Mar 30

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to update you on what's happening. I had a blood gas test last Tuesday and have a heart test next Monday. There are several other tests that must be done before I get my bone marrow transplant. My brother Dan (my donor) will be having tests done as well. They are tentatively putting me back in the hospital (City of Hope) in about 25 days but that could change by a week or so. That's about all as far as my condition goes, but I'd like you to add someone to your prayers for the next little while. Our friends, Mike and Kim are adopting a little girl from China but she is very sick. Her name is Chen-Chen and her liver is failing. They are bringing her here early to do a liver transplant but they say the trip will be very hard on her, so please pray that she will make it here and get the transplant and that everything will go well for little Chen-Chen. Hi "Ernie's Angels"!!!
Thank you so much for praying for me and for little Chen-Chen. God bless you all.
Ernie

Mar 20

Not too much to say today but Susie Lydon sent me the following and I'm going to do it. Hope you all will too!!! I tried to check it out on Snopes.com but they didn't have anything on it, but it's a great idea anyway!!!
Someone has said if Christians really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. (And personally I believe that!) Did you know that during W.W.II there was an adviser to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England , its people and peace?There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America .If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 pm Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States , our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along.Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.PLEASE FORWARD TO YOUR BELIEVING FRIENDS!

Mar 19

I had a bone marrow biopsy on Mar 12 to check for 2 things. One was to see if the leukemia had come back, and it hasn't! The other was to see if I indeed had the bone marrow disease called Myelodysplasia, and the results of this aren't in yet. I had some great news this morning! The doctor told me that my sister Carol and my brother Dan both match me for my bone marrow transplant! This makes the chance of rejection much smaller so there is a greater chance that I will be able to use their stem cells to replace my bone marrow cells. They are leaning toward using my brother's for several reasons, most of all because if the donor is a female and the recipient is a male there is a greater chance of rejection. When I heard the news my whole body felt so much relief I could hardly keep my emotions still for awhile. My sister Mary was actually disappointed when she heard that she didn't match and I found out that they were each hoping it would be them who matched me. Thank you Mary, Carol and Dan! I love you guys! Deb and I took off after my appointment last Monday and went to Phoenix to see the Angels play a spring training baseball game. It was hot that day and we had a great time! We then went to Laughlin and spent a few days there and we left some of our money there for them to hold for us! LOL! We got to visit my son's family in Las Vegas and had a lot of fun playing with our grandkids. We won't know much more until the end of this week and I'll let you all know more then.

Mar 8

I called the bone marrow doctor today and he told me that since my white counts were down a little in May of 2006, they think that I have a disease of the bone marrow (can't spell it!) that developed into my leukemia. They believe this is why my counts are still not back to normal and so they think the best thing to do now is a bone marrow transplant using a donor. My brother and sisters have all taken the test and now we are waiting for their results, which won't come back until about March 20th. Please pray that my brother or sisters match me and that the bone marrow transplant will go well.
IN HIS HANDS,
Ernie

Mar 6

I went to see the bone marrow transplant doctor today at Kaiser Sunset. It turns out that my brother and sisters should have had their tests two weeks ago so he could see if they were a match for me. Now we have to wait two more weeks for these results. This means that I won't be going back into the hospital til then which is good, but I hope the wait doesn't jeopardize my end results. The doctor didn't seem worried though. I am still not back to normal as far as my strength goes, I still feel light-headed when going up stairs. My blood counts still aren't back to normal either and they were by this time last session, but the doctor didn't seem worried about this either. I went to Desert Christian School last Friday and met "Ernie's Angels"!!! They did a presentation using sign language which was really beautiful, and I got to go to their classroom and meet them. They had many questions, great questions, and we had a great time together! Thank you again "Ernie's Angels" for letting me come to meet you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and all your support. God bless you all!
IN HIS HANDS,
Ernie