will beat them. Once he is cleared of any of these possible complications he will need some pre-transplant testing to check his heart, kidney etc to make sure he can tolerate the chemo leading up to transplant. Dr. Sobecks is looking at possibly getting him set for transplant if all goes well by mid to late January. He will have a repeat bone marrow biopsy in 7-10 days to see if the marrow is empty and hopefully not housing any stray Leukemia cells.

Chemo will end tonight around 6:30 or 7. The next step is to get him to his lowest point and see how long it takes his body to recover from this round of treatment. We just need to hope and pray that nothing happens as far as infections, graft vs host disease or the leukemia doesn't go into remission.

I know that is a lot of information and not the most uplifting. We all know what a fighter, strong, and stubborn man John is. He has the most amazing attitude towards all of this. It is unbelievable. If anyone can do this for the third time it is him. I just wish he didn't have to because it kills me to see him have to do this again.

He called me last night to tell me Vegas had a foot of snow. I was half asleep so I thought I was dreaming. I told my Dad this morning and he said Oh no he is delirious because of a fever. I turned on the news and sure enough Vegas had snow. I guess you never know with this crazy weather. Talk to you all soon.

Better Today Than Yesterday...

John had a better day than yesterday. His fever seems to be lingering but not as high - 99-100. His blood pressure was really low today so they were pumping full of fluids to get it to stabilize. He is still very nauseous and extremely tired. He ate a couple bites of chicken fingers at lunch and was done. He slept all day and just called a little bit ago (7:00).

The doctors are hoping to get the infection under control so they can get a picc line in him to have better access for his fluids and other needed transfusions; the IVs will only last a couple more days. The good news is that chemo for this round will be done tomorrow night. That's about all for tonight if there is anything new tomorrow I will let you know. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Treatment Taking Its Toll...

*Jessica called me (Jim) tonight and asked me to post the following info from our conversation and visit this afternoon...

As you know, John has been battling an infection and fever since Sunday. Janice and I stopped to see John & Jess this afternoon after my daughter's appointment. He still had a fever when we visited, but later in the day it began to get worse. Jessica said it topped out around 103 - 104 degrees.

While we were visiting, news of the source of the infection came...it was the hickman port yet again. After an afternoon of shaking from the fever, John & Jess finally convinced the nurses and docs to take the hickman out rather than try and treat the infection with antibiotics. He was heading down to have it removed when Jess and I spoke around 4:30.

His hands and feet have swollen quite a bit, and he has the rash from the chemo.

It was great to see John today...His spirit and sense of humor has not been affected one bit. He is strong and stubborn, and most of all John is a fighter. Please keep sending your prayer and energy his way, this is one of those tough times and he needs your support.

**Jess called on the way home from Cleveland with another update around 8:00 p.m.
John had the hickman taken out and he said it felt like the infection was being taken out with it. His fever has gone down to 100, and the shaking has stopped. He even had an ice cream sandwich, which was the first thing he has had to eat in a while. He was joking with the nurses and apologizing for such a hard day.

They will continue to monitor the fever and infection, but so far it looks like forcing them to get the hickman out now has paid off.

Many Steps Forward, One Step Back...

We were hoping things would stay the way they were going. John's body decided differently.

He had a bad night which included some bad abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhea and a fever. The abdominal pain could be a muscle strain from all the intestinal issues he has going on or possibly the graft vs host flaring up. They are testing everything to see if that can be the case or if he might be developing an infection. His fever still has not broken. They started him on some antibiotics this morning to get a jump on any possible infection. He has been so nauseous that he is getting a lot of meds to help it. He slept all day and got up to go to the bathroom. He is really not eating anything; his appetite has really decreased quickly. He is happy though because he can lose the weight he put on from the steroids from transplant.

His counts are steadily dropping; he will most likely be getting blood and platelet transfusions in the next couple days. That's about all for now thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Sunday With Friends...

