The Results Are In

.....Wednesday morning....6:15am...I wake up in the hospital laying in a chair bed next to Kendall. She is the first thing I see. She is looking over in my direction....either out the window or at me. I tell her good morning and was not expecting what I heard next. The first thing out of her mouth was "I'm ready to get started with this." No time to wake up, get adjusted or even get a cup of coffee. She has made up her mind and is 100% ready to take on the big "C". When it comes to Kendall being ready to do something and she has it on her mind, there's no stopping her. I hope that I could be as confident as her in continuing this journey. She shows no fear. Now me, I want to do some recon on the subject and figure out the best way, tactically, to defeat it. But it has been very apparent today that the doctors here at MD Anderson have done all the recon necessary to help Kendall fight her battle. ...
......Tammy slept at the hotel last night as it was my turn to hold watch. I hope she got some rest because tonight could be the night that sets the pace for the first of Kendall's many treatments....

.....The doctors came in today around lunch time and explained to us what exactly what Kendall will be dealing with. Leukemia 8;21 was the final results of all this testing and retesting. The doctor said that it's a very "favorable" treatment but it will be intense. The first part of treatment is called Induction. It will be 5 days of chemotherapy treatment with 3 different types of anti-cancer drugs. They will monitor her blood for the next few weeks to see how she responds to the treatment. There's a chance that she will be discharged from the hospital next week but will be on limited action for 3 to 4 weeks. She will ,however, be with us at an apartment. The doctors then said if the first treatment worked then we can move on to part 2. So then part 2 will consist of 5 more additional treatments spanned out over the next 6 to 7 months. Each treatment consisting of a 4 day spell back in the hospital. The treatments should be about every 4 to 6 weeks apart. And in between these treatments we will be having to go to different doctors to draw and monitor blood about every 2 to 3 days. Dont let me forget that they will be performing bone marrow aspiration about every treatment period.....I know it sounds like alot and believe me we have another notebook full of information about what to do. I think you need to go to medical school just to understand it.

SO...with all of this fresh in our mind, what does Kendall think about....Hey, lets go cut my hair! Here we go again, wheeling her down to the beauty shop. This time no excuse was going to work. Kendall had about 5 inches of her hair cut off. Kendall said she wanted to start off gradually. I had left her with Tammy while I went off to handle some other business and when I returned I had to look twice to make sure this person was Kendall. I know it's only 5 inches but Kendall has always had long hair. The more I stared at her the more beautiful it looked......

.....Back in the room we still had some other doctors and her case manager came in going over more information. Kendall decided she wanted to take a nap so me and Tammy went and looked at some different places to stay that the case manager gave us to check out.

About 8:00pm, the nurse, Susan, came in to give Kendall her first treatment. The nurse gives her about 8 or so pills, put drops in her eyes, placed a couple of more bags on the IV poll and gave her several shots. As I prepare to leave Kendall with Tammy tonight, I cant help but think about what else I'm suppose to do for her. But right now its just to sit with her and learn about as much about this as I can.

Today was especially hard for a couple of reasons. Dylan started school today and I wasn't there to be with him. I can't hug him or see him get on or off the bus. I can't be there to see his facial reactions about his first day and I'm sorry. This is nobody's fault but I want to tell him I wish I could be there with him as well but I will see him soon. I love you Dylan.

I want to thank our family and friends for their continued support and prayers for Kendall. Know that we think about all of you every day and thank God that we have been blessed with loving people in our lives....