Dear Friends and Fam:

Today when I woke up I was just laying in bed and a small voice came to me and and it said, "It's a turn around day, today." Well, I just kept saying that over in my mind and I said, " you're right God, it's going to be a "turn around day!!". Got up from bed and I thought I had better write this down in my journal just because I didn't want to forget it and right next to that I put... believing for no more Lymphoma, a perfect God given heart, and good blood counts. I shared this with Rand just before we left for the hospital and we both agreed that God had spoken!!. Now to let you know the rest of the story...When Dr. Yannik walked in the room he welcomed us and I told him about our "word" for the day and he looked at us with such a special grin, didn't say a word and went on with the exam. He hadn't read the MRI yet so he went on the computer and read the report to us and there isn't a mass on or by his heart and his heart is funtioning perfectly. Rand's blood counts also came back perfect!! So I guess you could say it has been a "turn around day". What an amazing God we have!!! So as of today everything will begin on Monday. We have one more count to get down and that is his liver enzyme counts. They are normally at 50 or below....three days ago Rand's were at 1845....today they are at 245. We need to have them 115 or below. Our prayers are for these counts to get into place by Monday....and we know without a doubt that God is in the business of answering prayers. So as you can imagine this has been a Praise God Day!! Our friends Bob and Jo Ramsdell came up to visit and we are celebrating all the good news. Our kids will be here on Sunday early in the morning.....can't wait. Thanks for all of your faithful prayers!! What a comfirmation of God's prescence in this journey.

Hugs and blessings,

Rand and Joanie

a BIG PRAISE GOD DAY!!!!

Hi all!!

Rand and I are just sitting here in complete happiness...where are we sitting? Well, we're in our hotel room!! That's right!! I went to the hospital late this morning and Rand told me that the MRI machine had broken :) and they wouldn't be able to do the MRI today. He was cleared by all the doctors and told he could go home....he could hardly believe his ears and I was speechless!! So at about 5:00 this afternoon we left the hospital walking swiftly,while looking over our shoulders to make sure noone was coming after us!! Tee Hee!!

WHAT A BLESSING TO BE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!

And an amazing blessing to have Rand feeling so well and all of his systems back to normal!!! He only came home with 2 types of medications!! Thanks be to God for such an amazing turn around.

We have to go back to the hospital tomorrow for the MRI of the heart and that area of concern that Dr. Yannik wants to check out. We are believing all is perfect with the heart and believing for the complications to be completely out of the picture!! God has truly blessed us today....we are having an adjustment period right now....it'll only take a few minutes I'm sure. We have blood work and a meeting with Dr. Yannik on Friday where all the details will be put together. We are praying that our kids can come up this weekend for a visit....what a joy that will be to have them here and G'pa not in the hospital this time. So once again, a BIG PRAISE GOD DAY!!!!

Love and Hugs to you all!!

Rand and Joanie

II Timothy 1:7 "Fear is not from God..rebuke it! For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Hi Dear Ones,

Today and last night were very eventful. Very late last night Rand had a ultrasound on his arms and "chubby" legs to rule out any blood clots. The upper part of the body looks good...no active blood clots and some that were there before are wilting away. And no clots in this legs. So that was great news. They gave him a diuretic to take care of the chubby legs....gosh, can I have some of that stuff. It really works!!

Then, today he also had a echo cardiogram to see how the fluid situation was around his heart....it looks perfect. So good that they took the drain tube out of his heart. The cardiologist gave a go ahead for transplant...Yippee!!.

Our dear friend from home, Bryan Smith, just came up on a whim to spend a bit of time with Rand before transplant. I believe he was sent by God to be with us because soon after he arrived Dr. Yannik came into our room and told us that he is still concerned about the Pet Scan done January 11 that showed a "glow" around the heart. One of the glows ended up being the blood clot, remember? But, there is another area that he just can't be settled with. He has ordered a MRI of the heart for tomorrow. His concern is that it could be Lymphoma (once again) or it's nothing, or an infection or a left over from the pericarditis that he had prior to the Pet Scan. Unfortunately, the Pet Scan doesn't tell you specifically what those glows are. Bryan, Rand and I prayed for Rand's heart and we envisioned a perfect clear and whole heart.....no lymphoma and brought it to the feet of God Almighty. " Again I say to you that if two of you agree on the earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in Heaven". Our daughter, Heidi, said to me, "Mom, God lives there...his heart is going to be just perfect!!!" Join us in claiming II Timothy 1:7 Fear is not from God..rebuke it! For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. We are believing that all is well and God's perfect will is going to be manifested. Please prayer for all things to be clear and that all things will continue to line up with the promises of healing God has given us. We will continually give Him the honor and glory for all the amazing answers to prayers we are continually receiving.

Love to you all!!

