Fear

Its been an interesting last couple of weeks medically for Traci, filled with emotional highs and physical highs and lows.

Firstly, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving, as I played "Chef Paul" and hosted for our family, including both sets of Traci's Grandparents and her Uncle and Aunt. We had a group 12, and I prepared the Turkey and Ham, and all the fixin's. It was a great time to sit down and simply be thankful for all that we've been blessed with, the gift of life, and the love that we share for one another.

Medically, things are continuing to progress on Traci's legs, as the healing continues, giving us hope for the first time in a while that the GVHD has slowed, and potentially burned out. Still, it will take time to tell completely. But the signs thus far have been extremely encouraging.

On the not so good news, is a recent pain that's developed in Traci's side, near her lungs. It's similar to the pain that she experienced when she was first diagnosed with a tumor more than 7 years ago, but not exuding exactly the same symptoms. She isn't having the same difficulty breathing, but deep breaths that she takes are halted because she is in pain, and she can't lay in certain positions without having difficulty breathing. It's more than just a little scary.

Today she was asked to go into Kaiser in Woodland Hills to have a chest x-ray and a CAT Scan, and we're anxiously awaiting the results. Our prayers are that it is something completely insignificant, such as a pulled muscle, or something of the like. But early diagnosis doesn't really give us much to hang our hat on. It could be a clot, given the amount of time that Traci is spending in bed, and it could be muscle tear. We just hope that it's not a recurrence of the cancer that once was.

Please keep Traci in your thoughts.