John had another busy day with visitors. Dave and Dom from Harvey came this afternoon. Patrick and Jimmy, his younger brothers, came shortly after that. He was waiting for Geno, Donald, Gipper and possibly Billy to come visit a little later.

He has been very tired, been having diarrhea and is losing his appetite very quickly. His counts are dropping; he needed magnesium this morning but no need for blood or platelet transfusions yet. The doctor is pleased with how things are progressing thus far. They are doing further testing on his bone marrow biopsy that won't be in for another 2 wks; but they do believe it was in the marrow. It really doesn't matter anymore if it was in the marrow - the treatment would not have changed. As far as the lumbar punctures go, since he has not had any complaints or symptoms to lead them to believe that it would be in the spinal fluid, they will not put him through that as of now. He might have 1 done in a few wks but it is not important at this time. The Idarubicin is done. That is the chemo he had for 3 days. The the cytaribine will be completed Thursday night.

Things are moving along well it seems as though he is feeling the effects a lot sooner than in the past; we aren't sure if that is a good or bad thing yet. His counts will continue to drop this week, decreased energy, increased fatigue and increased nausea and diarrhea this week. This will be the last post for a couple days unless something comes up. Please keep him in your prayers.

If there is anything that comes up during the week I will let you know.

A Visit From The Boys...BUZZSTRONG

Left to Right - John, Senior Heralds Jeremy, Jacob, Jake and Eric

The chemo is starting to work. John is feeling tired and nauseous. He says he can feel it already making him feel not all together there. He was nauseous this morning and got some meds for that and took a nap for awhile. His white blood cell count is starting to go down as well.

My Dad came to visit after working for a little bit this morning. Then 4 of his senior football players came too see him( Eric, Jake, Jacob, and Jeremy) He had a great visit with them. They are going to be ordering wristbands that say BUZZSTRONG on them and will also have his football number 55 on them. We will let you all know when those come in. My brother and his girlfriend Sarah came in this afternoon. It was Sarah's first time to the clinic she was amazed at the size of the clinic. Brenda and Ziggy (Luke's parents) came to visit also. It was great too see them. Moe was with us for awhile so we all were reminiscing of Luke.

We are asking now that since he is starting to feel tired, nauseous, and with his counts starting to drop, if you would like to visit that you please call our cell phones to see if he is up to visitors. We would really appreciate it and know you will understand. Thank you.

John's Third, Jessica's Two...What!!!???

John is feeling tired and nauseous today. He is a little sore from the bone marrow biopsy and the hickman but feels better once the morphine kicks in. Chemo started last night about 6:00 so by next Thursday night he will be done with the chemo for this round. Late next week into early next week will be the start of his counts dropping and him not having much energy and not feeling well.

The big news of the day came at the ultrasound this morning. John was able to get disconnected from the chemo and walk over to the other side of the hospital with me. We were waiting in the waiting room and a woman was walking out of an office and it happened to be my old neighbor Molly Cuddy. It was so great too see her. The ultrasound is showing IDENTICAL TWINS. Jen Snow you were right!! I am at 6.5 wks right now they like to have patients with a history of miscarriage to come in early for the first ultrasound. Given that it is early they aren't seeing everything they would like too see. There is nothing to really start worrying about yet we are being told that this happens a lot with such an early ultrasound and that there were 3 other patients just like me today with the same issue. One is a little bigger than the other as of now. They had me have blood work done to check my levels and they all came back with excellent numbers. I go back again next Friday for another ultrasound to see how they are developing. We were lucky 1 of John's nurses he has had in the past now works in that office so she stayed with us during the ultrasound and will stay for next weeks ultrasound. Thanks Rachel!!

John's senior football players are coming too see him in the morning tomorrow so he is very excited too see them. He was able to get on the computer today and read all the emails and look at the blog he was very touched by all your comments and prayers. Thanks for everything and talk to you soon.

A Day Of Testing And A Phone Call From A Gator...

