Hello All....

The word for today is slow. Peggy and I had an appointment to see Dr. Barlogie at 1:00pm. Well we got motivated and showed up at 10am. We were hoping that by showing up early, we would get seen sooner and get out fast. Makes sense right....

As I mentioned we arrived at 10:00, signed in, and sat down in the waiting room. We sat, and sat, and sat, and sat.......we were doing our best imitation of Horten the Elephant. Finally at 3:45pm, the Dr. came in. We didn't leave till 5:30. No one ever said healthcare (cancer care) was fast.

The highlight of our day was eating the free peanut butter cups and crackers that were placed in the patient lounge. That, and later when I told the nurse that I was having trouble seeing when my eyes were closed. It actually took her a couple seconds before she looked up from her computer screen adn smiled. Those were the highlights from today.

Anyone want to come join us for all the fun?
Thursday we report for the 1st round of chemo. There will be three total, then my stem cells will be given back to me.
I am so hungry, I gotta go!

Frank & Peggy & my Mom - signing off......

HERE WE GO.....

Good morning. We are in Little Rock after a busy busy week full of emotions all across the board. We'll share more later, but just wanted to let everyone know we're here.

Frank doesn't even know his test schedule for today, except that his bone marrow is at 9:30. Good to know since he "self medicates" for pain. He's in good spirits, and humor.

It'll be a full day at the hospital, and then we'll move into the apt.
Thank you all for your prayers and support as we got ready to leave.

We're excited in advance to be able to brag on God, best said in Psalm 52:8-9 "I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because you have done it...I will wait on your name, for it is good."

Good evening. Hope you all had a good Monday.
We are tired, but glad to have the party started. We're settled in. We like this apartment better than the other place we stayed. It's newer, brighter and only 3 miles from the clinic. Yippee. Frank mentioned that he was glad to be in a new place. Emotionally, he thinks it'll make a difference to be in some place new.

We got the clinic early. It's amazing how it's like "coming home" when we get here. Every body remembers us and it's good to see a smiling face as we hop from department to department. We have a comfort level and trust with this place. Frank had lab, bone marrow biopsy, MUGA (?) heart test, and EKG. He had a 7pm MRI tonight but went and did that by himself. I stayed here to clean up from dinner and just.....he just walked in!! How fun. He rang the door bell.... has anybody else lived in an aptartment with a door bell. I think it's odd. Who can't hear you knocking at the door?? This place is small.

Anyway, We walked up to get his lab drawn. As we head down the hall, I see this older gentleman with a really dark dark tan. He's reading the paper, and I look closer. It's Roy Schneider, Dr. Brody from Jaws. We knew he was here from our last visit. I saw him briefly in the lobby. I wasn't sure his diagnosis was "out" and I felt bad mentioning it. So... I did what anybody would do... I Googled it. It's out, cause I read articles about it. So, now with a clear conscience, I can say I sat down next to him and.....never said a word!!! Frank was so proud of me. Mr. Roy (Dr. Brody) looked like he didn't feel good. Frank was proud of me for not asking for his autograph or anything. What I really wanted was his paper so I could read about the plane crash in KY. (I did snap a shot with my camera phone though)

Frank has PET scan tomorrow and I think we're done until Wednesday. It's days like tomorrow that get long. You have a lot of down time and start thinking about all you could be doing if you were home. Frank calls the office a lot.

We saw a patient that we met on her first visit to Little Rock. She was waiting with us in the room to have her very first bone marrow biopsy. Frank shared his medicine with her to ease her pain, and we were able to encourage her about the road ahead. She's already done her 2 transplants and is in remission. She was so glad to run into us. I love it when we connect and reconnect with people!

Some have asked if we can get mail here.
Our local phone number is 501-603-9541
Address: 1504 Parham Pointe #11B, Little Rock, AR 72204

Frank is sore from the bone marrow biopsy. The lady today had trouble getting a good sample. I don't know if it was her skill level or just bad luck today, but he's more uncomfortable that usual.

Feeling good, feeling blessed, feeling covered in prayer..... thank you
Until later... Frank and Peggy

Hi everybody!
Frank is getting stronger every day. He's still getting his weekly blood work. He's trying to use the treadmill and keep as active as possible. We've actually cleaned out our attic for a garage sale. That'll whip anybody into shape real fast!

This picture is of the first day of school for Chandler and Zach. They had a great day. Things got back to normal real quick with Frank doing his notorious yell from the bottom of the stairs... "Lettt'sss Gooooooooo". The kids just love that. And when that doesn't work, he honks in the driveway...they love that too. Things like this are definately memory makers. They mock him often and we get a laugh out of it.

Zach's team won their tournament. They scored 7-0,4-0,6-0 and won the final game 1-0. It was a great weekend.

