"Houston, We have a problem!"

.........As we close in on the night of August 9th, we were told by the nurse at the hospital that a bed has become available in Houston. We were told that we will be leaving in a few hours!. Now, that just did not set well with me because we were told we would have a 12 hour window to prepare. Somewhere, someones owes me about 10 hours.....So as Tammy and me scramble to the house to get the luggage, Kendall becomes upset because she now believes that she is going to leave without getting to say goodbye to her friends. AT&T's switchboard probably came close to blowing a fuse because at that precise moment all the cell phones in the hospital began to call someone at the same time.

As I'm following Tammy to the house I begin to cry because I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I had not packed anything yet because I still believe that the hospital mixed up Kendall's records with someone else and at any moment they were going to realize that they had made a mistake. I just don't know what to say or do or how to be strong in front of Kendall. I tried to tell myself that there are no mistakes because God has a plan. He doesn't have to tell me what it is...I just have to trust in him and believe that this is in God's hands......
........So back to the hospital we go to find that Kendall is surrounded once again by her friends, family and loved ones. And to top it off...she is laughing and cutting up just like any other day. I began to look at several familiar faces in the crowd and started to cry again as I saw the love and support flowing through that room. One by one the crowd thins out as they say their goodbyes to Kendall. Kendall reassuring them that it will be alright....It's whatever.

Around 1am, we are finally in the air on our way to MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. Tammy and Kendall try and sleep as I try to imagine what is in store for Kendall. The plane lands around 2:38am and an ambulance is waiting to whisk her away. MD Anderson welcomes Kendall with a trip through the emergency room. Here is where we will sit what seems like an eternity. Kendall has finally went to sleep as I hope this time it will be longer than an hour before someone wakes her up. Tammy is trying to sleep in the little chair but not having a lot of success at it. Kendall sleep until 9 o'clock this morning. The nurse tells us that the doctor should be in shortly and will talk to us and then all we have to do is wait on a bed to open up. Well I thought that is why we were here was because that a bed had opened up. Now that Tammy and me have passed the 24hour mark without sleep I'm beginning to think once again that all of this is going to get cleared up so we can go home. Not our luck..

....From about 11:30am to 2:00pm, Kendall's' day became a whirlwind. We met Jan! Jan is Kendall's nurse practitioner in the leukemia center. Jan began to talk and explain more about this disease than I really wanted to hear. But Jan is right. We needed to hear what is going on. I must finally accept that this is really happening and it is really happening to Kendall. Jan gave Tammy a big hug as she began to cry about the leukemia. Jan started out by doing another bone marrow biopsy on Kendall. This is the third one she has had in less than a week. Kendall then gave more blood followed up by them placing a pic line in her right arm. Jan said that the pic line will be used for them to run through the chemotherapy treatment. I think at this point there is no turning back, we are here for the long haul. Kendall's doctor then began to explain her overview of this whole situation. The only thing my mind remembers is that .." for the next nine months to a year." Is it really going to take that long to heal her.?

After the doctor left, me and Tammy began to try to plan our life for the next several months. I know this will work out and we will all come through this together.