Words cannot express how grateful and blessed I feel to have such wonderful friends & family. Your generous outpouring of love, prayers and well wishes have touched me more than I can express. THANK YOU! BLESS YOU! I LOVE YOU!

I thought you might be interested in the events that led up to my stay in the hospital and my diagnosis of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). Well, here's my story and I hope I'm not putting in too much information.

Friday 7/31: I went to work, but I had mild lower stomach cramps, but hey, it's Friday and I had a party with dear friends that night, right? And you don't let mild stomach cramps keep you from a party with old pals! (If it's a Monday and only work.......well that's a different story) Anyway, I had a wonderful time sitting in the sun, relaxing and kibitzing with my friends. That night at home however, I started to run a fever with chills; teeth chattering; and the shakes. So, I wrapped myself in a warm blanket and called it a day.

Saturday 8/1: Woke up in the morning feeling pretty good but kind of tired. I found our old mercury filled thermometer and cleaned it up really well because the last time it was used could have been when the kids were babies, if you get my drift. Anyway, I was surprised to find I still had a temperature. It was only a 100 degrees but other than that I felt fine. I saw it as a good excuse to lounge on the couch and watch a few old movies without feeling guilty.

Sunday 8/2: Still running this annoying temperature of 100 degrees, but feeling fine so I'm thinking this thermometer must not be working right. Sooooo, I cleaned it up really well again and forced Ron to take his temperature. He's 98.2 so, dang, I got some kind of weird bug. I tell Ron if I have the temperature when I go to bed tonight, I'm not setting the alarm and I'll call the Doctor.

Monday 8/3: Same ANNOYING, temperature of 100 degrees! Geesh, give a girl a break already! The weirdest thing is nothing else is bothering me. I just feel kinda tired. I called my Doc, but he doesn't work on Mondays so I went to his backup. He listen to my symptoms, took a blood and urine sample and prescribes an antibiotic for me with these instructions: If I feel worse, call him back right away, if I don't feel great by Thursday come back and if he finds anything unusual in my blood samples, he'll call me.

We fill the prescription and I take the first pill and six hours later the fever is gone........end of story I think. I took my temperature that night before bed and everything was normal......yeah! I set my alarm and go to bed.

Tuesday 8/4: 3:30 am rolls around, the alarm goes off and I feel exhausted. Then I ask myself (cause I'm the only one in our household up at this hour) are you really exhausted or is it just 3:30 in the darn morning and anyone not crazy would feel exhausted. I figure it's the later and go to work.

I get a phone call from the Doctors office at work and they want me to come in for more tests right away if possible. That's odd, I think, cause it seems the pills are working, but I do as I am asked and go give more blood samples. I'm told they will call me with the results. Hmmmmmm, OK.........I wonder if I should be concerned or is this new Doctor an over reactor type. I chose to believe the later and Ron, Maggie and I have a picnic at the park. I ask Ron, because we have such a busy week this week, why don't we go to the Mall and pick up our baby shower gift for our grandchild to be. He agrees and it's at the Mall I get the call from the Doctor's office to go to Providence Hospital Colby Campus. "Really, for more tests?" "No", I'm told,"to be admitted." "What should I tell them I there for?" They tell me, "You have a low white cell count and all the paperwork is done so just go to the admittance desk." Well this really does get my attention!

It seems unreal I'm in the Mall one minute and the hospital the next, but that's the beginning of how this all got started. I know I owe so many people emails, sincere THANK YOUS, and much, much more. Please forgive me for being slow to respond but I have been on such a roller coaster of emotions, and so busy with test after test and pokes and prods and Doctors and nurses I hardly can think straight. I MUST thank Linda for getting the information out for me and her daughter Stacy for getting me online. I love you two and will always be grateful.

Monday 8/9: It's almost midnight, so I'm ending this now, and will try to continue tomorrow. Again, I want to thank all of you for all your goodness and kindness. Please keep Ron and I in your prayers.