One Thousand Origami Cranes

Thanks to Hiro Suzuki and Tokyo Crazy Feet Line Dancers for their amazing Christmas Wish! 100 Line dancers in Japan danced over 50 of Jo's dances to encourage her and to pray for her quick and complete recovery at Go Jo Go Country Dance Party Dec. 12, 2010. They also made 3000 paper origami cranes which arrived on Christmas Eve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_origami_cranes

Jo Visits Us for Christmas!

One of Santa's helpers showed up at The Triplet's house on Christmas morning and surprised the kids. Jo has been feeling great and her counts have been very high and extremely steady. It was definitely a tiring day, but well worth every moment!

Click here to see all the day's activities.

Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Jo got the results of her bone marrow tests today:

The patient has a history of myelodysplastic syndrome with abnormal karyotype, and is status post bone marrow transplantation. There is no diagnostic morphological evidence of myelodysplastic syndrome or acute leukemia in the current biopsy.

It can't really get much better than that! The tests show that 99% of Jo's blood cells are being produced by Eddie's stem cells. As David (father of the Triplets) likes to say, "The other 1% is nothing more than a rounding error."

Jo goes to the clinic on Thursday and then she doesn't go back until Wednesday next week. That's almost an entire week off - still taking 3 hours of fluids every day via her CVC and just trying to avoid any infections.

What's Up With These Counts?

On Wednesdays, Jo gets to see Dr. Anderlini and today he asked her when was the last time her platelets were over 250,000. That is a question for which we do not know the answer, but it was over 6 years ago. I also know the last time her platelets were that high neither one of us knew what platelets were!

Why are Jo's counts so high? The majority of Jo's blood cells are being produced by Eddie's stem cells. The bone marrow test results we are waiting for are supposed to tell us roughly how much of Jo's blood is being produced by Eddie's cells vs. remnants of her own stem cells, but it's safe to say right now Eddie is in control.

Unified in Prayer

Over the last 6 years we've been shocked how many times people from all over the world have told us that they and their friends have been praying for us. We appreciate each and every prayer that has been said on our behalf, not only by our friends and followers, but also by the hundreds, if not thousands of fellow believers that have prayed for us just because one of our friends put us on the prayer list at their church.

We do believe the power of prayer can be multiplied many times over when people unite to pray together. Over the next 3 days, a world-wide effort has been organized to pray for Jo's speedy recovery. If you would like to participate, please visit D4D - Jo Prayer for details.

This effort has been organized by Scooter Lee, Jo's long-time friend and co-founder of Dancing for The Dream. Scooter has provided tremendous support and friendship to our family over the years, not to mention some wonderful dance opportunities on various cruise ships and other tropical locations! Thank you Scooter for all you have done for us!

How Does Jo Do It?

I was recently asked the question, "How do you explain Jo's ability to be joyful and have such a good attitude regardless of what happens?”

Rather than answer this myself, I thought it might be insightful to find out how a few of Jo's close friends would answer. Little did I know that one explanation would be as eloquent and heartfelt as what you are about to read.

Earlier this year, our very good friend Staci Giovino gave the following invocation at her Rotary club.

Jo is a former Miss Texas, a world renowned line dancer and choreographer, a wife, a mother and my very dear friend.

Jo has been afflicted with what some would consider devastating health problems, all the while carrying herself with grace, never complaining – even when her bones could not support the weight of lifting her infant daughter – and always, always caring more about others than herself.

One night at dinner with friends, we asked her how she could manifest such peace given all the adversity she faced. She told us that every morning she woke up and chose her life exactly the way it was, and exactly the way it wasn’t. That may be a little hard to wrap your head around, so I’ll say it again: She chose her life exactly as it was, and exactly as it wasn’t. In doing so there was no room left to feel sorry for herself or to dwell on how things “should” be, and gave infinite possibility to being present and available to others.

As Rotarians we commit to “Service above Self,” but how many of us have already complained about something today? This is a gentle reminder to choose what is, get present, and create ample space in our hearts and minds for all of those people and causes whom we are privileged to serve.

A Visit From Anna!

For the first time since November 1st, Jo and Anna spent the day together. Jo's counts are all better than they were before she left Denver and as long as Anna is healthy, ocassional visits are much enjoyed!

Jo did get to stay home from the hospital this weekend. On Saturday afternoon a nurse came by our apartment and showed Jo how to use a portable pump to self-administer her fluids. Not having to go into the hospital makes for a very relaxing weekend at home.

Tomorrow Jo gets her first post-transplant bone marrow biopsy (with sedation). Her counts are great and over time her bone marrow test should show strong, healthy marrow.

November 2010 - In the Books

November 2010 is a month we'll never forget. This is the calendar Jo, Carol and Meema used to mark off ever day as it passed by. Many years from now, we'll look back at this month as one of the most important months of Jo's life.

Jo is doing great. Her counts are up, her appetite is coming back and her energy levels are increasing slightly every day. Slowly but surely, the damage the chemo did to her esophagus is being repaired. That's all exciting news, but what she's really looking forward to is the return of her taste buds. You'll know when that happens because I'll post a picture of us eating Spinach Dip from Houston's.