Joanie

1.25.09 'A Praise God Day'

Today was a Praise God Day for sure. I'm so happy that I could just run around the hospital with joy!! Rand's Creatine counts came down, his liver enzymes are down, there is no fluid on his heart left over and the tube will probably come out tomorrow. They did an echo cardiogram of his heart and it's working perfectly. His vitals are perfect, he's eating great and took two long walks today. See what I mean....if I could do cartwheels I would!! I was praising God all the way home tonight and my heart is so happy!! He is retaining a large amount of fluids in his legs and feet....he actually has chubby legs just like me!! Tee hee!! But, they have given him about 15 bags of fluids in the last 5 days and feel that is definitely the problem. So, is there any doubt at all that God answers our prayers!!! We are so overwhelmingly grateful for this day of good news. The "team" meets tomorrow to regroup, look at all the tests, and come up with a plan for what is next. He will also have a ultrasound of his shoulders, arms and legs to check for blood clots. We are so believing and praying that we can go on with transplant if this is in God's plan. He knows what course is best and we are totally relying on Him to give the doctor's divine wisdom in making that plan of action exactly what it should be. I'm going to bed tonight just so thankful and happy and Rand is so peaceful and ready for the next part of the journey....definitely God's grace upon us. Love you all more than you know!! Be sure to give God a shout of praise and thankfulness for the prayers that were answered. Love, Rand and Joanie

1.23.09 Update 2

Dear friends,

I just spoke to Joanie again and there is (yet again) more news on Rand tonight. Joanie left the hospital tonight only to get a phone call from Rand saying that the Hematologist had seen him and said that he had fluid on his heart. We are not sure what the next steps for this is. When Joanie did a search online the treatments run from anything as simple as giving an anti-inflammatory like Motrin, to more severe complications such as cardiac arrest.

Just keep the prayers flowing, says Joanie. The only thing we really can do is have faith that God has it all in his hands because it is definitely out of our control. Pray for Rand to get his appetite back, for him to get some sleep so he can relax, which might help his heart rate and his anxiety. Pray for all of his levels-- that they all go back to where they belong and that there is no organ damage. And please pray for Rand and Joanie's overall well being.

Despite all the ups and downs that each day brings there are moments of light that come with them too. Tami informed Joanie and Rand today that she has started her own fundraiser for them. She contacted a fund raising organization and they excitedly agreed to help her sell cookie dough to raise money for Rand and Joanie's expenses. She has sold quite a few already, so if you are in the mood for some cookies be sure to contact Tami! Heidi and her salon have also found a way to help contribute. They will host a "Day of Beauty" on an upcoming Saturday, where all proceeds will go to Rand. :) It is such a blessing to see the different ways that our family has found support! Thank you for being a part of that!

Much love,

Beth (on behalf of Rand and Joanie)

P.S. Joanie can still check her emails if you would like to respond to her. Their email address is: maandpap1@yahoo.com. If you respond to me, I will forward your messages on too. (Hopefully we will simplify this process soon. )

1.23.09

Just really don't know where to begin. Today we discovered through blood work that Rand's Liver Enzymes were severely elevated. We pretty much went the gambit regarding possibilities. We know that it is not Hepatitis, the Ultra Sound was clear and "bland" as they call it, and many of the tests have come back clear. After seeing 6 different doctors today with 6 different opinions each, we finally met with the Liver Specialist. He doesn't think it is the liver at all...he thinks it is caused by something else going on causing the liver to react. Perhaps his heart has more blood clots, or it's another type of infection or at this point who knows. So they have scheduled an echo cardiogram for sometime soon. Our doctor (Dr. Yannik) came in today and just sat on our bed, hugged Rand and just shook his head. He is baffled. We are praying that all of these crazy blood levels, and everything else will just line up with God's divine plan and that God will grant these doctor's divine wisdom and direction in making the best decisions for Rand. We do know that in the past and right up to today whenever we have faced a bump or pause in our plan something has been revealed that has been very important to Rand's health, recovery and well being. So our trust lies solely in the God's promises and word. Please believe along with us that all things will be resolved in a timely manner and on to the transplant we go.

Love to you all,

Rand and Joanie

1.22.09

From Joanie:

Dear Friends, Today was a very sad day ....we had to say goodbye to Cindy and Bob as they headed by train back to Colorado. We will miss them so so much!! What a blessing they were not only for the Stem Cells that Cindy donated for Rand, but also for their continual support and love. We are forever grateful to them!! After we brought them to the train station we went to have routine blood work done on Rand. I had a gut feeling that things weren't right because he was showing symptoms of shortness of breath, weakness, anxiety and nausea. We discovered that Rand's potassium was way too high. So after seeing Dr. Yannik we again found ourselves in E.R. . They worked quickly and efficiently to get his potassium to come down. We didn't realize that if they had continued to rise he was at risk for cardiac arrest. His kidney counts were off as well as his liver counts. But, by God's amazing healing powers all tests so far on his kidney and liver are good. And the tests that have come back are all back to normal. Praise God once again!!1 We are again breathing a sigh of thankfulness and praising God for His goodness. He was admitted at about 5:30 tonight and I'm not sure how long he will stay...wouldn't be surprised if he would just stay until Monday and then head over to the Transplant Wing. We are praying that all counts and tests that are still our there will come back clear and that he can begin building back his strength...and "can do" attitude. There have been so many ups and down's on this journey, but everyone has been for Rand's benefit and well being and for that we are so thankful. Dr. Yannick just dropped by and just schook his head in disbelief and said, "You sure are something!!!" He was very pleased with the way all turned out and he's planning on Monday for the beginning of Chemo and Transplant. It is pretty "empty" and lonely at our hotel right now, but I know that God will help me through this period of adjustment. The kids are planning a trip soon, which will be wonderful. I do have our kitty K.C. which is soo nice to come home to. Well, dearest ones we stand firm in God's love and amazing healing and continue on our amazing journey! Love and blessings to you all! Rand and Joanie