patiently waiting...and praying

So we had the bone marrow biopsy today. The test itself went well (or as well as they can go I guess). We probably won't get any results until Friday. So until then we just wait patiently and keep on praying like crazy for good news.
Thanks to all of you out there who offered a prayer or thought for Clint today. It's amazing what a difference it can make.
I'll try and post when we get the results. Prayer, Patience, Prayer, Patience, Prayer,.....
Love you all!

Need Prayers

We have a big day tomorrow and could really use some extra prayers!

Let me start by saying that we had a really great time away for our anniversary. On Wednesday we went to Midway. We golfed at Wasatch Mountain State Park, which was beautiful. We even saw a moose on the 9th hole! We stayed at the Zermatt (thanks Bryce & Allison) and then in the morning we headed to Wolf Creek (thanks LaDee) where we stayed Thursday night. We mostly just lounged around while we were there, we went for a few walks, it's really beautiful there. We had a really great dinner that night. It would've been a perfect couple days if only Clint wasn't having pretty high fevers the whole time:(
We were supposed to go get a blood draw at American Fork on Friday. But since Clint had still been having fevers and had a rash that was getting progressively worse we decided to just go to LDS for the blood draw. All his labs looked okay and Dr. Asch thought the rash looked a lot like a GVH rash (graft versus host). She told us to keep an eye on it and they'd check it again at clinic. Well we had our clinic visit today and everyone we saw said it definitely looked like a GVH rash. Which is good because if he has GVH there is a good chance that he will get GVL(graft versus leukemia) which is definitely what we want. So they took a skin biopsy today to see if that'll give us any extra info on the rash. His platelets have also been trending down the last week, which can be from GVH or can be from leukemia. So they gave him some platelets (and some potassium because it was low) and decided that tomorrow they will do a bone marrow biopsy to find out for sure what is going on in there.
So that is where the prayers come in. This bone marrow biopsy will either bring us really good news or really bad news. Also, Clint is pretty miserable with these fevers and this rash. So if we could get some extra prayers that this is GVH and that it will do it's job and then leave that'd be awesome :) Thank you so much for all the support! We couldn't do this without the amazing people around us. We love you!

I also want to give a BIG thank you to Clint's family and everyone who helped and came to the yard sale Saturday! You guys are the best! And a BIG thanks to Riker for doing the donor drive. I know I feel great knowing that I could possibly save a life! If you were not able to make it I will be posting the information on how you can sign up for the donor registry online really soon...so stay tuned!

Home

We're Home!!! We finally just said we're out of here! The doctors weren't super excited about the idea, but since they knew they weren't really doing much for us there anyways, they didn't fight us too much. Clint is still having a fever here and there, but they haven't been able to find anything. So we're hoping that with all the antibiotics he's on one of them will do their job. He finished his last dose of vidaza today so maybe that will help the fevers go away too, who knows.

Well tomorrow (or today now because it's after midnight), Wednesday, is the big '10 year anniversary' (I think I misled people on a post earlier to believe it was on Tuesday, but thanks for all the sweet messages, I just figured we'd celebrate a little today too:)! So Clint and I are taking off for a couple days (thanks to some amazing friends and the best transplant coordinator in the world) so I probably won't post again for a bit.

Just a quick leukemia update...Clint's counts are looking pretty good. The vidaza brought them down a bit, he had to have a blood transfusion on Sunday, but they seem to be coming back up again. We were lucky that we started the vidaza when his counts were almost normal, I think that helped a lot.
Yesterday was a little rough for me. I think I just needed one of those mini breakdown days. I was just feeling like all of our doctors have given up on Clint and it was very frustrating. I've been spending a lot of time on the LLS(leukemia & lymphoma society) message boards the last few days, just trying to find out if there is anyone out there in a situation similar to Clints. I have come across a bunch of new information, drugs, treatment options, etc. So we have been talking a lot to our transplant coordinator, LaDee, to see what she's heard about some of them. She is going to set up a conference with one of the docs soon so we can go over all the questions I have and see what our options are. I know that our situation is bad. Really bad. But I am going to fight for all the time we can get! Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of faith in our doctors. I believe they are doing what they think is best for Clint. I just want to know there is a plan in place if the vidaza stops working. So hopefully we can meet with the docs and get some answers about what treatment options are available to us, should we need them.
I know it will take a miracle to cure Clint of AML. But I believe in miracles. I believe they happen everyday. I have seen them happen for us already. And I see no reason why we can't believe we will get some more miracles.

