COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5/2/09

Dear friends & familly,
WE FINALLY GOT OUR COMPUTER!!!!!! And this time it works and it's downstairs!!!!! I mean two things by that. The 1st thing I mean by that is it hasn't been messed up by anyone. The second thing I mean by that is..............................when they got it set up the internet WOULD NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!! We really got our computer yesterday but we got it fixed today. An AT&T guy came this morning and fixed it. SO NOW WE HAVE OUR COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Julia.

Julia has had a good week this past week. She was at school all day on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday! She has seemed to be a lot like her normal self this past week, which we have been very glad to see! We're heading back to Atlanta in the morning. Julia will have her clinic appointment on Monday @ 8:00. Thank you again for your prayer support!
Love,
Sharon & Jeff

Update

Dear friends & family,

Last time I was in Atlanta they said I would probably need blood next week. A nurse named Ann said she thought my port turned upside down. But it really didn't. My dad has to give me shots in the arm and they really hurt. OUCH!!!!!! But he has done a good job. Only eight more shots to go!!!!!!!!! Other than the shots I'm feeling fine.

Love,

Julia.

Julia is right. Other than the shots, I'm feeling fine. She is doing very well in all aspects of her treatment though. Her need to get blood next week is expected by the doctors as one of the drugs will really play havoc on her counts. We continue to be amazed at the outpouring of love by everyone and it is greatly appreciated by Julia, Sharon and me. We will give another update soon. Thanks again.

Love Jeff and Sharon

When we're leaving

Dear friend & family,

We just ate lunch and are about to hit the road. My appointment is tomorrow at 1230 pm.

I will tell you how the appointment went later when we get home.

Love,                         

Julia.

Dear friends & family,

My day........... well yesterday

Dear friends & family,

Yesterday I stayed at school for the whole day and went to the parade and saw my friend Kristen Mulford. She was in the parade. She was on the Flowers bread company float. I told her to give me some donuts that were on the float but she didn't. My cousin Madison went with us. My uncle Mike and my cousin Pamela came down from Macon. Uncle Mike and My dad went fishing. So Pamela is staying with us!!!!!!!!!    HOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Also my class play was yesterday. THAT WAS FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all did a GREAT job.

Your friend,

JULIA!!!!!

Just talking about today

Dear friends & family,

Today was the lower school spelling bee. It was for the 1-3 grade.  Three kids from each class participate so there are six kids in each grade that participate. Sally Patterson won in the second grade, Isabella Grayson  won in the first grade and Grayson Durhum in the third grade. I would like to congratulate Kristen Mulford, Ella Simmons, and Joe Parker. They are all in my class and they participated. And I am also glad because our new principal Mrs. Harper got to give words to everybody. She did really well.I was not at school when the practice bees were so I was not able to be in the spelling bee this year. I will hopefully be in it next year because they are really fun.I am going to be at school like normal but I will go home a little after lunch. I went home early today but was not sick. If I was sick I might have to go to the hospital.I just went home because I was tired and I had a little headache. But I think I will be there for the class play. It is going to be a lot of fun I think. Our class play is about earth day, how we should treat our earth,and how we should recycle.

Love, 

Julia

Up date

Dear friends & family,

Yesterday we were in the clinic till about 8 am to 520 pm . So we got home at like   1045  pm.  We were in the clinic so long because my parents are in a  study group. There are two groups one has extra medicine and one doesn't. I  got picked for the group with extra medicine. The extra medicine can damage my kidney.  So they gave me 4 hours of fluids! That is why we got home so late. But my hemoglobin went up but thats probably because I had a transfusion and I hadn't eaten yet either. They said my blood  counts would be going down a lot in the next few weeks.

                                                                                                             

Love,

Julia

We did decide to let Julia participate in the clinical trial and as she stated, she did get picked to be on the study arm , which basically means that they will treat her as if she was not a rapid responder. This is all in hopes that the relapse rate will be reduced for rapid responders with the more aggressive treatment (hopefully as much as 6%). The doctors say that the main side effect will be that her blood counts will bottom out a couple of weeks from now. The risk of infection, etc. will be greatly increased so we will have to be on our toes for a while. This phase, consolidation, will last for 8 weeks and after that she will have somewhat of a slowdown before going into the delayed intensification phase in which the medications will pick up again.  Julia's spirits remain high as she was singing and laughing nearly all the way (yes, 4 1/2 hours) back from Atlanta on Monday. We thank all of you again for all your prayers and hope to continue with the good reports as this new phase of treatment begins.

Love,

Jeff & Sharon

Up date

Dear friends & family,

I am finally posting from home! Thanks to my very best friend Kristen Mulford. She let me borrow her computer................ well her Mom did Kristen doesn't know but THANK YOU ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!! I will only have it until our new computer gets here witch was ordered yesterday so in 8 or 10 days it will be here. Enough about computers. I want to tell you about my last report. They said I was a rapid responder and couldn't see any bad blood cells. But that doesn't mean I can stop treatment. We will still be going up there every Sunday. But I have finished the first phase as my Mom and Dad call it. But it's really just my first month of medicine. I will let my Mom or Dad tell you my blood counts because I don't remember them from memory.

Love,

Julia.

As Julia told you, we learned that she is a "rapid responder"today, which is a definite praise!  In the mean time we are having to make difficult decisions about her next phase of treatment, which I won't go into specific details at this time.  Please pray for us as we make these decisions.  Julia has had a very hard last week or so.  For the last 4 weeks she has been on steroids.  Those steroids ended this past Sunday night.  In leukemia treatment, steroids are not tapered off like in normal usage.  Julia has been very emotional!  Her face & tummy have become very bloated and her muscles have been very sore & weakened.  We've had to help her in the car & up our door steps, but she is improving every day.  Please pray for these symptoms to subside & for her to feel better.  

Thank you all for your wonderful support & prayers.  We will never be able to thank everyone who has touched us, and words cannot describe how loved we have felt!  God bless you all!

Sharon & Jeff