This is Getting Rediculous!

This last week was pretty exciting. Tuesday before last, Steve went in and got a flu vaccination to give him the most protection possible for the winter season, but it backfired on him. On Wednesday night, Steve caught a fever of about 100.8, and so was taken to the hospital for a quick checkup and some recreational blood tests. Turns out the fever abated practically the moment doctors started looking at him, so no harm done, except for Mom and Steve losing a lot of sleep.

On Friday, Steve went ahead and shaved his hair off (what was left of it), and so, in the spirit of keeping promises, I went ahead and shaved my head, too. An old friend, Zac Carter came along to join in and help out with the process, so after a hot Saturday afternoon, and two electric razors later (One couldn't cut through my hair), we've joined Nate in going Chrome. Now that it's all

said and done, I feel like a freshman caught by a group of seniors in high school. Somethings are great,

like the feel of the wind on my scalp, and soft aloes evaporating off my skull. However, the stubble on my cap is like velcro, and putting on shirts are a life and death struggle in the morning. I can almost light matches in one swipe.

Finally, we would like to express another thank you to the great visitors we've received, and great dinners provided by friends and family. We're so very grateful for the support and love we are getting. Thanks for keeping Steve healthy

and happy!

Cousins Conquering Cancer

Well, Steve was given a little detour from our last blog post; the next morning after posting his fine numbers of 0% cancer cells in his bone marrow on the blog, his doctor informed us that that wasn't entirely true. They had sent his last bone marrow sample to Seattle for a "fancy" test where they can see more accurately than here at Primary Childrens. The "fancy" test detected 1% cancer cells in the bone marrow. Those results came back later than our last blog post. So Steve gets to repeat 2 more weeks on the steroids and chemo therapy that he has been on the past month. He will be tested at the end of the 2 weeks to see if he has actually achieved the coveted 0% cancer cells in the marrow. So he is cheerfully getting back into eating enormous amounts of food.

Steve had a fun time of running into his little cousin Carson, (son of Steve's first cousin Jodi (Evans) Mortensen), having a blood transfusion at the same hospital clinic as Steve. What is the chance that Carson (age 2) would be diagnosed with the same leukemia as Steve exactly 2 weeks prior to Steve's diagnosis! We think Grandpa Lew and Grandma Melba have a lot of explaining to do when we next meet up with them .

Steve has started working at his old job, The Arbiter, by computer at home. What a blessing-he's so greatful to be able to do something productive while dealing with this illness. Arbiter Sports.com is the company that does assigning of referees at all levels of sporting events from college to little league, all over the world. Steve does tech support, data importing, and setting up new clients when they join.

Note: we did have a small problem at the hospital of Steve not sharing the toys with Carson-and a small scene ensued.

The Best Numbers!

The photo above is Steve with three of his four brothers when he arrived home from his mission July 30. Steve has had a little rougher time this week, but is doing ok. It has all been worth it though because we got his numbers back this morning with the magic news of 0% cancer cells in his bone marrow (under the microscope) and 0% cancer cells in the flow site telemetry test! That is just what we wanted to hear! That means that Steve has finished his one month stage of Induction, and now is in the Consolidation stage of fighting this disease.

Steve goes to have a spinal tap tomorrow and the following 3 Fridays of September to make sure the leukemia is staying out of his nervous system. He found out for the future that by staying pretty much flat down for the first 24 hours after the tap, he can hopefully avoid the giant debilitating spinal headaches he went through this last week.

Steve is glad to be off the steroid drugs for now-so he isn't always craving or dreaming of food. He will be getting some new types of chemo treatments this month, with interesting new side effects. But we'll deal with those as they come.

Yes Steve's hair is thining, and he promises a photo soon. Steve thanks you all for your good wishes and prayers, and is in good spirits to go ahead.