Random musings

Thank you Bev for the opportunity to post thoughts and stories about Mom here. I am so thankful for my Aunties (technically Anties since they're from the north!) who have tirelessly updated this blog, and to all the friends who have followed Mom on her journey and offered words of support and encouragement here. It is truly a place where we find unity and comfort, even when we are far apart.

It's funny...Mom was never far from my thoughts, but now she is ever-present. When I start the car in the morning, I hear her telling me how to merge into traffic (and shrieking when I didn't do it right the first few times). When I grocery shop, I hear recipes she shared in my head...and her laughter when I called her a few months ago to ask how to make sweet tea. In fact, every time I make hot tea, I see her smiling and shaking her head. (Many of you know that I was less than fond of it as a child. Her life would have been infinitely easier if I had embraced it earlier.)

Maddie and Ella Kate keep asking me to tell them stories. There are so many to tell. Most of them involve laughter and hugs...always hugs. I look forward to reading stories that others remember about Mom. Thank you all for sharing her life.

Let Me Be the First....

to say, how happy I am Bev decided to do this. Most of you already know when Donna went into Duke for her transplant, she asked Bev to watch over the blog for her until she could take over herself. Sadly, that day never came, but Bev has greatly honored Donna's wish that the blog would always be a place where people would be "uplifted." That was Donna's word -- uplifted. Bev did such a good job that even now, since Donna has gone Home to her Lord & Savior, I still come here and find comfort. Even in reading some of the harder times as I know those times have passed for Donna. And it makes me feel closer to her to be here from time to time.

Donna would never want this to be a memorial and it won't be. But she would want us to watch over each other, and check in with each other from time to time--reaching out to those who need us. That is what she did in life and I hope we are all as blessed as I think we will be to come here and share our lives together!

Jan 3/31/2009

A Message from Joel

For all you precious people who have prayed and kept up with Donna, please know how thankful I am personally for your prayers, cards, money, and phone calls; also, your visits, food & support for me & all of my family.  We couldn't have substained ourselves thoughout this journey. We love each and every one of you.

Donna was the most precious gift from God I've ever known and she will be missed, but we are all better for having known her.

Thanks to all the friends, family, & church families for giving all your love for all of us.

With Love ALWAYS
Joel Sowers

Donna Lynn Sowers Jan 12, 1956 - March 21, 2009

Dear Friends,

It is with the greatest sadness we tell you that we lost our beloved Donna today. The grief is all ours, but there is joy that Donna is home with her Heavenly Father rejoicing with so many that she helped through the same journey she made herself today...Granny Gusler, Teresa, Grandmom Crabtree and so many others. Our beautiful wife, mother, daughter, and sister touched so many lives that the only way possible for us to reach so many who care about her was through this blog.

The prayers of so many sustained us and Donna through the darkest and stormiest hours in the last few months. God provided so much through so many. We ask that you continue to pray for Donna's husband Joel and her daughters, parents, sisters, brother, grandchildren and the multitude of lives that will go on missing a piece.

Arrangements are for a wake to be at Woods Funeral Home in Floyd on Monday evening, with services and a celebration of Donna's life on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. at Antioch Church of the Brethren in Rocky Mount. We will post full details by Sunday evening.

Thank you to all who gave of themselves and offered their prayers during the past difficult months. The earthly suffering will be great for us, but Donna's suffering has passed and for that we are truly thankful.

Love,

Donna's Family

Prayers Up for Donna

Saturday 3/21: Donna was taken to ICU this morning with trouble breathing. She is sedated and on a ventilator. That is the extent of what we know right now. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Amazing Grace!

Donna is still doing well in her "new home" at RMH. She's been receiving lots of visitors and continues to work hard toward her ultimate goal of going back on top of the mountain!

There isn't a lot of medical updates to be talking about right now. Her doctors at RMH are still assessing and plotting a plan to help Donna move forward.

Everyone I speak with who has been following Donna's progress cannot speak about her without giving all the praise to God. He has and continues to show all of us His amazing grace.

A Message from Jan

Started off this morning like most, up at 5:30, coffee on, the world's most disorganized kid out the door to school, whew! That done, started to write Bev a "quickie update" because the news has just been so good that we couldn't wait a full week to share it. I jotted a few lines about Donna's soaring spirits and Dr. Merten's "fresh eyes" on Donna's many challenges, and our thankfulness for these things. Then I took a sec to think about a possible video to go along. In the quiet seconds, a little song I learned when I was probably 5 or so came to mind. I must have sung this a million times, and probably have taught it to a hundred children, but I've never really REALLY heard it, until today. I quickly found the song which is really Isaiah 40:31 put to music. As I watched the video, I really heard the words and understood God's message--words He ordained at the beginning of time that are so personal to all of us today. How special is that? We have shared despair and we have shared joy so great it is overwhelming. When I listened to God's words today I knew that when I despaired I had forgotten to wait on the Lord. Donna did not forget though, and God has truly renewed her strength & spirit. Praise to God for giving us all the answers!

The Power of Love

One thing I've tried very hard to do is make sure that I didn't use Donna's blog as a personal blog, but today I'm going to break that rule (I made it, so I can break it! lol).

If you have ever doubted the healing power of love, then you need to call or visit Donna. I know that most of you reading this blog haven't spoken or visited with her since before she entered Duke so many months ago. However, you can take it on authority of her family that the Donna you will see or talk with today is an entirely renewed spirit! Donna's body has a lot of catching up to do to match her spirit, but the relocation of bringing her back to Roanoke (hey Jan...I spelled it right!) has renewed Donna.