We had a very busy day. John got his bone marrow biopsy around 9:00 then had an echocardiogram to check on his heart to make sure it is in good shape for this round of chemo, then off to have the hickman put in. While he was getting the hickman I was moving his stuff to his private room on the oncology floor; so now he is where he needs to be. He is quite the favorite on this floor and will be well taken care of. He took a nap once he got up to the room still a little out of it from the drugs today.

Chemo will be starting about 6:30 or 7 tonight. The first drug will be cytaribine for 24hrs a day for 7 days then he will get Idarubicin for 3 days about 2 hrs a day. His counts will start to drop in about 10days and that is when he will be feeling the worse. They will be premedicating him with some anti nausea meds based on his history with these treatments so hopefully that will ease the side effects. Once his counts drop they will be checking to see that this goes into remission. We are looking at about a month stay in the hospital pending on how all goes. The next transplant will depend on how quick this goes into remission and how he is doing. We don't have any definite answers as for when the transplant will take place. It is known that he will need another transplant. They will be using Billy (his brother) again.

John's counts will begin to start dropping late next week into the following week. Once his counts start dropping this is when he will feel the worst and get sick from the side effects of the chemo. We don't know if it will be better than it has been in the past or worse. So just know that he will not be feeling well at all during the process of bottoming out his counts.

The best part of his day was a very special phone call from Coach Meyer to check on him. He called while he was getting his bone marrow biopsy done. John called him back and was so excited to talk to him. He is getting ready for a huge weekend with the Heisman and a huge game Jan 8th and for him to take time out to call John was amazing. I can't begin to describe to you how that made him feel.

Baby news: We have the first ultrasound tomorrow morning at 9:30 in another part of the clinic we are hoping he will be able to come along with me while the chemo is running; not sure if it is possible yet. Thanks for all the emails and prayers. Talk to you soon.

Return To The Cleveland Clinic...

John has been admitted to an overflow floor due to the oncology floor having no beds yet; hopefully tomorrow sometime. We rushed up there today just to be admitted and have blood work done. The doc didn't have time to do the bone marrow biopsy this afternoon but as of tonight it is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:30. The docs have been looking more closely at his blood work from Monday so far it is showing what looks to be AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) When he relapsed the first time it came back as ALL and AMl. They took some more blood tonight and will be looking at that as soon as it comes back. So tomorrow will be a very busy day he will have the bone marrow biopsy at 8:30, then is tentatively scheduled to have the hickman port placed, then possible lumbar puncture in the afternoon. He will be well drugged up for all of these procedures. The treatment plan as of now will be to start chemo possibly Friday if not earlier. He will most likely get Cytaribine and Daunarubicin. These have been the worst chemo treatments for him in the past. We are possibly looking at a month stay in the hospital pending what the test results show.

He is very pissed off. Tonight was his last grad class for the semester and had a presentation to do for it. We were supposed to leave Sunday for Vegas for our Christmas gift. If he has to watch the BCS Championship (GO GATORS) game in the hospital he will be extremely pissed off. That is about all for tonight. I will update when we have more info. Thanks for all the phone calls and emails. We really appreciate it.

Relapse...

John got a phone call from his oncologist this am with the results of his routine lab work from Monday. The Leukemia has returned as of now it is in his blood. We don't know any more than that right now. We are heading up to the clinic for him to be admitted, bone marrow biopsy, lumbar puncture and possible other tests. They will get those results to see if it has returned to the marrow and spinal fluid. That will tell us what we are looking at. We don’t know the course of treatment yet as there are a few options; we need to get the results of bone marrow biopsy and lumbar puncture first. He is out far enough for another transplant but would not be able to get the radiation again due to the amount he has already gotten. They will most likely use a different type of chemo to start with. Again this will all depend on the results of these tests he will get in the next couple of days.

This is a huge shock to us right now and he will beat this again. Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts. I will update you as I am able. Please hold off on trying to visit until we know what is going on. I will update you as I can with any info. We will not know anything until late tomorrow or Friday from test results.