I know it's getting close to time to go. Please pray for us. For Frank. For me and the kids and our families. Every day is getting harder when I think about it all. I know it's hard for Frank to leave work too. We try to talk about it, and for the most part do pretty good. It's difficult to put so many emotions into words. I don't even know where to begin.

Psalm 54:16,17 As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening, morning and noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.

Psalm 54:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Greetings loved ones!!

We haven't updated in a few days. We are up to our ears in school supplies! Chandler is fun to shop with for school supplies. She loves the thrill of everything new, clean and fresh. We laugh about it together because I was the same way. Starting over ~ no matter what is ~ can always be refreshing in it's own way.

I'm so thankful that God's mercies are new every morning. I sure need them! I was reading the other day that when mercy and peace are mentioned together in the Bible, they occur in that order (with one execption: Gal 6:16). Mercy is the act of God, and peace is the resulting experience in the heart of man. Very cool.

We have praises!! Our insurance company approved the transplant. Thank you praying with us for this! We are good to return on Aug 27th, and start tests on that Monday.
Frank will have to do another heart function tests when he returns. He didn't do as well as he did 3 1/2 years ago on the ECHO, so they are going to do another test that is a little more accurate. They told us NOT TO WORRY. So we aren't. They kind of blamed it on the people reading the tests. And they said even with his score, he still can have the transplant.

So, we are praying that what they said is the case, and nothing else. Let's pray the new tests they run will show his heart strong and capable. I wonder if Frank's sweet spirit, and tender heart shows up on their x-ray machines!! He'd score off the chart on that test.

We are traveling ~ all 5 of us ~ to Huntsville, AL for Zach's soccer tournament. We've never done that before. Usually one parent stays home, and one goes. We thought this would be fun to do together since we're leaving soon. Go LOBOS!!

In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thess 5:18

JUST FOR FUN! ISN'T HE CUTE?

Happy Friday! Hope you have big plans for the weekend. For some of us it's the last of our summer vacation with the kids. That's GREAT news for some, and SAD for others. If we were all honest, it's probably a little of both. I am more sad than glad. I could stand a few more weeks together.

Prayer requests:
We are still awaiting word from the insurance company for approval of the transplant.
We are praying that Frank's platelets will be over 100 before he starts chemo.
That our household would stay healthy, and for protection of Frank's body.
And that God would cover each one of us with His grace and comfort as we prepare to be apart for 5 weeks. And for strength, endurance and blessings on those who stand in the gap with us.

We get questions from time to time from you guys ~for those who are interested... Frank is treated at UAMS in Little Rock. The website is interesting. The Myeloma Institute has interesting information about his doctor, Bart Barlogie

Hi. Isn't his hair the funnist? He had an idea to bleach it white but changed his mind. It's all bald now so the HOPE letters are faint but they are still there. Thank the Lord that was the word we chose. We had some silly ideas about what to do thinking it wouldn't matter. We dodged a bullet on that one.

We have a few prayer requests. Our insurance company needs Frank to have a few more tests before they will approve the transplant. So, he's going to go back to Little Rock for the day (so much for a nice month off) and have a PET scan and a heart/lung test of some kind. He'll come back the same day. We are praying for favor in the eyes of the insurance company, but above that, for God's will to be done.

Secondly, Chandler was sick all day with 103 fever. We've kept her and her dad far apart, but viruses can be ugly. Please pray that Frank doesn't get sick ~ or any one else so we can stop this and get it out of the house.

We love reading the guest book. It gives us "warm fuzzies". And we thank you for your prayers. But, this family of faith isn't all for us to have and not give. If you guys need prayer, please email us and share with us how we can pray for you too!! We want to be faithful to you, as you are being to us. Prayer works. Frank is living testimony!!
Have a great day! In His grace..... Peg

Okay, this is what he looks like now. That other picture was pretty radical. We had a doctor appointment today, and of course, he was a hit with his inspirational message! Nurses were calling out things like "Never give up Hope!" and "Keep Hope alive!" and as we were leaving, we told them "bye, see you later"..... (you know this is coming don't you?) they answered "we Hope so.......ha ha ha" The Wings volunteer even came out and took his picture. You know how shy Frank is....... he smiled for the camera even though it was of the back of his head!

Oh, we did go to the doctor today. With all the fun we had, we walked out without his lab work, but I do remember his platelets being 52. Not bad, but let's pray they mulitply a lot in the next few weeks.

Chandler's getting over her virus, thank goodness. She gave it my sister over the phone. Hope you feel better Lisa ~ and welcome home.
Keep laughing..... it so healing.
He leaves for Little Rock in the morning to have that little test done.

I hope it won't be long before we hear something from insurance.
Have a great day...... Peg