Today, I praise and thank God for the wisdom He laid on the hearts of those who were instrumental in setting the wheels in motion to get Donna back to Roanoke. All those involved were concerned that this decision was being made too "emotionally." However, God placed the right doctors in Donna's care at Duke at the perfect time and has since proven to all involved that this was indeed His will at His time. Donna's spirit is soaring!!

As healing as the love of family and friends is, it doesn't match the power of God's love. God's love is the peace the passes all understanding, and many times over we have seen Him cover Donna in that love. All glory laud and honor!

Settled in Roanoke

(The following is an update from Jan)

Donna reported she had a speedy but uneventful trip yesterday, arriving in Roanoke at about 2:00. Monica was waiting in her room for her, and reports a real busy day getting checked into RMH (Roanoke Mem. Hosp)! The docs and nurses will be taking some time this week to get their hands around all that has happened with Donna, assess her current needs and build a plan to get her on her feet. I can tell you this, on Sunday and especially Monday as we were getting ready for the transfer, Donna had a glow about her that she has not had for a very long time. She was going "home", maybe not to her house, but definitely to her town--and it showed big.

Donna had a biopsy at Duke last Thursday and we are told her transplant is at 98% -- she is engrafted and 98% of the cells she produces are donor cells. That is a huge victory. The DAH and TTP are "well controlled". Her platelet recovery has been slower than hoped, but is on the rise. The medications she needed to get through the DAH and TTP have taken a toll on her muscles and joints so she has a long road ahead to rebuild that strength. She's been holding for awhile now on 15% of the steroid dose, which will probably be continued for some time to keep the DAH in check and help prevent GVHD.

Donna's not quite ready to pick up the blog herself yet and has asked Bev to keep it going for her awhile longer. Donna's new journey is expected to be one of slow but steady progress, so the updates will probably reflect that -- will probably be weekly unless of course something big happens and we'll be sure to pass that along. Although many of you who have visited know that Donna doesn't fire up the computer and read herself, we do read your posts and pass them along to her, so please keep visiting and posting as much as you want. And as Bev passed along yesterday she is ready and excited about receiving visitors at RMH.

We have not forgotten the many blessings the Lord has given us that got Donna to this day--the strength, the miracles, the people willing to lend a hand and of course ALL of the prayers. Thanks to all of you and of course the GLORY to GOD for the hope and rejoicing we have today.

~~~~~~~~~

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

ON THE ROAD!

I talked to Jan about 1/2 hour ago. Donna left Duke about 10:30 this morning for Ronoake! This picture was taken as the ambulance crew was taking Donna out of Duke.

Donna is ecstatic about "coming home." Jan talked with her and Donna says she is definitely ready to have visitors once she arrives and gets settled in. She is excited at seeing her friends again.

Thank you to all for keeping this in prayer, and ask God for safe travels.

Ronoake Bound!

The plans are set for Donna's transfer to Roanoke!

As of this morning (Friday), the plan is that she will leave Duke about 10 a.m. Monday and will be admitted to Roanoke Memorial on the oncology unit, where she was when first diagnosed with leukemia. Roanoke will then assess her and determine where she will need to go from there; i.e., a rehab facility or other determination.

One thing we have all learned over the last 90+ days is that things can change in a flash. In fact, this transfer was originally to take place today and has already been pushed to Monday.

Donna is very excited about the prospect of being moved back to Ronoake where she is closer to especially her husband and children, so please continue to keep this in prayer.

Proceeding With Caution

There has been some behind-the-scenes activity this week in Durham. We've been down this road before with Duke--being told something only to have it yanked away--in the past so we have been very cautious about not getting hopes up and haven't posted this information yet. Having said that, let me fill you all in on what's going on and ask for some very special prayers.

Joel, Mom, and Janet have been working very hard at getting Donna moved out of Duke and brought to a facility in Roanoke. We feel the time is right, and we have the backing of at least 2 of her doctors at Duke (there may be more on board that I am not aware of), and also the backing of Donna's oncologist in Roanoke. As far as we know, the only thing holding this up is finding a place that will accept Donna who can not only perform the physical therapy she desperately needs but also provide her with the transfusions, namely the ongoing platelet transfusions.

Please pray that a facility will be found and that we can move this process along as quickly as possible.

Wednesday, March 4

Donna has been working on her exercises with Mom this week. Still working on the goal of getting her stamina up in preparation for some more intensive type therapy--trying to get her able to sustain about 3 hours a day of therapy. Continuing to back down the steroids and watching her breathing very closely. So far, so good. Also, thanks to all for their prayers on Monday. Mom was able to drive over to the hospital even though they had some snow. She also is branching out--made a rush hour trek out to get chicken quesadillas, found the quesadillas and found her way back to the hospital!

Monday, March 2

Donna had a pretty good weekend -- she sounds really good and looks really good too, just needs for her strength to catch up to her spirit. The docs were in on Saturday and told Donna and Joel that they are going to try to back down the steroids to zero this week. She is currently getting about 1/3 of what she was while the DAH was active. Getting the steroids out of her system will help with her joints, and exercises hopefully will help with strength-building.

We have some very specific prayer requests this week. First, The Matriarch (as Mom is known in our circles) does not "do snow," so she is hunkered down in the apartment for the day today. Please pray the snow in Durham is light and gets gone. Please also pray that Donna is able to ramp up her exercise program and that it gives her the results she is looking for. She really needs to see some progress as it will encourage her to do even more. Lastly, please pray that the DAH does not rear its ugly head when she is totally off the steroids; so far, so good with this. We will keep you posted.

It has been a very long road and as someone told Mom over the weekend, sometimes it may seem that God is not there, but God has been so good to all of us in so many ways. You have only to go back through this blog just to see the blessings he has brought to us throughout this time. We praise God today for all he has done and continues to do for our much-loved Donna!