The battle of health compromization has a unique list of casualties, the most recent being a trip that was planned with a great group of guys to the the Pac 10 Championships of Wrestling in Corvallis, OR. Most of you know that Corvallis is my hometown and almost more so than the wrestling, I was looking forward to playing host to our coaching staff and several Squalicum wrestlers along for the trip.



As the trip approached and plans were solidified, the wiser half of our household leadership committee (Kelly) brought to my attention some factors that I was aware of but had chosen to ignore for the sake of really wanting to go on the trip. Factors such as 6 hours on the road, sleeping in hotel rooms, still nursing a cold, fresh off a platelet transfusion on Wed., and the possibility of needing red cells before the weekend built a strong case toward staying at home for the weekend. I reported to the committee that all points were valid and that I would need the next day to mourn the loss of the trip and be ready to move forward by days end...the committed agreed.



Now back in the saddle, after a weekend of REST at HOME, I am ready for a full week of work and am grateful for the love and support of those closest to me that absolutely have my best in mind. I heard the weekend in Corvallis was unbelievable, especially the Huli-Huli chicken from Local Boyz Hawaiian Cafe but I couldn't have been happier resting at home with the family.



As mentioned earlier, I did have to receive platelets on Wed. night when the count dropped to 6000. The red cells had also fallen but I was not feeling symptomatic so we decided to hold off and get drawn again on Friday. I had already began to make plans to be in the hospital on Saturday morning to receive another transfusion. Expecting the worst, I logged onto my hospital patient account and read that the Hemoglobin had gone from 5.4 to 6.0 and the Hematocrit was up to 18.2 from 16. Remember that these counts are still critically low and most people can't walk with these numbers, but if I am not getting blood at 5.4 then I'm certainly not getting it at 6.0. We celebrated mediocrity that night as a family by going out to mexican food.



I will get another blood draw Tuesday morning in an effort to stay on top of what are still very critical counts. We are constantly praying and hoping for stability first and growth second. The meds are still not showing much progress, however my kidneys seem to be doing better and better at allowing the higher doses to process in my body. It will take sustained higher doses of meds to get things turned around and even then it will be slow. Continued prayer for progress and patience is appreciated.



Kelly and I are starting to do more research in the areas of Aplastic Anemia and PNH and we are learning that there are treatment options that might be worth looking into in the future. Without getting into too much detail, there are doctors across the country that specialize in these particular diseases and have treatment protocols that we have only been made aware of recently. We are starting the process of arranging consultations with these doctors to see if there are new stones to overturn.



I can't thank all of you enough for your continued prayer and support. It has been difficult but God is using each and every one of you to lift up me and my family and allow us to endure through this season. God Bless!



Brian