Anyways, I'd better get some sleep. But if we could get a few extra prayers for Clint's fevers to go away that would be amazing! Again, we are so blessed and so grateful for all the love and support we have around us. Thank you so much!!!

***Don't forget about the Be The Match Donor Drive this Saturday! Come join me in signing up to be a donor and possibly save a life! And stop by the Jepperson Family Yard Sale Friday & Saturday!

My Mom

I don't know what I would do without you mom! Hope you had a super duper birthday! You deserve it so much! Thanks for always being there for me. I could not have dreamed up a better mom. I love you more than you'll ever know!!!
I know you'll probably kill me for putting this picture on here, but I wanted everyone to know what the best mom in the world looks like! We love you!!!

Jepperson Family Yard Sale #2

Clint's family is having another yard sale!!!

This Friday September 24 from 10-8
& Saturday September 25 from 8-4
Location: 1855 W 1100 N
Pleasant Grove

They'll have tons of great stuff!
So come by and find something you never knew you needed :)
Feel free to spread the word.....Thanks!

YOU COULD SAVE A LIFE

Riker, one of our nephews, is doing something amazing. For his Eagle Project he has decided to do a bone marrow drive. The donor drive is this Saturday September 25 from 3-5pm at the LDS Church building located at 1000 N 900 W in Orem. He is hoping to sign up at least 75 new donors during the drive that day.
Please, if you can, come support Riker, Clint, and all those waiting for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant by signing up to be a donor. If you have any questions about becoming a donor you can get more info by clicking here. Be The Match has asked the family to raise $1000 to help offset the amount it costs to register people, so if you would like to donate to Be The Match you can click here and donate through the friends4clint fund (just be sure to write Be The Match in the memo so we can be sure to get them the money).
If you have any questions please leave a comment or call one of the numbers on the flier below

A big thank you to Riker for doing this. And for all of you who support us everyday.
Please come sign up to Be The Match and you could Save A Life!!!

Back in the hospital :(

Well we are back up at LDS. We started the Vidaza on Wednesday as planned, then Thursday morning Clint woke up with a fever of 102.7. He walked the boys to school with me and when we got back it was down to 101.1. So we called up here and talked to Peter, the PA(physicians assistant), and he really wanted us to come up but we talked him into letting us just go over to American Fork Hospital to get blood cultures drawn and get some antibiotics, since we were supposed to go there to get our Vidaza treatment anyways. So we headed over to AF and were pretty much there most of the day.
The boys had a school carnival that night and Clint was pretty tired so we left him to rest while me and my mom took the boys to the carnival. When we got back around 8pm (with 10 bazillion balloon creations) Clint was shivering on the couch, so I made him take his temperature again. Well it was up to 104.2 which definitely meant we were heading up here to LDS Hospital.
We got up here about 9:30 and it took them a few hours to get his fever under control. It got up to 106.5, which was really scary. They still don't know what is causing the fevers, it could be the Vidaza or an infection, who knows. They started him on a few new antibiotics and so far none of his blood cultures have grown any infections, which is good, so we are thinking it is probably the Vidaza because it seems like he has always had fevers when receiving any kind of chemo. But only time will tell. He went a few hours this afternoon without a fever but it is starting to climb back up tonight :( Hopefully we can keep it from getting anywhere near as high as it got last night! The crazy thing is that this Vidaza is supposed to be a more mild chemo, with less severe side effects, but so far it has been a little rough for Clint.
I have told Clint and all the nurses that we better be out of the hospital by Tuesday because I do not want to spend our 10 year anniversary in the hospital (hopefully). But I guess we will just see what the next few days bring.

On a more positive note...we did have a really good week up until yesterday. Monday after our clinic visit Clint took me out to a romantic dinner. We ate at Log Haven, which is on old cabin up Millcreek Canyon. We ate outside in front of a beautiful, natural water feature. It was so nice to have a quiet, romantic dinner. Then on Tuesday Clint went golfing and played the best he has played in a while, and then that night we took the boys to see Despicable Me which was such a cute movie. And on Wednesday Clint and I were able to go to the temple and do some sealings, which was such a great reminder of how blessed we are to know that we can be together forever! We were able to witness sealings for people who died in the 1700's, so it was fun to think how exciting that was for them after waiting so long to have their work done. It also made me realize that I really need to get to the temple more often. But it was definitely an incredible few days!
I want to thank everyone for all your messages, well wishes, prayers, thought and love. It means so much to us that we have so much support! Love you all!